Need for Speed: Underground

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 644 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 519 out of 644
  2. Mixed: 99 out of 644
  3. Negative: 26 out of 644
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  1. JonB.
    Nov 15, 2003
    10
    Having played the demo for this, I was totally blown away. I decided to buy the full game right away. Tight control, gorgeous stages, sweet rides, and most importantly: THE CAR'S ENGINES SOUND GOOD AGAIN. (like they used to back in NFS5!) Floor it and hear the now-turboed 350Z roar, let off the gas to hear the blow-off valve release it's pent-up air. Get a woofer and a wheel to Having played the demo for this, I was totally blown away. I decided to buy the full game right away. Tight control, gorgeous stages, sweet rides, and most importantly: THE CAR'S ENGINES SOUND GOOD AGAIN. (like they used to back in NFS5!) Floor it and hear the now-turboed 350Z roar, let off the gas to hear the blow-off valve release it's pent-up air. Get a woofer and a wheel to really have fun with this title. Oh, and although the game is huge, install was a breeze. Two thumbs up.… Expand
  2. UrosC.
    Nov 26, 2003
    9
    Excelent game.The only thing that I miss in the game is Drag racing in online mode...Great work EA!!!
  3. JoshS.
    Feb 23, 2004
    10
    Best need for speed game i have ever played.
  4. JordyO.
    Nov 22, 2003
    10
    I have it now on the pc the full version not the demo and it's great ( i download it ) i am living in europa so it;s not out yet but i have it ! really joy !!
  5. aaronpaul121
    May 22, 2012
    8
    Everything about this game is great. I just wished that it is a little bit realistic in the result of colliding cars, crashed and destroyed cars. But, it's still great.
  6. jangers
    Dec 1, 2017
    9
    I have started this game again after years. Even today, the game is sensational. Underground mode is not boring. Driving style is good, although crash physics (especially at higher speeds) makes cars fly. There is a lack of more cars, in the game there are mainly Asian cars. There is also no support widescreen. Generally i recommend playing even in 2017 year
  7. morfil
    Nov 1, 2013
    10
    Electronic Arts rules when it comes to making games like these. The music, the gameplay, the sound effects, and sometimes even the story. If you're interested in going very fast, and moving up the ranks faster than ever, then give this game a try.

    You are somewhat of an inexperienced driver who joins the underground street scene. You meet up with the beautiful, yet tough Samantha, who    Electronic Arts rules when it comes to making games like these. The music, the gameplay, the sound effects, and sometimes even the story. If you're interested in going very fast, and moving up the ranks faster than ever, then give this game a try.

    You are somewhat of an inexperienced driver who joins the underground street scene. You meet up with the beautiful, yet tough Samantha, who helps you through your first few races. You must buy and build up your car, and make it look cool so that you, the driver, are as cool and good as everyone who races.

    I have to say, i was blown out of the water by the soundtrack. Lil' Jon's "Get low" is pretty much the main song for this game, however, it's not an exclusive, like mistikal's "get faster" or Petey Pablo's "Need for speed". there's also good rock alternative music like Story of the year's "And the hero will drown", Static-X's "The only", X-ecutioner's "Body Rock" and Hotwire's "Invisible".

    It's a perfect buy. 10/10    … Expand
  8. iddqd4
    Jan 20, 2018
    9
    Эта игра в свое время была настоящим культом и стояла почти на каждом компьютере и не только у любителей гонок.
  9. Marick
    Sep 22, 2014
    9
    It was the first game in the series. I played 10 years ago, I liked so much, but age did not let me finish it. At 8 years old I struggled a bit. The game throws you in Olympic City, a town of Street Racing community. This will start the fun.
  10. ricky21
    Aug 30, 2015
    9
    People like the fast and furious series but yet dislike this game. They need to do their home work to find the origin of the movies first.
    Totally awesome game, and I hope EA reinvent themselves on another one like this for the future
  11. xylinde
    Nov 7, 2019
    9
    Хорошая игра, познокомила меня с жанром гонок, а также показала, насколько нервы испытывают сильный стресс после 6 лидирующий кругов, и на последнем тебя выигрывают, как машина в драг-рейсинге может просто встать перед твоим лицом, и ты с просто смотришь на это, и понимаешь, на что я потратил свою жизнь... А еще 64 гонка хотела будто во мне дьявола вызвать, но у меня уже после машины КуртаХорошая игра, познокомила меня с жанром гонок, а также показала, насколько нервы испытывают сильный стресс после 6 лидирующий кругов, и на последнем тебя выигрывают, как машина в драг-рейсинге может просто встать перед твоим лицом, и ты с просто смотришь на это, и понимаешь, на что я потратил свою жизнь... А еще 64 гонка хотела будто во мне дьявола вызвать, но у меня уже после машины Курта и гонка с 7 кругами вызвали его уже давно

