Need For Speed: Underground Impressions - PC

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Nov 18, 2003 10:27 pm

Well I have been giving this game a spin for the last hour and it is just about what I had expected. I got it for PC and have been playing it on my laptop. It runs absolutely as smooth as silk on this thing at the highest resolution and all the graphics maxed out.
 
 I bought a $20 logitech PS2 copy contoller and the thing sucks but is much better than using the keyboard. I can´t even use the analog sticks as the are way too loose. I am sticking to the buttons and the D pad.
 
 Just like the demo, the graphics are top notch. Silky smooth and drop dead gorgous.
 
 The gameplay is fun and has a nice varity so far. I like the presentation and the way the challenges are laid out. This game is basically ´The Fast and The Furious´ turned into a video game. There are over 100 challenges consisting of a mixture of Drag Racing, Circuit Racing, and Drift Racing. There are plenty of options and decent sound and music. There are no replays though which is an interesting ommission. I guess it is no big deal since I never end up watching them anyway.
 
 The control is very good but kind of hard to judge at this point for me since this controller seems to be a piece of junk. But I am able to be competative so the control is somewhat familiar from most other racing games.
 
 Online so far is very smooth and lots of fun. I played a couple Circiut and Drag races. Each had not lag and were really fun. Again, so far it is running very well and could definitely be the games strong point. It will be really fun to build up my ride and Drag Race other players.
 
 They really got the feel of nightime city street racing down. This game will be very popular with anyone who is even remotely interested in customized cars and street racing (even though I am not).
 
 Overall I am glad I purchased this. It will be a very nice counter to my console gaming. I really enjoy being able to play on my laptop anywhere I want. Laptops are key IMO. [ This message was edited by: Spooky on 18-11-2003 18:30 ]

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:34 am

Spooky:
 I´ve got the PS2 version, and it allows for cross platform PS2 to PC online, so if you´re ever online, look me up in the East...

pacuca · Post by **pacuca** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:16 am

Really? A PS2 gamer can play against a PC Gamer? How many opponents can you play against online with the PS2? As many as the PC?
 
 Do any other games have this feature (Cross Platform Gaming)? Thanks.
 
 pacuca

DChaps · Post by **DChaps** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 5:50 am

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE>I´ve got the PS2 version, and it allows for cross platform PS2 to PC online, so if you´re ever online, look me up in the East...
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>Wow, that is pretty cool. I don´t think there have been very many games that have pulled that off, if any. Wasn´t one of the Dreamcast shooters like that, or it was supposed to be?
 
 Thanks for the impressions Spooky. I have owned all the NFS PC games, but was planning on passing this one up now that my gaming funds are so limited. But your impressions have me interested. What kind of graphics card are you running in that laptop?
 
 Another option for you for controller would be to pick up one of the third party PS2 Dual Shock or Xbox S-Controller converters that are out there. Most of them work pretty well if you have an available USB port.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 11:24 am

Chaps,
 
 Thanks for the heads up on the 3rd party adaptors. I forgot about those.
 
 Yeah, I know the game is cross-platform racing but I do not yet know how to tell if I am racing a PC or PS2 player. I wonder if there is even anyway to tell.
 
 Played some more online and off last night and I am starting to understand why some reviews complained about the limited race environments. You are in only one city and the tracks are made up of different branches and sections of other tracks. IMO, there is still a decent variation and this does not lessen the gameplay at all. There tracks are still too beautiful to describe. Very nice job on the overall look of the game.
 
 I am also starting to get a slightly better fell of the control, although, when you start the ´Underground´ mode you have access to only very stripped down slower cars so when I go online and choose a ´top´ car, the speed takes some getting used to. The game is quite similar in many ways to Burnout as far as speed and control go. I like this game a lot better so far though. The sense of speed, even in the earlier cars, is unbeatable. Especially in the 1st person view. It´s absolutely nuts.
 
 As far as a video card in my laptop, I am not sure what ´brand´ it is but I do know it is 64 meg. I have a Sony laptop that is about 5 months old. It has a very high resolution 16.1 inch screen. The thing is a monster. I love it. I was having a blast last night playing online, sitting on the couch with the laptop on my lap, headphones on, sittng right next to my woman who was watching TV while I am drag racing guys with my Puegot 206. [ This message was edited by: Spooky on 19-11-2003 07:25 ]

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 12:27 pm

This is one of the first games that let PC and PS2 gamers play in the same game. I think FFXI will be another, maybe FIFA too. On the PS2, this is suppose to be 4-players.
 
 Spooky, you´re saying you can use any car online, whether you´ve unlocked it or not in singleplayer mode? That would be great, unlike Midnight Club 2, which forced you to play the singleplayer game in order to use the better cars online. I do know that you can customize your car offline and then take it online as well. But having faster cars, even if they´re generic, available for online without having to unlock them would make this game way more appealing to me.
 
