Crashing into other cars or bouncing into buildings will slow you down, but neither takes you out of the race entirely nor keeps you in limbo for more than a second. Obviously, this isn't a driving simulator. Colliding with them can lead to messy pileups, just as you'd expect. Chief among these are the vehicles that drive through cross streets and sometimes merge onto the raceway. In general, the other cars stay competitive and are subject to the same mishaps that players are subject to. The CPU has been programmed to take advantage of these shortcuts every so often, but not so often that you end up feeling like the computer is cheating. Most circuit courses have shortcuts in them that drastically reduce lap times. Drift events haven't changed much, but they were fine to begin with, because getting points just for fishtailing the car all over the place never gets old. The drag racing in NFSU2 is more involved than it was in the previous game, because the sequel incorporates traffic, lane changes, and jump ramps into the event. Circuit, knockout, and drag events can involve as many as three other CPU opponents.
The "Go Underground" mode includes a number of different circuit, time trial, knockout, drag, and drift events, as well as simple minigames that unlock rare performance upgrades. More importantly, the game itself is fun and energizing. As was true of the previous entry in the series, the in-game engine and tire sound effects are superb, and they stand out all on their own. Instead of hearing the same censored Lil Jon loop from "Get Low" repeating itself over and over again, the soundtrack is a collection of sublime techno and hip-hop beats that prop up the visuals without overshadowing what's happening. The short music loops that provided the soundtrack for the previous offering were ditched, which is a cutback that ultimately works in the new game's favor. Another nice touch is that you can rotate, turn, and zoom the camera viewpoint in the garage to allow for the ogling of your custom rides. New visual enhancements, such as metallic paint jobs and neon kits, further increase the sexiness quotient. Changes you make to the body, accessories, and paint job in the garage are reflected out on the street, and the high number of polygons, combined with the sharpness of the car graphics, really serves to put the game's vehicles on center stage. The game's car models are particularly impressive. Commuter vehicles also look more realistic this time around, and they often turn onto the main course route instead of just slowly trudging through cross streets. The frame rate is smoother in the sequel than it was in the original, the textures are a little cleaner, and the addition of jump ramps and shortcuts to the courses helps make a person feel like he or she's in a city environment. Due to the low screen resolution and the relatively minimal polygon count, the graphics, on the whole, do appear somewhat pixelated, although not to the point that they get in the way of gameplay. Need for Speed Underground 2 for the GBA features 3D cars and courses.ģD isn't the GBA's strong suit, so it's actually pretty impressive that all the cars and courses in NFSU2 are put together using flat-shaded and texture-mapped polygons.
In fact, improvements have been made to such an extent that this latest release stacks up well against the pedigree established by the console versions of the franchise. At the same time, the team has made a handful of improvements to the game's course designs and modding interface. While those same blocky circuit graphics are back for an encore in Need for Speed Underground 2, the development team seems to have ironed out some of the sicklier aspects of the graphics engine. However, under the hood it was a delight to play, and it really did a nice job of letting players tweak, paint, and modify their own stables of hot rods. The previous Need for Speed Underground game on the GBA received quite a bit of flack for its pixelated, choppy visuals.
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