Game | | Need For Speed Underground | Format | | XBox (version tested), Gamecube, PS2 | Publisher: | | Electronic Arts | Release date: | | Out now |
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Many many years ago, 11 to be exact, at the birth of 32 bit CD drive technology a game called Need For Speed came out on the Panasonic 3DO, an excellent but little lamented games console. This game looked and played like nothing I'd seen before. The car moved like a real car and manual gears were actually worth using. It was the first console game to give us a proper replay with lots of angles and crashes and all of this before Playstation 1, history seems to have been rewritten. There have been lots of incarnations since the original as you will have noticed. The original was ported over to PC, PS1 and Saturn but the car lost all of its realistic simulated feeling having been written for the doomed 3DO. I have been told Need For Speed Porsche Challenge is one of the best versions to play. When I first played Need For Speed Underground I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed it had turned into a slicker version of Ridge Racer. Where had Electronic Arts lost their way? I want to play simulation not arcade, but hang on a minute, it's a really good arcade game and a very addictive one. Arcade games aren't so bad but a new title would have been a good idea so as not to confuse. This game is really shiny with lots of colour although all tracks are a little samey, very dark and atmospheric with crazy music, some good most awful. I'm sure you'll agree - whatever you think is good. Just like the old game, manual gears really work well and you don't always get a choice whether to use them or not, as there are some great drag races to get involved with. One big disappointment is the selection of Euro and Japanese boxes you get to drive after the Ferrari and Lambos in the original, but you do get to boy them up, adding decals, vinyls, alloys, spots, stripes, you know what I mean? - "well rapid". This game is fast and totally simple for you real mongs. I've spoken to people who have played this, some love it and some are indifferent but personally I enjoyed it, being a bit of a mong, so pop up and slow down for a Need For Speed if you don't already own Burnout 2, which is a far superior version of the same thing with a bit of something extra. Anyway, I'm off to play Gotham 2. Bye. 7/10 Dave Vague | 
