Product Description

Discover the living, breathing world of Need for Speed Underground 2. Taking place in a massive, free-roaming city featuring five distinct interconnected neighborhoods, Need for Speed Underground 2 delivers an immersive game world where reputation is everything. As you explore the city, you'll encounter rivall racers who will school you in ways of the underground and tip you off to the hottest racing spots in town. With the most comprehensive tuning options, all new game modes and the industry's most sought-after cars.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4682 in Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Model: 14633148442
• Released on: 2006-09-08
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: Xbox
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 7.50" h x .70" w x 5.40" l, 2.00 pounds

Features

• Explore a free-roaming city divided into five distinct neighborhoods, from suburban hills to an intense downtown grid -- all connected by freeways you can race
• Drive over 30 of the hottest Tuner cars on the market, Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, and Toyota to Ford and Volkswagen
• Tune every aspect of your car's performance with hundreds of licensed upgrades, for the ultimate ride
• Customize your machine to a whole new level - Add scissor doors, spoilers, headlights, side skirts, roof scoops, hoods, rims, wide body kits, neon and more -- for a truly unique ride
• Realistic racing challenges - Deal with Real-time weather effects, environmental hazards, multiple track types and more

From the Manufacturer
The deepest, most authentic tuner experience ever. Discover the living, breathing world of tuner culture in Need for Speed Underground 2, the sequel to the best-selling racing game of 2003, and the latest blockbuster installment in the legendary Need for Speed franchise.

Features

• Free-Roaming City: Explore a massive city divided into five distinct, interconnected neighborhoods, ranging from serpentine suburban hills to an intense downtown grid. A complex series of drivable freeways connect the neighborhoods together.
• Emergent Gameplay: Want to make a name for yourself in the underground? You'll need to find it first. Races can happen anywhere and at any time and as players encounter rivals on the street they'll be clued into where they can buy the hottest upgrades or enter the most elite events.
• New Gameplay Modes: Three new gameplay modes are added to last year's circuit, drift and drag competitions, challenging gamers to hone their skills in a number of driving disciplines.
• Performance Tuning: Tune every aspect of your car's performance with hundreds of licensed aftermarket performance upgrades and then fine-tune everything from the gear ratio to the suspension for the ultimate ride.
• The Hottest Cars: More than thirty of the most sought-after tuner cars are available from the hottest manufacturers - from Mitsubishi Motors, Nissan, and Toyota to Ford and Volkswagen, if they're hot on the street, they're in the game.
• Visual Customization: With more than twice the visual customizations of last year's game, there are literally billions of car combinations available to gamers. Featuring audio upgrades, scissor doors, spoilers, headlights, side skirts, roof scoops, hoods, rims, wide body kits, neon and more, if you can trick it out in real life, you can trick it out in Need for Speed Underground 2.
• Environmental Variety: Each of the five distinct neighborhoods in Need for Speed Underground 2 feature a unique look and feel, including varied driving conditions and track types. Road surfaces, real-time weather effects, and environmental hazards will keep gamers on their toes as they race from dusk till dawn.
• Online: Gamers can put their reputation on the line, challenging the world's best racers online over Xbox Live.

Customer Reviews

A Solid Street Racer!
I played a Finished version of this game.I gotta say it looks good. The driving mechanics are a little different ,but barely noticable.Its also free roaming game like GTA. You get to choose where to go to next and you can challenge other drivers,if you have enough cash for the bet. If you like NFS underground,You'll definately like part 2 . Its not to hard to drive the cars either. Its not like DRIV3R at all.Graphics looked good also. I only played about 20 minutes,but from what I saw its been improved.You definately have the feel of being on the real street underground scene. But I didn't see any cops?? So I guess no tickets. Well this review is based on 20 minutes of gameplay,but I gotta say Looks like a winner.Also Brooke Burke (that hot brunette on wild on E)is your personal narrator in the game. PLEASE NOTE: I played a version of this game before it was realeased.This Game Rocks in more ways than I can even explain.If you like racing games you'll LOVE NFSU2! It Raises The bar on this franchise, I can say honestly part 2 is better than 1st game.

