- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Release Date: Nov 15, 2004
- Also On: PlayStation 2
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Simply put, Underground 2 is an outstanding sequel in all aspects. It offers a lot of new and fun features, yet the game doesn't move away from the core gameplay that made the first Underground so popular, which is pure adrenaline street racing.
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Everything "NFSU" was and more. Racing is now more realistic and the freedom to cruise the city and choose your events is an awesome improvement.
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NFS Underground 2 does one more thing exceptionally well; give the gamer plenty of bang for their buck. If 8 different game play modes wasn't enough; Circuit, Drag, Drift, Sprint, Street X, Downhill Drift, Outrun, and Underground Racing League, you have a story mode that will give gamers over 40 hours of racing joy.
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GMR MagazineCompared to its predecessor, NFSU2 is more. More city, more courses, more cars, more parts, more style...just more of everything in general. The game is huge. [Dec 2004, p.99]
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Its immense thrills and spills through the open-ended city of Bayview is exhilarating, and the culture that is emerging is created in the game to great effect.
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Illegal street racing has never looked and felt so right and with Need for Speed Underground 2 you'll find it hard not to fall in love with this fun racing game.
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Electronic Arts really has turned the Need For Speed series into something very special. The series was starting to get old with rehash after rehash, now each Underground title seems to get better and better with every release.
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Sports a free roaming city where you can drive around wherever you'd like across 125 miles. This is the biggest of its kind for a racing game and, once again, transfers to this genre spectacularly.
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I was positively crestfallen when I exited the menu to find that my car design didn't stay put.
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NFSU2 feels like a much fuller game than its predecessor most of the time, but there is still that feeling in the back of my head saying that the free-roaming world is nothing more than an interactive menu interface.
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An impressive, and more importantly, fun game that overcomes its faults with depth, breadth, and variety.
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Electronic Gaming MonthlyThe game's overall length and number of hidden surprises is downright daunting, yet the story is so paper-thin, the series still lacks the impetus necessary to motivate casual racers through nearly 50 hours of gameplay. [Holiday 2004, p.96]
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This game is huge. Seriously. 40 hours or more worth of gameplay amounts to a lot of fun.
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Game InformerJust about everything in this game is better, except for the cumbersome overworld. If you can overlook this one shortcoming, there is a lot to like in Underground 2, I just had a hard time getting over this one, rather large, hurdle. [Dec 2004, p.162]
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Broadening the racing arenas to include a complete city, the number of race types and vehicles significantly increases the number of things to do in the game. However, the quirks of the world map, lack of visual speed and other gameplay issues keep it from surpassing the original title.
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The additional game modes, upgraded customization, and most-importantly the game's open world environment make it stand a clear step above its predecessor which was already a fantastic racer to begin with.
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It's just a shame EA insist on using a blurring effect when you boost. The graphics are already blurry enough to make it tough to see where the track ahead is taking you. The last thing you need when rocketing along at some silly speed over 100mph, is an effect that looks like someone's smeared Vaseline on your windscreen.
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Naturally the pimping side of things have been expanded to a maddeningly complete degree.
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The courses in this game are just as much the stars as the cars. The dazzling downtown locations are massive, dominated by skyscrapers whose light bathes the streets in a radiant glow.
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The original NFSU's city was a little repetitive, but now IT'S broken up into five distinct neighbourhoods, each is suitably spectacular. Most of the time you fly through these districts so quickly that everything becomes one big neon blur, but it's worth slowing down to soak up the sights.
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They need to make it exciting when you are traveling to places, either that or cut the travel distance down.
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Nintendo PowerAn open format, great driving physics and stylized graphics contribute to a rewarding playing experience. [Feb 2005, p.113]
Awards & Rankings
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60
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37
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#37 Most Discussed Xbox Game of 2004
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21
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#21 Most Shared Xbox Game of 2004
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 53 out of 62
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Mixed: 3 out of 62
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Negative: 6 out of 62
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May 26, 2023Epic gamers put spinners and lowrider suspension on their cars
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May 25, 2023The best NFS in the series, a solid 10/10, looks a lot better than Most Wanted and the cars actually turn into a corner
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Sep 25, 2022This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view.