    12 грузовиком перед твоим лицом после столкновения из 10    … Expand
  12. Genek13
    Nov 19, 2019
    10
    The second best NFS game in history (first for me is NFS III HP).
    VIsuals, sound design, tuning and cars was outstanding at the time.
    Soundtrack is one of the best I ever heard in video game.
  13. nizdets
    Jan 2, 2021
    10
    моя первая игра пацаны......э Рон дон дон дондородоророн...............
  14. rahulkadukar
    Mar 17, 2012
    6
    The first Need For Speed game which has decent graphics and a good storyline. I think the progress system in this game is pretty slow you get to all Level 3 upgrades after playing more than 80% of the career mode which is kind of slow. Apart from that good gameplay but gets kind of repetitive and the overall size of the city is pretty small. It feels like racing on the same tracks over andThe first Need For Speed game which has decent graphics and a good storyline. I think the progress system in this game is pretty slow you get to all Level 3 upgrades after playing more than 80% of the career mode which is kind of slow. Apart from that good gameplay but gets kind of repetitive and the overall size of the city is pretty small. It feels like racing on the same tracks over and over again.… Expand
  15. natanfk
    Feb 16, 2017
    6
    I loved this game when I was a kid, but when I went to play it now again, I see how it has SERIOUS flaws.

    The good parts: Control of the car is nice, the graphics were cool by the time being, and the car tuning is very varied and cool. There is a decent amount of cars to chose, and there was a sense of progression on the races, opponents keep getting better and better. The sounds are    I loved this game when I was a kid, but when I went to play it now again, I see how it has SERIOUS flaws.

    The good parts: Control of the car is nice, the graphics were cool by the time being, and the car tuning is very varied and cool. There is a decent amount of cars to chose, and there was a sense of progression on the races, opponents keep getting better and better. The sounds are really good and it has totally a "fast and furious" vibe.

    The bad parts: The worst part are the car crashes. It's absurd. The minimal hit will make your car go flying around, and it would be ok if the same happened to the AI, but the AI really CHEATS when there is a car crash. I saw an AI hitting a car on the front, and just went under it and kept going at full speed. It's very unfair, and most of the time you won't win or lose races by skill, but by pure luck, because cars appear out of nowhere just to hit you. Also, the game has a lot of glitches for those who try to play with a joystick, it keeps changing the controls and the camera shifts if you press brake for too long.
    Also, although there is a sense of progression while racing, there is no progression on cars. The car you get at the beginning of the game is better than most cars you unlock as you win races. And the tracks are VERY repetitive, you'll be running 111 races on the same tracks over and over again.
    Another bad thing is that you can only have one car. Which sucks, because there are some cars that are outstanding for races but suck at drifting.

    Overall, the game is only "meh". I was looking for nostalgia and got anger instead.    … Expand
  16. Luka0101998
    Jun 1, 2016
    10
    My all time favorite game.
    I love cars thanks to nfs !
    10/10 without thinking
    No Need for Speed game will ever be better that Underground in any way.Even if the game has no free roam i still absolutely love it .
  17. r03vg
    May 5, 2023
    6
    Игра запускается на современном компьютере, что уже хорошо. Правда, пришлось дополнительно скачать несколько фиксов, чтобы игра нормально работала на широком экране.

    В начале игры очень часто повторяются трассы. Понравилась музыка. Графика и сейчас смотрится хорошо для 20-летней игры.    Игра запускается на современном компьютере, что уже хорошо. Правда, пришлось дополнительно скачать несколько фиксов, чтобы игра нормально работала на широком экране.

    В начале игры очень часто повторяются трассы. Понравилась музыка. Графика и сейчас смотрится хорошо для 20-летней игры.
  18. MaxmilianKohler
    Feb 23, 2020
    3
    Would not recommend due to the fact that you do these long races and frequently at the very end some edge will clip you, or some car will appear in front of you, or one of the other racers will bump you, or some other random occurrence, causing you to have to redo the entire race. Which is extremely tedious.

    The drag racing is awful. The mechanics of it are extremely tedious, and then    Would not recommend due to the fact that you do these long races and frequently at the very end some edge will clip you, or some car will appear in front of you, or one of the other racers will bump you, or some other random occurrence, causing you to have to redo the entire race. Which is extremely tedious.

    The drag racing is awful. The mechanics of it are extremely tedious, and then it doesn't even make sense because I can get all perfect shifts and still lose. Then they randomly put cars in front of you and don't let you turn out of their way. You should never come away with a "god that was awful" feeling after winning a race.

    I'm giving this a 0 just for the drag races. It's unplayable on both a keyboard and a controller. I don't play games to get tortured. I play them to find enjoyment. I uninstalled this game before the end due this trash designed race.

