In this review, we try to be the underground king in the Game Boy Advance game, Need for Speed: Underground. We find out how well this racing game plays.
This game was released in 2003. It is a port from the console version. We’ve already reviewed the Playstation 2 version and that scored quite well. So, we thought we’d give this version a try to see how well it translates.
There’s not much story to this game. You play as an unknown driver trying to make it in the underground. The ultimate goal being to be the king of the underground world of racing.
As you can imagine, since this is a portable port at the time, concessions were, in fact, made. The big concession being that tracks were re-designed to be much more simple. Non-drag race races rely heavily on hairpin turns more than anything else. If you’ve had the chance to play a game like Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, then you’ll have a good shot at navigating the courses. Still, it’s hard to complain when you have a third person perspective racing game on a system like this.
Racing style is somewhat more in the realm of realism. It’s not super realistic like Gran Turismo 2, but if you have experience playing those games, then you’ll be able to handle the cars abilities right off the bat.
You’ll have a chance to play a quick race. Everything that is unlocked can be played. Of course, the main mode of this game is to “Go Underground”. You’ll start with all upgrades locked and only a small number of cars. While 10,000 credits is a great sum of cash to start, a vast majority is spent on the car itself. You’ll have a choice between the Focus, Lancer, and Impreza. We wound up picking the Focus with its handling and it worked out well enough to make it considerably far into the game.
You’ll start in a preliminary tournament of circuit races. Make your way to the top to impress the underground. This accomplishment allows you to enter the big leagues. The big leagues, meanwhile, features 4 events with 20 opponents each. In all, you’ll have to take on up to 90 opponents assuming you are always successful in climbing the ranks.
The four events in question are Circuit, Sprint, Drag, and Drift races.
Circuit allows you to play a small number of tracks with up to three other opponents. The races can take anywhere between 1 and 4 laps (single lap races not available if an opponent challenges you). First to cross the finish line wins.
Sprint races similarly to circuit, however, it is basically a point A to point B race. The races are generally more intense because they are often quite short. A single mistake can very easily cause you to limp across the finish line in dead last.
Drag race is also a point A to point B race. The only difference is that they are short and don’t generally involve turns and plays more like a slot racer. While this sounds like an overly simple race, the game also forces you to manually shift gears. Nitro is also moved to the up D-pad if you have it. You even start in neutral and are forced to make your first gear shift off the start line. Try not to accidentally throw your car in reverse.
Finally, there is drift races. Unlike other races, you tackle the course alone. The goal is to get as much drift points as possible before the end of the race. The faster and more extreme angle you can go, the more points you can earn in a particular drift. Like the console version, you can easily chain your drifts for even higher score. Also, there are lines on the edges of the track. Drift in these areas and your score will go up even higher because of the bonus you receive.
Another aspect of the drift race is the multiplier bonuses. You start with a 1x. If you manage to get a 400 point drift, you’ll bump that multiplier up to x2. 800 grants you a 3x. 1,600 nets you a 4x. If you manage to make it all the way up to 3,200, you’ll get the maximum 5x. Slowing down or not earning drifts after getting those bonuses will gradually knock your multiplier down. Hitting a wall not only cancels your drift points you were earning at the time, but also knocks you all the way back down to 1x.
Note that you also have a time limit in drift mode. Go over the time limit and risk losing the race. Beat your opponents top score to win.
Even in the preliminary league, as you win races, you’ll not only earn credits, but you’ll also either unlock parts or be one step closer to unlocking those parts. Parts can either be performance or appearance. Appearance will make your car look pretty, but unlike the console version, won’t get you anything else. Performance, however, will boost your car stats. So, the sooner you can get those parts installed, the better.
Other vehicles are also unlocked as you win races. The only caveat is that better cars tend to be the most expensive purchases in the whole game. So, you need to figure out when it is most advantageous to go for it. Generally, if you are finding a certain race series to be a real cash cow, then it may be too early to go for an upgrade.
For instance, if you are like me and got the Focus, as long as I was making the upgrades, I found that I could easily beat opponents to the tune of 30 seconds or more in the circuit races. When the longest races go for about 5 minutes and as little as 1 minute, that’s total domination. Getting greedy early on can actually cost you in this game.
For me, my first purchase was the RX-7. This is because the Focus started to lose it’s ability by the time I hit the top 5 in spite of the upgrades. If you make that change, you’ll notice the handling is drastically different. The car can hold its own on some of the earlier drag races. However, the massive advantage is that it basically dominates the drift races. I could easily take the opponents score in the first lap of the race. The problem is that it is almost impossible to drive in the circuit races. So, I was dreading having opponents challenge me in those races because it was so difficult to stay ahead.
