The hugely popular Need For Speed series goes underground.

No stupid, that doesn't mean that all the racing is in tunnels; NFSU takes the series "underground" into the car modding scene, and that means all the racing is done at night. There are 3 game modes: Underground mode, Quick Race and Split screen. Underground mode is the main story chunk of the game; you play as a first time street racer using a plain old car on your quest for glory. Cars such as the Nissan Skyline, the 350z, Dodge Neon, Honda S2000, Peugeot 206, Toyota Supra and Celica, Ford Focus, Mitsubishi Lancer and the ubiquitous Subara Impreza all await your customization. As you complete races you unlock tons of visual and performance upgrades to turn your car into a real beast. There are hundreds of visual upgrades including bumpers, spoilers, decals and loads more from major aftermarket parts manufacturers including AEM Inc., Audiobahn®, Bilstein®, Dazz Motorsport, DC Sports, Eibach®, Enkei, GReddy Performance Products Inc., HKS®, Holley®, InjenTM, Jackson Racing, MOMO, Neuspeed®, Nitrous Express Inc., O.Z®, PIAA, Skunk2 Racing, Sparco®, StreetGlow®, and Turbonetics Inc…

   

Performance upgrades include exhausts, brakes and nitro boosts. The Quick Race mode allows you to choose any of your modded cars or cars you've won and race on any unlocked track in 5 race types; these are circuit, sprint, drag, drift, lap knockout and a freerun mode for practice. The racing itself is extremely face paced, the handling is very arcadey and it's easy to play. The underground mode gets tough and it's long but the varied race types keep it interesting. Also you'll be put on in-game magazine covers so you can immortalize your 'rides' - a nice touch.

   

Graphically the game is brill with its highly detailed cars, cities and roads, and there are nice reflections on the car and roads. When you hit the nitro button you get an excellent speed effect looks like your going about 500mph and you'll be on the edge of your seat - the frame rate dips occasionally but isn't a major concern. As with all EA games these days the soundtrack features real life artists that include Rob Zombie, Mystial, Nate Dog and the X-Ecutioners. Handily there's an option to edit the soundtrack and turn off any tracks you don't like on the menu.

Overall if you're into the car modding scene (even a tiny bit like me) you'll probably love NFSU. It's a good arcade racer but not as great as maybe it could be, hopefully the inevitable sequel will fix that.