 For your laptop, you can search the model number and probably find the specs on the Internet. Or, right-click on the desktop and then you should get System Settings properties and there should be a video settings tab on the far right. If you click hat, it should show what video card it has as well as let you switch the resolution.
 
 A lot of laptops these days have widescreen resolution so that instead of a standard resolution like 1024x768, you get some odd resolution like 1300x800. You can switch resolutions but with LCDs, the native resolution will produce the sharpets images, especially in Windows.
 
 Games however may not necessarily support these odd resolutions so I was curious how they look on laptops with these widescreen LCDs. Are there black bars on the sides or the top and bottom? The game game should have an option where you can set the resolution you want.
 
 It does sound impressive that a laptop can run the game with all the details maxxed out and apparently a smooth enough frame rate?
 
 I´d be curious what kind of a processor it has as well.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:21 pm

WCO,
 
 My laptop´s display setting is set to the highest possilbe resolution for it ( I think it is like 1600x1200) and I have set the visual option in NFS to the highest resolution. It is a standard 16.1 inch screen not a widescreen like those Toshibas (those do look prety cool though). It´s a 2.80 GHZ P4 with 512 RAM.
 
 As far as using cars online, you have the choice of using a ´Pre-Customized´ car (there are like 4 to choose from ) that are just about maxed out or a standard car that you have opened up in the one player mode. With the ´Pre-Custom´ maxed cars, you can ONLY play ´Unranked´ games. With a standard car that you have opened up you can customize them with any options you have opened and then use them for ´ranked´ or ´unranked´ racing. What´s also nice is that you can switch the menu when you are looking at the list of availible players to challenge to see if how the matchup is between cars. It will say either ´Impossible, Challenging, Even, Easy or Very Easy´. It´s a nice feature. [ This message was edited by: Spooky on 19-11-2003 09:24 ]

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:30 pm

I got this yesterday too Spooky.
 
 I like the customization stuff, and it´s certainly pretty. When running it side by side with PGR2 (yes, I actually tried to have both on at once), I just ended up playing more PGR2 than NFSU. NFSU has the customization options that PGR doesn´t, though, so I´m sure it´ll get my attention sooner or later.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:39 pm

T,
 
 Yeah, if only PGR2 was this pretty. Am I the only one who thinks that PGR2 is somewhat bland looking in the graphics dept. ?

mixdj1 · Post by **mixdj1** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 1:46 pm

Spooky,
 
 PGR2 bland? Not really. Lifeless, yes. I think the tracks are detailed enough, it just feels like we´re racing after a plague has wiped out the entire population of the planet. These are huge cities we´re racing in and there´s no activity (other than the occasional birds) to be seen. But then again, I´m there to race so I don´t really need the distractions anyway. <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_biggrin.gif">
 
 mixdj1

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 2:34 pm

Yeah, I like the graphics.
 
 I just feel like I´m racing through a scene of "Night of the Comet".

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 3:54 pm

The clips in the NFSU commercials look good. Probably from the PC version.
 
 They hired some Hollywood film effects guy to design the lighting effects and the sensation of speed in this game.
 
 Does this have traffic in the online races?

pacuca · Post by **pacuca** » Wed Nov 19, 2003 11:59 pm

How many online opponents can you play against in the PC Version? The PS2 Version only allows 2-4 people. Thanks.
 
 pacuca

Toper · Post by **Toper** » Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:59 am

I´ve been playing the ps2 version, and this game is solid. Online is great, with one glaring problem...NO KEYBOARD SUPPORT!!!
 
 Other than that, I´ve been playing this alot, both on/off line.
 
 Toper

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 4:39 pm

The Gamespot review says that the PC version has motion blur turned off by default while it´s defaulted to on in the console versions.
 
 The framerates of the console versions apparently stutter because of the motion blur.
 
 Has anyone tried it with motion blur on with the PC version?

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 5:16 pm

Spooky.....
 
 in the PC version´s options....is there a way to adjust the steering sensitivity? It´s really hard to control my car with the Logotech Dual Analog. You just move the left stick a little and the car moves back and forth. Please tell me there is a way to adjust this in the full game. I have been digging the demo.
 
 Also....is this game worth getting if youre not really too much into the customizing aspect of it? I love the NFS Series and Burnout2 and MC2.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 6:12 pm

Jack,
 
 I think I have the same controller and while I have not seen anything to adjust the sensitivity (I have not really look) I was having the same issue at first.
 
 I have gotten VERY used to it and am able to steer with little problem now. It just took some practice. Also I thinkthe game is still very fun and is worth it if you are a fan of the series and also really like the burnout series.
 
 WCO,
 
 The motion blur is defaulted to off along with the lights blur. I turned them both on immeadiately and have not seen any frame rate difference or noticable issues at all.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Sat Nov 22, 2003 10:49 pm

Motion blur sent my framerate into the toilet. Might be something to do with the graphics cards? I´m running a Radeon 9800 Pro in mine.