Forum moderator EA Torque is back with the second installment of his Need for Speed Retrospective series. Enjoy.

 
Finally after many months, it's here. Need for Speed Retrospective, Part II. Starting off where I left off in the the initial installment of my Retrospective, the now classic NFS Hot Pursuit 2, was followed up by THE game that could be single handedly charged with changing the face of Need for Speed forever: Underground.

Need for Speed Underground

A brand new style of Need for Speed launched into living rooms November of 2003. The neon night life scene kindling in the late nineties had thrust its way into mainstream success and the team behind Need for Speed became inspired to once again revolutionize the video game racing genre.

Gone were the one-of-a-kind exotic supercars. Gone were the adrenaline packed police pursuits. Enter a new breed of intense street racing. Need for Speed Underground showcased a wide variety of features that had yet to be seen in a modern racing game.

The single most noticable change was the focus on import tuner culture, complete with such in-depth customization both visual and performance.

Gamers could install loads of custom body kits, turbochargers, nitrous oxide. They could customize their ride and express their personalities with a visual vinyl system, neon lights and bumpin' fifteens in the boot!

All of this was enhanced by a sweet visual star rating system, with 1 star being completely lame and five stars being wicked awesome. Then you got to hit the streets and earn you some style points, and unlock some more sweet rides and even sweeter stuff!

The single player progression was no longer bland and basic. Going Underground meant participating in a unique storyline, guided by the lovely Samantha. You worked your way from street punk to elite racer, overcoming notorious rival racers like the Junk Man, Eddie.

The environments were also unique in this title. Instead of tracks set in various real world locales, Underground reflected its urban influences by giving users raceways set in what appears to be various places throughout a fictional city.

You could enjoy this unique urban envirnoment not only in traditional ciruit races, but point to point sprints, drifting competions and drag racing. While sprints are relatively similar to circuits, drift and drag were different. Drag racing did require players to steer, only to tap a directional button to switch lanes.

Launching the car and shifting at the perfect time was critical in winning a drag race. Drifting, based upon the popular Japanese motorsport, required drives to drift various race tracks and earn a high score as opposed to timed racing.

After launch, NFS was forever changed. Some openly rejected (and some still do...) the change, while others jumped on board. I myself was even skeptical, being a huge GT racing fan I mostly sat back and laughed at the little kids in their Honda Civics. But, though I was a fan of the scene, I was given a chance to check it out and I did, and instantly fell in love. I was a car enthusiast before Underground, but this set it into to overdrive and I found myself respect for everything with four wheels and an engine.

Underground also brought in countless amount of newcomers who weren't even aware of NFS until this game. So many people still talk to this day like this NFS is the first in the series. That's actually part of the reason why I'm writing this article now.

Need for Speed Underground 2

The massive success of Underground lead Black Box to immediately create a sequel to the bestseller in 2004. Big success of course meant a big sequel and Underground 2 delivered on all fronts. 

The urban environment returned only this time it wasn't enclosed race tracks. It was the living city of Bayview. Free-roaming gameplay was introduced and gamers now had to drive to the races to compete in them. As players drove around this environment with their tricked out whips, they could find hidden performance and visual tuning shops and even more hidden races.

SUVs like the Hummer H2 and some modern muscle cars like the then new S197 Ford Mustang GT and the Pontiac GTO entered the fray giving a completely new and fresh gameplay avenue for fans to explore.

The visual upgrades were extensively overhauled and users now had seemingly endless options to choose from. Everything that was previously available in Underground more then tripled in available options in the second game and was joined by a host of even more in-depth options. Split hoods, custom doors, interior and engine neons, spinners. The visual star meter returned and has doubled in size, making the rides twice as hot. The possibilities were  endless.

New game modes found their way into Underground 2. Modes like Street X and the organic drift added many more ways to enjoy the tuned and tricked out beauties.

A revolutionary performance tuning system complete with a rather memorable dynometer saw its entrance in this Underground title further enhancing the capabilities of ride by altering its driving characteristics to suit your own driving style.

Of course it wouldn't be Underground with out a that motivational storyline and this sequel to the original Underground game cut no corners and delivered another story about revenge and hosted by the lovely Brooke Burke.

Sadly, this was the last entry in the Underground franchise. Fans today still beg for an Underground 3, wondering if the day will ever come.

Need for Speed Most Wanted

And they're back! The exotics. The cops. Need for Speed fans of days past rejoice! Most Wanted was released in 2005 and once again left a mark on the racing world. Most Wanted was supposed to come out after Underground, but after its massive success, Most Wanted was bumped back to make room for Underground 2, which had a shorter development cycle.

Most Wanted tried to blend the success of the Underground series with classic Need for Speed police chases and fast, unique supercars with the imersive storyline, massive free-roaming environment and customization elements picked up from the Underground era.

The customization was scaled back as it was now longer a focus of the game and evolved into a more functional feature with less flair and more form. No more stereos and neons. Just kits and cars. Users could still however install various performance enhancing upgrades and were given the ability to tweak the enhancements with a simplified (compared to Underground 2) tuning system.

The storyline was easily one of the best and surely has proved to be the most memorable. And with now classic characters like the smokin' hot Mia played by Josie Maran, the number 1 racer on the Blacklist, Razor and Rockport's finest, Sargeant Cross himself.

Speaking of Cross, police chases made the bread and butter in this title. And with the newly designed city, Rockport, you could experience a police chase in Need for Speed like never before.

In an open world where you chose your own route to avoid capture. The police chases were also much more dynamic, with more diverse chatter, new tactics, improved AI and varying degrees of Heat, making the police not only faster, but much more difficult to evade.

There were quite a few ways to cool down and rid yourself of that Heat thankfully. If you managed to ditch the police, you could quickly end the chase and rid yourself of the police completely if you made your way to one of the game's various hiding spots. Then you could go and repaint your ride and give it a new look, ridding yourself of the that unwanted Heat.

Gameplay modes and races also returned to the roots, it was all about the fastest to the finish line. The was no Drift this time, Just Circuit, Sprint, Drag and two new modes: Speed Trap and Tollbooth.

Speed Trap was a different style of racing where you would try to clock the highest total by driving by Speed Traps at high speeds. Of course, you had to reach the finish line first too or face penalties to your score.

There were also Tollbooth races, which were like Checkpoint races similar to classic racing games. Basically, you were given limited time to reach various Tollbooths in the city of Rockport. Each time you made it to a Tollbooth, you would gain additional time. In these races, you didn't face off against other drivers, but the clock instead.

And who could forget the most famous car to ever grace Need for Speed. The BMW M3 GTR, clad in what is now called, the Most Wanted Livery.

This car is replicated in countless future iterations of NFS by fans and its return has been requested by countless thousands. And who can blame them? The car is simply brilliant. There's nothing more that can be said about it.

And that being said, it's time for the second part of my Retrospective to come to an end. I assure you, there will be a third chapter covering the latest years of Need for Speed up until the present. You won't have to wait as long as you did for this one. I promise.

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time out to read the article. I hope you've enjoyed and found it it most informative. Take care and I'll see you on the Nordschleife!