Another Winner in the NFS Series!!!
EA broke the barrier with last year's hit Need For Speed Underground, and rather then let players have some time to catch their breath, BAM!! EA hit us with the new release NFS:U2!!! I saw the trailers, and read the reviews, and experienced some initial hand wringing due to some of the poor reviews i read on-line, but I can say that Underground 2 is an excellent game, and a worthy addition to EA's stable of racing games. The graphics are crisp and clean, and the city of Bayview looks beautiful in the neon washed, wet asphalt look that NFS:U made about as famous and imitatable as "Bullet-Time." The car selections are pretty familiar imports that you can soup up to insane levels of performance but not sure where the hydralics come into play?? Seriously the car selection offers the player some nice choices such as the 2000 Honda Civic SI, one of my faves, the Mitsu Evo, the Toyota Supra and Corolla (Legendary drifter), The WRX, and some brand news ones such as the Infinti G35, H2 Hummer, and the 2005 Mustang GT!!! The city is huge, but easy to move around in with or without the aide of a wonderful GPS system that is very similar to the one used in Smuggler's Run and Midnight Club (think BIG GLOWING ARROW)that helps the directionally impaired find their next race, garage, or shop.
At first i found driving all over the city pretty distracting, and I wasn't sure if i liked the idea, but after awhile it becomes second nature, and I like tooling around Bayview in my Souped Up Civic. SUV's have been added to the stable of cars that can be raced but I am almost afraid to try that level of racing yet. EA was kind enough to add replays (FINALLY!!!) and a very nice Dyno center where the tuner in all of us can tinker, and tweak with your car to get the most out of it, and actually see the numbers on the dyno, nice touch. Many real world sponsors have gotten involved with this series and you can slap parts on your car in the game that you can get down at the local shops. I like the realism in that, plus it sounds cool to say that you have a Greddy Turbo, AEM Cold Air Intake, DC Sports Header and Venom Nitrous Oxide System on your Civic SI. Maybe its just me.
The races are still set up with Drags, Drifts, Circuits, Sprints, and some new ones have been added the awesome URL, Underground Racing League, and Auto Cross racing which seems more like Nascar with all the banging, and shoving. A feature borrowed from Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero has also been added where the player can challenge random cars to Outrun matches which adds to re-play value, and adds that Bad Boy factor.
The only negative i can see is that rather then use real motion, or animated sequences with your street racing tutor like from the first one U:2 uses a graphic novel approach to the cutscenes involving the "story". I'm not real crazy about that, BUT i will not let that one little tiny complaint detract from what i think is an exceptionally fun and satisfying racing game.
I am still playing the Career mode like a madman and don't think i have the stones to go on-line and see how real people are racing, but the game is excellent by my standards, and I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of it in just a few races. So give it a try Drop it in and Drive. Come you know you want to!!!

Need For "Need for Speed Undground 2"
I have the first "NFS Underground" and I really enjoyed it but I was worried that Underground 2 would not be different enough to spend money on it. So I rented it. I was blown away by how cool it is, so I went and bought it.

Pros (over the first game)

1. You get Nos much earlier in the game (than U1).

2. The points you get for "avoiding accidents" or "power slides" etc. instantly refill your Nos meter.

3. The game flows better, because you drive (in a free ride mode) from race to race, and you pick where you go.

4. There are more race types.

5. If you are struggling with a certain type of race, you can go to the garage and gear your car for a certain type of race.

6. You get sponsors and you scroll through different companies and names and you choose which you want. (Some contracts require certain types of races, and pay more money)

7. When you are put on a magazine cover, you move your car around until you are satisfied and you take the picture.

8. You can own multiple cars (including SUVs, Sports cars, and the original "U1" cars)

9. There is a GPS you can turn on to guide you to different events (aside from a very detail city map)

10. More details which you can upgrade on your car. Even the new available paint colors pay incredible attention to detail.

Cons:

1. I have played the game for hours and I am only 15 % through the game

2. I am only 15% through the game and the races are starting to get much harder

(I'm a little worried the game may go on too long and become too difficult and I have never enjoyed games that make you repeat the same thing over and over.)

The game is awesome! If you liked Underground, you will like Underground 2 even more. I think it is definitely the best car racing game available. If you rent it, you are going to want to buy it.