Not surprisingly, a sequel is underway and EA have upped the ante even more. The reason that Underground has been so vastly improved is because the amount of games being released, which resemble illegal street racing, has increased immensely. Juiced & Street Racing Syndicate appear to be the greatest challengers to the title of “best illegal street racing game” and EA is eager not to be beaten at their own game…. Literally.
We recently had an opportunity to go “hands on” with a demo of the upcoming game, which is now less than two months away, and we finished the demo with mixed feelings. For those of you who are wondering how you can get a hold of the demo, it features on the Playstation 2 version of Burnout 3: Takedown.
The demo opens with the usual warnings and a very long loading section. We hope this is absent from the retail version as the loading was in excess of twenty seconds. When this is done, players are introduced to something, which is very new to the Need For Speed series, free roaming. That’s right, similar in vein to Midnight Club II players are dropped into an immersive city and have the ability to race when they want, instead of having to follow a pre-determined route.
We took it upon ourselves to try and exploit the restrictions of the demo, certain areas are blocked off and at the moment going into a “no go” zone will simply block your car. We hope this is rectified as it does take away from the potential immersiveness of the free roaming. Nobody likes to be stopped suddenly while they are taking what they assume to be a shortcut.
The first race we took part in was an outrun race. To start a race players find an opponent to race and then follow them around, this will initiate a race. The objective of this was to simply lose the opponent in the fastest time possible. This was just done in the actual level, which was gratifying as it meant no dreadful loading time. When winning players are presented with a time and can move on to the next challenge. This kind of freedom is new to the Need For Speed series, many other games have been doing it for years but it does feel so much less restrictive.
We then decided to enter a more restrictive street race. We were subjected to a loading screen but the action takes place in the free-roaming city again, from what we can tell all action will take place in this city so let’s hope it becomes a bit more lively before the final release.
Overall we found that Underground 2 resembles the first title, which is pleasing, it hasn’t changed beyond recognition but looks to be a more comprehensive title. We are a little worried about the “liveliness” of the free roaming city but aside from that Need For Speed: Underground 2 should be a great title.
Need For Speed: Underground 2 will be out on the 12th of November, 2004 for the Xbox, Gamecube, PS2, GBA and PC. Once again, EA are hoping to re-write the record books and sell a truckload of copies, from our impressions, it just looks like they will. Stay tuned to PALGN for more information on Need for Speed: Underground 2 as soon as it becomes available.
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