Let me first say that I never actually played the first Need for Speed Underground. I heard a lot of good things, but the idea of customizing cars just never really appealed to me all that much. However, I decided to give NFSU 2 a chance. What I found was a mixed bag. It has its ups and its down, but overall I would have to say that it is worth picking up for at least a weekend.

Like almost every other company, EA decided to start taking some ideas from Grand Theft Auto. Sure, we all love the open ended city that can be fully explored from the beginning, but sometimes a publisher needs to know when to quit. In this case, in order to accomplish anything, you have to drive through the city to find it. This means having to drive to your races and to stores to find new parts. This seemed extremely boring as the stores don't even show up on the map until you find them by yourself. I already didn't like the idea of making my car a model out of Pimp My Ride, and this just makes it harder to do. Call me crazy, but having neon blue lights coming from beneath my car and having giant purple flames on the side just doesn't scream "excitement" to me. Give me a car and let me race…

Speaking of which, racing should be the primary focus of a, well, racing game. To a point, it is here. While it starts off very cumbersome and less than engaging, it does become faster and more intense as you make your way up the illegal underground racing circuit. Your first cars are slow and awkwardly controlled. In the first few races, you'll probably find yourself all over the road and rarely making the corners. However, I'm sure that those of you who already played the first game will pick it up immediately and won't have the same troubles that a beginner like me encountered.

My biggest problem with the game is that the races themselves are just not very fun. The AI is laughable on the lower difficulty settings and it doesn't get much better if you set it higher. Once you learn a track or buy some NOS, you'll find it almost difficult to fall behind the other cars. It is at this point in most racing games that gamers turn to any kind of violence they can muster. I fall into this category, and I started to crash into other cars in hopes of some wicked explosions. While the sounds are there, the sights are not. What is the point of even having crashes if the cars don't have any damage models? I realize that games with real, licensed vehicles don't usually, but it never ceases to irk me. I just can't get the satisfaction that I crave without the car being dented and flaming.

Even when the racing does get good and you want to keep going, the game halts you and demands that you start upgrading your rides (not literally, but you'll start losing if you don't). I was perfectly content with my solid black sedan, but apparently I can't get onto magazine covers or get street cred if I don't have spinning rims and three hundred subwoofers. One question: how does a new set of speakers help me win races? Oh well, I know plenty of people who will love the uber customization available to them.

The graphics in NSFU2 are pretty much exactly the same as its predecessor. The streets are still glossy and the cities are still well done. The car models are excellent, however, which is technically the most important graphic aspect. I'm not a fan of blur used in games, but it is quite abundant here. When you hit your turbo, the screen lets you know it.

The sound is one of the driving points of the title, no doubt about it. It is absolutely loaded with popular music, though there is less rap this time around. Some of the artists included are: Terror Squad, Xzibit, Ministry, Queens of the Stone Age, The Doors (yeah, I'm confused too), Mudvayne, and more. If your taste in music is mostly rap and rock, then you'll probably be okay here. However, if you don't like rap, just take my advice like in every game and put your own music on. I have a massive selection of music in my collection, so I can usually find something to fit any game I need to.

Conclusion? If you liked the first title, you'll like this one too. If you are more of an arcade racer like myself and actually hope to spend the majority of your gaming time in races, look elsewhere. Midnight Club and Burnout suit my needs far better than this one, but I did enjoy this one pretty well.