Need for Speed: Underground 2

Need for Speed: Underground 2

Need for Speed: Underground 2 (NFSU2 or NFSUG2) is a cross-platform racing video game published and developed by Electronic Arts. Released in 2004, it is the direct sequel to Need for Speed: Underground, and is part of the Need for Speed series, available onNintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows. It was developed by EA Black Box. Like its predecessor, it was also commercially successful, and sold nine million copies worldwide.

The game is based around tuning cars for street races, resuming the Need for Speed: Underground storyline. Need for Speed: Underground 2 provides several new features, such as a broader customization, new methods of selecting races, the "explore" mode (just driving around freely, like the Midnight Club series, in a large city known as "Bayview"). Underground 2 also introduces several SUVs, which could be customized as extensively as other Underground 2 vehicles and used to race against other SUV racers. Brooke Burke is the voice of Rachel Teller, the person who guides the player through the story.

On the Nintendo DS installment, users are able to design custom decals to adorn any vehicle in the game. The PlayStation Portableequivalent is Need for Speed: Underground Rivals.

Gameplay

In-game Need for Speed: Underground 2screenshot, in which races are roughly similar to that of Underground and still revolve around import culture.

In addition to the racing modes included in the previous Underground game (Circuit, Sprint, Drag and Drift races), 4 new variations of races have been provided in Underground 2. One racing mode was dropped, this being the Knockout competitions. Still, a Lap Knockout option is available when racing Circuit in non-career races.

A circuit race is a standard race that involves up to four cars driving around a track that loops back to the start line of itself. A circuit race is typically a maximum of four laps and minimum of 2 laps. A sprint race is just like a circuit race except that the track does not loop back to the start line. It's a race from A to B involving a maximum of four vehicles, and because of the track design there is only one lap. Street X races are similar to Circuit races, but they take place on closed courses similar to Drift races.

Drifting is one of the easier types of racing (depending on difficulty level) in Need for Speed Underground 2. One difference to the drifting mode compared to the original Need for Speed Underground is that the player drifts with the other competitors at the same time. Players race against a maximum of three competitors. Points are awarded when the player successfully slide the car and finishes the drift without hitting any walls .Like the Street X mode in Underground 2, no nitrous oxide is allowed. There are also some special downhill drift races where the player starts at the top of a hill and has to slide down from top to bottom, a drifting equivalent of a sprint race (from point A to point B). In these races, there are no other racers, however there is normal city traffic. Players increase their points by sliding past city cars.Drag racing is a point-to-point race that forces players to use a manual transmission. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for line changes, while the game handles the steering along the lines, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car. The Nitrous Oxide meter is enlarged and displayed on the bottom right of the screen.

The Underground Racing League (URL) is a set of tournaments which takes place in a specific set of closed tracks outside city streets - either actual racing circuits or airport runways. URL tournaments typically consist of one to three races, with the player racing against five opponents. In tournaments with two or more races, a points system is used. At the end of each race, drivers receive a specific amount of points according to their standing in a race. The total score at the end of these races determines the winner of the tournament.

While cruising around the city, players can challenge other cruising opponents in a one-on-one race(these are called "Outrun Races"). The leader is given the freedom to pick his/her racing route, and must attempt to outrun the opponent and distance itself from him/her to as much as 300 meters (1000 feet) to win. This racing formula is similar to that of Tokyo Xtreme Racer and Wangan Midnight video games, which uses health bars instead of distance to determine the winner. Once a certain amount of victories have been won by player in certain levels, the player is awarded a unique part free of charge by another racer.

Minimum System Requirements:

CPU:

Intel Pentium III (or equivalent) CPU running at 933MHz or higher

RAM:

256 MB

VGA:

32MB DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (Geforce2 or higher) using a supported chipset (see below) ATI Radeon 7500 or greater NVIDIA GeForce2 or greater

DX:

DirectX 9.0c

OS:

Windows 98, 98 Second Edition, ME, 2000 Professional, XP Professiona

http://gamesystemrequirements.com/

HDD:

900 MB of HD space

Sound:

DirectX compatible Sound Card

ODD:

8X CD-ROM

Network:

For Online play a Network card is required for broadband connectivity

Recommended peripheral:	DirectX compatible Controller or Keyboard