Retro Runback: ‘Need for Speed Underground 2’

Doing these Retro Runback pieces on GameCube games always makes me feel old. I mean, at this point, it’s been over 20 years since its release. So, it counts as retro — it just hurts to acknowledge it. This time around, it’s one of my favorite racing games of all time: Need for Speed Underground 2.

This game was released for PS2 and Xbox, and it dropped a year after 2 Fast 2 Furious, so it was right in the street racing sweet spot. I will admit I only made that mention so I could have a reason to drop the funniest line in the history of that franchise. I still don’t know why someone would approve that. Anyway, Need for Speed Underground 2 is also important because it came at what I consider to be a high point for EA — if not their Golden Era. From 2001 to about mid-2006, we got the Def Jam games, the best of the Madden and NBA Live games, the Street series, and some all-time classic Lord of the Rings games (I would do things to have those back).

‘Need for Speed Underground 2’ was the peak of street racing gaming

The first Need for Speed Underground game was incredible in its own right, but this was the era of gaming where the sequel had to justify its existence past “the first game made a boatload of money.” Underground 2 did that and more. The car customization alone would have me lost in it for hours. I had to get my ride perfect. Between the paint job, the rims, the tires, the spoiler, the hood, and other things, there was just so much to do. Some of it affected the car’s performance in races, which added to the attention needed to get things just right.

The gameplay was arcade-centric, so it was appropriately fast, but there was a real level of skill as well. Especially on the drifting tracks. My favorite, though, was the Outrun races. Put distance between you and your opponent however you can, and do it fast. I always felt like those races were the ones that tested my ability in the game. My stick skills, my ability to remember pathways through the city. All of that was necessary to read and react quickly to finish the race.

Of course, you still have the standard Need for Speed circuit races and sprints that were in the first game. Not to mention the story mode that was told in comic strip style. It’s a largely forgettable story, but it works for what it was at the time. It got me from one race to the other, and that is all you can ask for. Also, give me another reason to hear one of my favorite songs on a game soundtrack ever. The remix of The Doors’ “Riders On The Storm” with Snoop Dogg. I will play that song until the day I’m put in the ground.

‘UNDERGROUND 2′– should we run it back?

Yes, a million times yes. I’d be more than fine with just a remaster of Need for Speed Underground 2. But let’s lean on the gas and get a third game in the series. I’ve seen Payback, Heat, and Unbound, which were all solid games on their own, but EA knows what we want. I mean, the revamped version of Hot Pursuit got a remaster but not arguably the most popular version of the Need for Speed franchise?

What’s even crazier is the expansion of the Fast and Furious franchise in the years since. It seems to only make sense to drop a new Need for Speed Underground. Even as those movies turned into more of a crazy action franchise (which I love with everything in me). In the intervening years, though, we did get some elements of the game with the classic Burnout Paradise. But it’s time to pull this one back out of the garage, we’ve waited long enough. Run it back.