DEMIAN: Brooke Burke as the no-guff-takin’, street-slang-slingin’ queen of an underground racing circuit? Eh, whatever, nobody plays a racing game for the story...or the stilted dialogue.

Underground 2 ditches the last game’s parade of menus in favor of a Midnight Club–esque open-plan metropolis that’s packed full of tuner shops to discover, relatively diverse race events to pick and choose from, and rivals you can challenge to an impromptu drag. As you win, you’ll increase both your rep and your bank account, in turn opening up new areas, events, part upgrades, and cars, and even attract corporate sponsors. It’s the usual hamster wheel, except this one is unbelievably big—you’ll be unlocking new stuff for weeks. Unfortunately, you’ll soon get to the point where you’ve got stacks of cash but nothing to spend it on because the better gear isn’t available yet. Kind of defeats the purpose of being rich.

Although the racing itself feels a little slower than the last game’s, it’s good, arcadey fun. Underground 2 takes some inspiration from Burnout and refills your nitrous supply a bit when you drift or narrowly miss another car; it keeps you driving on the edge, even if the performance payoff is fairly small. Underground 2 is a fun ride as long as it lasts—which is for a hell of a long time.

GMR—ANDREW: If money’s tight and you’re having trouble deciding what kind of racing game you want to pick up, Underground 2 is your best bet. Like the first Underground, it’s a good blend of styles: The look and feel of the game is quite arcadelike and the multitude of customization options really heightens the flash factor, but there’s still enough going on under the hood to keep sim and tuning aficionados interested.

And considering the game’s massive size, it’ll have a hold on your interest for quite a while. Underground 2’s fictional metropolis, which is broken into four main sections, is a veritable racing buffet. Tired of losing drag races and need to build some more bank? Head on over to the drift courses. If you want to get technical, enter a URL event. Or if you want to see more of the city, take on a circuit race or just challenge a fellow motorist to a friendly duel as you roam freely about the city. It’s packed with value; any fan of auto racing in general will find something to like about Underground 2.

XBN—CHE: Sure, the cars are fast, the streets are wet, and the night is aglow with neon streaks—but if you think Underground 2 is a formulaic rehash of the street-racing games you’ve already seen this year, think again. The game’s new approach, opening up all of fictitious Bayview City for you to explore, is innovative enough that less ambitious racers in the future will feel stale by comparison. Since the journey from one race to the next is nearly as important as the official events themselves, Underground 2 takes on vague role-playing game undertones with its random encounters (with rival night kids) and a car that literally “levels up” in stages of performance.

Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement; the massive urban environment, although technically astounding, could teem with a bit more nightlife. As well, the game’s overall length and number of hidden surprises is downright daunting, yet the story is so paper-thin, the series still lacks the impetus necessary to motivate casual racers through nearly 50 hours of gameplay.

The verdicts (out of 10)

Demian 8.0

Andrew 9.0

Che 8.0

Publisher: EA Games

Developer: EA Canada

Players: 1-2 (2-4 online)

ESRB: Everyone

www.ea.com

Good: Huge game, equally huge car customization options

Bad: Desperately hip faux street lingo, long load times

Hard to Unlock, but it’s in There: Nissan Skyline

What’s the Diff?

The Xbox and Cube versions of Underground 2 look sharper than the PlayStation game but don’t have some of the (arguably) cooler blur effects. All control perfectly well, though the Xbox’s shoulder triggers are ideal for launching at just the right revs in drag races. The Xbox version doesn’t support custom soundtracks, though (boo!). Load times are also frequent and particularly terrible on PS2.

New Parts Have Arrived!

A quick look at Underground 2’s new modes and features

Street X: These races around short, tight tracks usually involve a lot of banging and rarely go beyond third gear. Fun, but fairly easy. And no nitrous!

URL: Short for Underground Racing League. URL events are on real racetracks, sometimes involve multiple heats, and are tough but lucrative.

SUVs: These hogs of the road aren’t much for actual racing, but if all you want to do is roll around town, nothing says “call me playa” better.

Online: Well, new for Xbox (PS2 was online last year), online modes support only four players and don’t offer any online-specific race types. Pretty vanilla.

Copyright © 2004 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Electronic Gaming Monthly.