Need for Speed: Underground is a 2003 racing video game and the seventh installment in the Need for Speed series. It rebooted the franchise, ignoring previous Need for Speed games that featured sports cars and exotics. Underground is the first game in the series to offer a career mode that features a comprehensive storyline, as well as a garage mode that allows players to fully customize their cars with a large variety of brand-name performance and visual upgrades. The player arrives in Olympic City as an unknown street racer, guided by a contact named Samantha who introduces them to the local illegal racing scene. As they climb through the ranks by defeating circuit, drag, and drift specialists, they attract the attention of The Eastsiders, a dominant racing crew led by the city's top underground racer, Eddie. Eddie dismisses the newcomer and forces them to race Samantha to continue climbing, a decision that fractures their friendship. After working their way to the top of every racing board and reclaiming Samantha's stolen car from a rival mechanic, the player confronts Eddie and defeats him, only to face a final challenge from an unidentified driver revealed to be Eddie's girlfriend, Melissa.
Racingburnoutstreet racingdriftingsplit-screen multiplayerpolygonal 3dlicensed soundtrackmotion blurnon-player charactervehicle customizationsprinting mechanicslicensed carsdolby digitalXbox, Nintendo GameCube, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 2
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Character
Earnest, grave, resolved and plot-driven.
- earnestironic
- gravecomic
- resolvedopen-ended
- character-ledplot-driven
- classical in formformally daring
Who loves it, who doesn't
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Reviews
No reviews yet.
About the game
- Platforms
- Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 2
- Developer
- EA Black Box
- Publisher
- Electronic Arts
- Released
- November 17, 2003
- Modes
- Single player, Multiplayer, Split screen
- Perspective
- First person, Third person
- Engine
- EAGL
- Time to beat
- 10 h main story
IGDB rating 8.0/10 from 836 ratings.
Screenshots
Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Curator Co. Other media included when they land close.
Need for Speed: Underground 2 200487% alikeBoth resolved, earnest, plot-driven.
Need for Speed: Most Wanted 200584% alikeBoth plot-driven, earnest, grave.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 200384% alikeBoth earnest, plot-driven, grave.
Both resolved, plot-driven, unpretentious.
Crisis Beat 199880% alikeBoth plot-driven, earnest, grave.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 200379% alikeBoth earnest, plot-driven, grave.
Clash Royale 201679% alikeBoth earnest, plot-driven, classical in form.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 200079% alikeBoth earnest, grave, plot-driven.
The King's Avatar 201774% alikeSeries · Both earnest, classical in form, grave.
Hawaii Five-O 196972% alikeSeries · Both earnest, resolved, classical in form.
Often played with
Similar games per IGDB. Opening one adds it to Curator Co.
