Need for Speed: Underground

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Need For Speed: Underground
Developer(s)	EA Black Box
Publisher(s)	EA Games
Release date(s)	November 13, 2003
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	CERO: Ages 12 and up ESRB: Everyone (E)
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance

Need for Speed: Underground (NFSU) is a racing game, developed and published by Electronic Arts in 2003. It is part of the Need for Speed computer and video game series. It was developed by EA Black Box.

Its premise (highly tuned, customised cars participating in illegal street races) was likely inspired by the Import Scene and the movies The Fast and the Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious.

A complete reimagining of the series' formula, NFSU offered a career mode featuring a storyline, and a garage mode that allowed players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. All races take place in a generic city at night (though the city bears some resemblance to New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles). Instead of hundred-thousand dollar exotics, Underground featured vehicles associated with the Import Scene. This, plus the increasingly arcade-like controls, became points of controversy for Need for Speed fans. Despite this, Underground was commercially very successful, and inspired a sequel.

It is rumoured that the car manufacturers were very strict in how their vehicles were to be portrayed in this game, especially considering the "illegal street racing" reputation of the tuner culture. EA took some effort in making the races appear as sanctioned racing events, and included a public service announcement in the game's introduction. In addition, vehicles do not have damage models.

[edit] Plot

The player starts all the street races in a Acura Integra X(just for testing). After winning the racer, Samantha tells the player about Eddie, who is the best racer around the city with his Skyline . At this moment the player has to choose one of six tuner cars. After choosing a car the player sees Melissa, who is standing right beside Eddie. Samantha explains the simple rules of the Underground, 'You win races, you get cool parts. You lose, and you're out'. After winning a few races, the player gets introduced to TJ who tells him if he beats a time trial, he will give the player a reward. After TJ gives the player a reward; the player has to do a lot of races to build respect be a good racer and of course a hot car.After all those races Eddie is calling the player and tells him if we wants to race him he must beat all his friends and the first one is Samantha. After trading Samantha and beat her at a race the player meets Takashi(the drift king)the player beats Takashi and then Eddie gives the player some money to leave him alone. The player goes Number 1 and is challenged by Eddie.The player wins, but Melissa challenges him in her black 350Z. The player also defeats her and they now have everything unlocked and tons of respect.

[edit] Characters

|Character |Car |Description

|- |Samantha |Honda Civic Si Coupe | - |A poor racer that uses the player to gain respect |- |Eddie |Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34) | - |The best racer in the city |- |Melissa |Nissan 350z | - |Eddie's girlfriend |- |Jose |Volkswagen Golf GTi | - |one of player's friend and a pro circuit racer |- |Klutch |Dodge Neon | - |A pro drag racer |- |TJ |Honda Civic Si Coupe | - |Eddie's mechanic who helps the player |- |Kurt |Acura RSX
Madza Rx7 | - |The number 1 Circuit racer |- |Chad |Toyota Celica GT-S
Honda S2000 | - |best sprint racer |- Todd |Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
Mitsubishi Lancer ES | - |best drag racer |- |Dirt |Nissan 240SX | - |best drift racer |}

[edit] Game Modes

A circuit race, PC version

[edit] Circuit

Circuit is a standard race that involves racing with up to four opponents cars around a loop track for two laps or more, and is the main mode of the game.

[edit] Knockout Mode

A variant of Circuit, Knockout Mode is similar to previous Need for Speed titles, involves "knocking out" the last racer who passes the starting line in each lap until the final leader of the race remains, and wins the race. In the case of Underground, Knockout sessions have a maximum of three laps for four racers.

[edit] Sprint Mode

Sprint mode is a variation on the Circuit mode, where the contestants race in a point-to-point track instead of loop tracks. These races are typically shorter than "circuits" (with a maximum of 8 km in length), so players are required to be more cautious of any mistakes during racing.

[edit] Drift

Drifting is one of the most challenging and technical aspects of the game. Drift mode consists of one player in a short loop track, where the objective is to collect as many points as possible by drifting along the track. The player competes with three other contestants, who appear to accumulate scores along with the player during the drift session. The player would be required to beat these scores in order to obtain top positions.

