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Need for Speed Underground 2 Review - DS

As the Need for Speed series races along at an incredible rate, it is also expanding into different possibilities. The Xbox and PS2 seem to host the best of the games at the moment, however now you can find Need for Speed on handhelds including of course the Nintendo DS, but can the handhelds even match the console versions, which are struggling in their own right to remain competitive with today's super games like Burnout 3 and Midnight Club 3? Unfortunately Need for Speed Underground 2 on DS feels incomplete, with ugly handling and graphics that feel quite bland for a $200 machine bought in this generation of gaming.

Gameplay

From the main menu, you can tackle different modes including Race Now, Go Underground, Mini Games, Garage, Profile and indeed Multiplayer. Race Now is basically your arcade mode, making Go Underground mode the place to be for most of the singleplayer action. Throughout your campaign in the underground you have to beat cars, and sometimes no cars, to get over the finishing line as soon as possible in three different types of main events. Circuit mode places you in a track all by yourself where you need to race against the clock, Drag mode pit's you against three other cars in a nice straight gear-shifting line, and Own the Zone is a strange semi-mini game where you get to race against one other car to try to gain control of the majority of the zones in the circuit.

There's no sprint mode, and barely any traffic or enemies to crash up against, but Need for Speed Underground 2 on Nintendo DS tries to pack a punch with it's bonus events and mini-games. Most of the mini-games are old retro games that the average gamer may or may not have played 15 years ago, revamped for modifications of cars. For instance, the engine tuning mini-game is a dot that you have to keep within the jagged edges as it moves along. Sure, you get to utilize the touch screen that we've all come to love, but really there's no point for these mini-games – all they do is add a few minutes to the longevity of the game.

The handling of NFSU2 will have you in tears. If you bang in to a wall, chances are you'll bang in to the wall on the other side, and then go back to the wall you started off at for a final bump before you regain control of the car, even if the walls are three lanes apart. The controls aren't all that bad, and NOS can be activated via the touch screen, but the handling is much too frustrating to justify purchasing this game. Only a true Need for Speed fan could suffer through the underground mode in this version of NFSU2 to be able to say, 'I beat Need for Speed Underground 2 on DS!'

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