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Need for Speed Underground 2 Review - Xbox

2001's The Fast and the Furious explored the relatively new concept of underground street racing, packing numerous scenes of fast and exciting action into one ninety-minute film and educating society on neons, nitrous oxide, body kits and a whole lot of other street racing jargon. Electronic Arts took a hint from the blockbuster's success and last year released the now classic Need for Speed Underground, which captured the essence and adrenaline-pumping nature of The Fast and the Furious and its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious despite having nothing to do with them. Need for Speed Underground 2 has just been released to the excitement of fans of the series such as myself and, injected with a heap of new features, it slides past its predecessor with a burst of nitrous oxide in every way.

Need for Speed Underground 2 sees you playing as a previously high-ranked street racer starting again from the gutter after running into a bit of trouble. The story is pushed forward in a subtle way and at rare occasions through unsuitable, static comic book style cut scenes - the standard computer-animated cut scenes or full motion videos would've worked a lot better, and it's unknown to me why they were exchanged for something that looks like it has come out of Sly 2: Band of Thieves.

The average and poorly-presented storyline aside, however, Need for Speed Underground 2 features all of the fantastic gameplay and style of the original, plus a whole lot more. The largest change that the series has undergone is that of the Career mode's basic structure. Gone are the bland sequential menus of last year's street racer; Need for Speed Underground 2 delivers a more realistic free-roaming experience. The entire game is set in a large, fictional city that is separated into a number of structurally and cosmetically different parts, most of which are closed off for construction, conveniently opening up again after you complete certain races - players of the Grand Theft Auto series will find this familiar. In the centre of the city is your garage which, despite sounding important, is one of the places you'll least be; all it does is hold your cars for you - up to five, in fact, each of which can be traded in for newer cars as they become available.

As you essentially roam the city in your choice of car, swerving through traffic and sliding around corners despite the fact that you aren't restrained by a time limit, you'll come across - most importantly - races and shops. Races are scattered around the streets, sometimes in back alleys and the like, and are highlighted in a neon colour with a certain icon that'll soon adhere to your memory, allowing you to determine what type a race is before you get even close to it. Participating in one of these races is as simple as parking under the icon and tapping the A button, after which you'll be free ... (continued next page)