Bonuses are awarded for players who drift in the other borders of the track, drift vertically, or perform chained-drifting (continuous drifting by constantly steering the vehicle during drifts to maintain speed); if the player succeeds in ending a drift without collisions onto the sides of the track, the collected points are added into the score, otherwise, the collected points are cancelled.

Drift mode is the only type of racing where time taken to complete the track does not matter, since players are given the freedom to complete the allocated number laps at their own pace. This may explain the absence of nitrous oxide in this mode, since it serves no suitable purpose in this situation.

[edit] Drag

In the Car Customization menu, cars such as the pictured Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R can be altered with performance upgrades and visual upgrades, such as paint colors and body kits.

Drag racing is the second most technical form of race in the game. It involves racing against one or three cars on typically straight tracks, and attempting to obtain top positions to win. In order to master Drag mode, players must employ good timing and reflexes for gear shifting, redlining, overtaking, and the use of nitrous oxide boosts; the mode places particular emphasis in monitoring the tachometer during races, which is enlarged and situated on the leftmost portion of the screen. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for lane changes, while the computer handles the steering along the lanes, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car.

Two conditions will result to players being forfeited during a drag race: head-on collisions with a vehicle (traffic or opponent), barrier or divider>; or blown engines as a result from prolonged redlining and the subsequent overheating of the engine.

[edit] Car List

• Acura Integra Type R
• Acura RSX
• Dodge Neon
• Ford Focus ZX3
• Honda Civic Si Coupe
• Honda S2000
• Hyundai Tiburon GT
• Mazda Miata MX5
• Mazda RX-7
• Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
• Mitsubishi Lancer ES
• Nissan 240SX
• Nissan 350Z
• Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec-V
• Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)
• Peugeot 206 S16
• Subaru Impreza
• Toyota Celica GT-S
• Toyota Supra
• Volkswagen Golf GTi

[edit] Racetracks

• Note: Each track has a "reverse" version.

[edit] Circuit

• Olympic Square
• Atlantica
• Inner City
• Market Street
• Stadium
• Terminal
• Port Royal

[edit] Soundtrack Listing

• Overseer - Doomsday (3:13)
• The Crystal Method - Born Too Slow (2:45)
• Rancid - Out of Control (1:39)
• Rob Zombie - Two-Lane Blacktop (2:54)
• BT - Kimosabe (4:55)
• Static-X - The Only (2:51)
• Element Eighty - Broken Promises (3:16)
• Asian Dub Foundation - Fortress Europe (3:51)
• Hotwire - Invisible (2:52)
• Story of the Year - And the Hero Will Drown (3:12)
• Andy Hunter - The Wonders of You (7:09)
• Junkie XL - Action Radius (3:54)
• Fuel - Quarter (3:39)
• Jerk - Sucked In (2:52)
• Fluke - Snapshot (3:59)
• Lostprophets - To Hell We Ride (3:40)
• Overseer - Supermoves (4:46)
• FC Kahuna - Glitterball (5:43)
• Blindside - Swallow (2:24)
• Lil Jon & the Eastside Boyz - Get Low (4:25)
• Mystikal - Smashing the Gas (Get Faster) (3:09)
• Dilated Peoples - Who's Who (3:55)
• Nate Dogg - Keep It Coming (4:18)
• X-ecutioners - Body Rock (3:36)
• Petey Pablo - Need For Speed (3:32)
• T.I. - 24's (4:06)

[edit] Reception and criticism

The game had good sales, with over 1 million copies on each console.^{[citation needed]}

Critics also liked the game[1], despite primary complaints of repetitive tracks[2], rubberband AI, and lack of an online feature in the GameCube and Xbox[3].

[edit] See also

• Need for Speed
• Need for Speed: Underground 2
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted
• Midnight Club 3: Dub Editon

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Need for Speed: Underground at MobyGames
• Need For Speed: Underground BullSheet at BullSheets.org
• NFSGarage
• NFS-Planet
• NFSUnlimited.net Fan site