The point is, different cars can have a huge impact on your ability to win races. Eventually, the ultimate car is the Skyline. While it may not specifically dominate any one race, it can definitely take on opponents and give you a reasonable shot at winning in pretty much anything. In the mean time, you have to figure out which race type your current vehicle is good at and hammer away those wins to unlock as many things as possible.
As mentioned, opponents can challenge you to a race. This is because they are also vying for the top spot and rankings regularly adjust in other races. No one can challenge you if you are at the bottom, but if you managed to make any progress in any of the events, you risk the challenge. The good news is that challenges not only allow you to earn cash, but also more wins to unlock more parts. So, there’s not much in the way of downsides to challenges unless you happen to make a vehicle upgrade that makes you particularly weak in that event.
The other major advantage of being challenged is the fact that you hold all the event cards. Once an opponent challenges you from below, you get the chance to select the venue, number of laps, and opponents you face. If you find yourself particularly good at a particular course configuration, you can easily defend yourself on your own “turf” and snap up those wins.
Make it to the top of all four events and you beat the game.
One of the complaints I’ve heard about this game is that it is difficult. For that assessment, I both agree and disagree. If we’re talking about taking, say, the Focus onto the drift or drag races, I agree. It is near impossible. If we’re talking about taking that same car on the circuit courses, then I disagree and that the game is actually quite manageable. It ultimately depends on how you form your strategy in the game itself.
What I will say is that it’s hard to tell which car is going to perform particularly well in certain events. All you really have to go by are the cars name and basic stats. So, feeling your way around and just guessing may be a strategy you have to employ on your first go around.
One thing that is difficult about this game revolves around the graphics and its impact on gameplay. It can be difficult at times to really “read” the road. If you use patterns in the buildings to figure out where the road turns, you’ll often find yourself plowing into walls. The only thing you can really rely on is the thin grey line of the distant road to really figure it out. Even then, it can be difficult with downhills covering that up completely. Road signs do help, but they only go so far. It takes a lot of getting used to which is unfortunate.
What I am impressed by is the fact that there is any sense of realism at all. The entry point and speed on turns plays a huge role in the success of a lot of races. Unlike Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, you aren’t stuck with just holding down gas for the whole race. If you are entering turns on the inside lane, you have to slow down or face plowing into the wall. A wide approach for obvious reasons is preferred wherever possible. As long as you’re reasonably conservative, taking things a little on the slow side is much better than plowing into traffic or smashing into walls and hoping for a recovery. There is thought required in this racing.
I also found the length reasonable and the difficulty curve is nicely done. You need some strategy for success, but if you manage to execute a decent enough strategy, all you have left is likely a few sprint races. Even then, if you have already unlocked everything, you can even skip a few opponents for an even faster win.
The ending for this game, however, is extremely anti-climactic. I was hoping for something more than a small block of text to be honest. It’s on par with the ending for Top Gear 3000.
All in all, I find myself pleasantly surprised at how well this game plays. I honestly was expecting a top down perspective game, but this port manages to stay much more true to the original console version much more successfully than you might think. Obviously, there are concessions to be made here thanks to hardware limitations, but it is a surprisingly solid game.
Graphically, this game shines in some ways and flops in others. It’s a third person perspective racing game. This is a huge accomplishment considering the hardware in question. The fully textured buildings, even if the tracks were put together like Lego blocks, is also impressive. My big gripe with this game is the fact that the road can be difficult to read. This leads to instances of smashing into different walls simply because you through there was some sort of opening or area. Could have backed off the textures a little bit or made the road more obvious in my view. Still, it’s a very solid effort and it gets a thumbs up from me.
Audio is also a pleasant surprise. I honestly was expecting some sequenced music to go in place of what the console version had to offer. Instead, the licensed music is actually in this game. The game features four tracks: Lil Jon & The Eastside Boys – Get Low, Overseer – Doomsday, Static-X – The Only, and Jerk – Sucked In. The tracks are also abbreviated versions of the originals. There are obviously other tracks I would have liked to have heard in this port, but the fact that any of the licensed music made it at all is nicely done. Sound effects are also quite reasonable. So, I’d say it’s another solid effort here as well.
Overall, this handheld port packs a lot of pleasant surprises considering the hardware. You actually race full 3D environments. There is four different race modes. You’ll even get multiple hours worth of gameplay thanks to the number of races. It may take some strategy to keep the difficulty reasonable, but this game is certainly playable. Ending is disappointing, unfortunately. Graphically, it’s impressive that I’m playing a full 3D game at all. Unfortunately, the textures make it hard to see the road at times. Audio is also very nicely done. So, I’d say this is a recommended play.
Overall
Furthest point in game: Beat the game.
General gameplay: 20/25
Replay value: 8/10
Graphics: 7/10
Audio: 4/5
Overall rating: 78%
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Facebook.
