One of hush-hush titles from this year's E3 turned out to be a nitrous-flavored street racer bearing the famous EA Need For Speed brand. In development by the recently acquired studio Black Box, Need For Speed Underground is all set to latch on to popular sport of illegal street racing. The version of the game shown at the show was running on the PlayStation 2 and was only said to be 25 percent complete -- shipping spring 2004 -- but what was there rocked my world.
I'm a huge fan of arcade racing games and Need For Speed Underground promises to deliver on all levels. The customization aspect of the game is huge. You can take an average $5,000 Honda and trick it out so that it's transformed into a 700 horsepower demon on the streets. From subtle changes like paint jobs and decals, to virtually every aspect of physical and race tuning / customization, Need For Speed Underground offers it all.
Unlike the previous Need For Speed titles, Need For Speed Underground is based on the strict speed-hungry world of street racing. Rather than lap-based races, you'll see more point-to-point races over short distances -- the objective being to perfect gear shifting, aerodynamics, handling and nitro usage.
Need For Speed Underground is set to use licensed real world vehicles including Honda, Mitsubishi and Toyota. But perhaps the most impressive aspect of game is the visuals. The sensation of speed that Need For Speed Underground captures is incredible. The level of photorealistic detail comprising of the levels and the vehicle models was insane. I had a hard time believing that the game was running on PlayStation 2 hardware. Roads looked wet, taillights blurred and the whole screen juddered and thrashed around as the car accelerated into the distance.
Online play will certainly be another reason to keep tabs on Need For Speed Underground. Both the PlayStation 2 and PC games will support up to four players online at the same time. No mentioned of Xbox going online with Xbox Live, but that's pretty much a no-brainer. Potential for a GBA title to have connectivity with the GameCube version of Need For Speed Underground exists, but there's no solid word as of yet.
On the whole, Need For Speed Underground impressed me more than most games at the show and given it's early stage of completion, I'm really looking forward seeing more advanced code later on in the year. Could it take down the likes of Rockstar's Midnight Club II? Time will tell.
