Need for Speed: Underground is a street racing game from EA Black Box, sending an unknown driver from rank seven to the top of the underground scene. The complete career spans over one hundred events across sprint, circuit, drag and drift disciplines.
The visual customisation ladder is the career’s heartbeat, with paint levels, neon, vinyls and body kits unlocking steadily. Reaching the coveted purple paint at level three marks a genuine milestone in the climb.
Drifting is the standout discipline, with the scoring event proving the most consistent and satisfying of the four. The short, snappy races keep the pace brisk, with most events passing in two or three minutes.
The rubber-banding AI is blatant, with rivals magnetised to the track and luck outweighing skill in the outcomes. The blind hills and randomised traffic are the worst of the track hazards, and the one-use NOS limits the comebacks.
The drag races fall from favourite to frustration, with the perfect shift window a myth and restarts piling up. One drag is only winnable by stripping the car back to stock, which exposes the tuning’s limits.
The Eddie buildup dominates the closing stretch, with the head-to-head against the number-one racer landing as a single anticlimactic race. The soundtrack keeps the sessions lively, with several tracks earning return visits and the short stages making retries painless.
Overall, the customisation ladder, the drifting and the brisk event structure keep the career fun to the finish. The drag races and the rubber-banding AI are the main caveats.