    It also gives you lots of useless cars to choose from but no apparent reason to use any of them. You don't get better cars till late in the game.

    The ebrake basically does nothing, except for during drifting. In Underground 2 the ebrake is way more useful.

    Underground 2 I think is overall better, particularly as far as the cars, handling, gameplay, hud, etc.. Only thing better about this one is that the upgrades stick with your car when you trade it in.    … Expand
  19. FrankHo
    Nov 21, 2003
    8
    Not better than burnout2 on ps2, but much better than midnight club 2!
  20. Lukesky
    Nov 20, 2003
    0
    What a poor game..midnight club 2 reigns supreme over this... with cheap graphics..poorly rendered cars it can go back into the christmas stocking i want my money back.. underground racing? cartoon racing more like.. being able to tinker with the car didnt make me feel any more interested as the game had the look of a cheap budget made game..and people spoke so highly of this.. save yourWhat a poor game..midnight club 2 reigns supreme over this... with cheap graphics..poorly rendered cars it can go back into the christmas stocking i want my money back.. underground racing? cartoon racing more like.. being able to tinker with the car didnt make me feel any more interested as the game had the look of a cheap budget made game..and people spoke so highly of this.. save your money as there are better games out there..… Expand
  21. sinadoom
    Nov 19, 2011
    3
    It's arcade alright, but don't expect anything fast. More fun than the second one but still nothing special. To enjoy this game you have to a chav.
  22. Marica
    Sep 22, 2014
    10
    ****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************… Expand
  23. mclure
    Aug 23, 2014
    10
    Fun to play, it is the first time I played something after meeting the NFS series for the first time back in the 90's with older vehicles. This introduces a good assortment of popular vehicles and some good music tracks, it doesn't feel old even after a while. Customization is straight forward with changing from a car to another and keeping upgrades and visuals, you can only have one carFun to play, it is the first time I played something after meeting the NFS series for the first time back in the 90's with older vehicles. This introduces a good assortment of popular vehicles and some good music tracks, it doesn't feel old even after a while. Customization is straight forward with changing from a car to another and keeping upgrades and visuals, you can only have one car at a time. Drag, circuit, drift and sprint are some race modes. Traffic can be annoying so for that try reducing difficult levels on each race.… Expand
  24. Luka1998010
    Jul 6, 2018
    10
    The game that changed my life, literally !
    I had no interest in cars when i was about 6 years until my older brother brought me this game one night and i felt in love with it. After that i started my interest in cars. Long story short,because of NFS Underground my life changed for the best because of it i am building my dream career of becoming a car designer.
  25. drone2beats
    Sep 18, 2018
    0
    Dumpest Game Ever.
    The cars have good handling on easy by cpu but when i get the same car i cant control it.
    **** Game.
    Underground2 way better
  26. ImperialYama
    Dec 22, 2020
    10
    Best NFS in my Opinion. The Gameplay, the Speed, the Race Design and the Songs. Everything is just perfect here.
  27. Izoeros
    Apr 26, 2022
    9
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  28. DanP.
    Oct 8, 2003
    10
    Hot hot hot.
  29. MuhammadA.
    Nov 20, 2003
    7
    This good!!!!!!
  30. CaioOrsolini
    Nov 27, 2003
    1
    I haven't got it yet, but from what I've read, it has a very poor career mode, and all tracks look the same. And... Where are the Ferraris, Porsches, McLaren? And it seems like its driving doesn't feel too real... Come on, EA, looks like each year your games are getting worse... I already hated Hot Pursuit II... Here's what we want: expensive cars, nice tracks, real I haven't got it yet, but from what I've read, it has a very poor career mode, and all tracks look the same. And... Where are the Ferraris, Porsches, McLaren? And it seems like its driving doesn't feel too real... Come on, EA, looks like each year your games are getting worse... I already hated Hot Pursuit II... Here's what we want: expensive cars, nice tracks, real driving and a good career mode!… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

38
#38 Best PC Game of 2003
12
#12 Most Discussed PC Game of 2003
43
#43 Most Shared PC Game of 2003

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 24 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 24
  3. Negative: 0 out of 24
  1. Computer Gaming World
    90
    Racing doesn't get much better...unless you're in a real car. [Mar 2004, p.75]
  2. GameSpot
    80
    With just a bit more variety to its tracks and a slightly better career mode, it definitely could have been better, but it has great graphics, solid sound, and the sort of easy learning curve that makes it a driving game that anyone can excel at.
    Read full review
  3. Yahoo!
    90
    That break-the-mold game that longtime players of the franchise have been waiting for. And if you're already a street-rag reader, you have permission and reason to drool - just keep it off the AirFlow controller, please.
    Read full review
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