allajunaki's Review
OK guys here is my review.
I downloaded the game on the second day after its launch..
--Intro--
Need For Speed Underground 2(NFS8) is a sequel to hugley popular Need For Speed Underground (NFS7). NFS:UG was a revolutionary in NFS series ,as for the first time they (NFS Developers) chucked out ferraris and Porches for street cars. Its no big secret that its heavily inspired by 'Fast And The Furious' (F&F , 2F2F) Movies.
Original NFS UG was good, So good that i completed the game 3 times (playing for the fourth time!!). And it prompted me to change my Via board to an Intel7205 Board,OverClock the processor (1.6Ghz -> 2Ghz) and Chuck out my GF4MX Card to GF4Ti4400 (So that i can see all the cool motion blur)
So my anticipation was high for this game..
So when I learned bout the demo release, used my hack to get 540Kbps and headed straight for the downloads... So here goes my review
--First Impression--
So when i first fired up the game , I was like cool intor video. then they showed me a green Nissan 350z. The interface has a much more polished look. Its easy to use and looks cool , if not the coolest.
So went for the biggest feature in the game , Free Roam Mode.
Free Roam mode is awesome (in the lines of Midnight Racer 2). Here you travel to places for various modifications and accessories.
You now recieve tips and clues as SMS's, which is quite neat.
In free Roam u have conventional Races also. You just have to travel to those hotspots and accept the Race (Drift and Circuit in demo).
Another Racing Mode (that can only be accessed in free roam mode) is Outrun. Here u engage with random Modders on the road and then you try to outrun them. Cool thing about outrun is that u are not restricted to any particular way. whoever is leading the race gest to choose the path. U win the race by managing to put a gap of 100feet between u and ur opponenet
Another Feature that I missed sorely from NFS6 on is Replay function (NFS6 had replay but its absolutley useless one). UG2 has a Very good replay function. (so u can see how u have done and see all ur mods in action). I wish they implemented Replay in outrun mode also..((replay only applies to Circuit and Drift in Demo)
--Graphics--
Graphics looks a lot mature now. Polygon count is a lot higher now. One thing i like now is they have become a lot more sensible with motion blur. NFS UG1 had nice motion blur. But they made u almost blind at full speed. UG2 has a more sensible blur. Even Reflections on the car has been improved (they no longer look like mirrors) even track side reflections has improved (tey to dont look like mirrors)
Nitrous Blast also has the 'blue tone' which was there in NFS UG1 for Playstaion2. Anyways They have managed to use Pixel Shaders More sensibly than in UG1.
GF4Ti is begining to show its age in this game.. But still holds on well , My entire PC is a lil old. But it somehow manages to hold on well.
(My Config is P4 - 2.03Ghz , 256MB DDR266 in dual Channel DDR, Asus p4G8x(Intel7205) , GeForce4Ti4400 128MB DDR,)
Medium settings performs good enough (800x600) .
