So I’ve been on a quest of late to find the best racing game for Gamecube that’s available. I rented Need for Speed: Underground from the video shop, and I have some mixed feelings about it that I’d like to share.
First off, on a positive note, the game physics and graphics are excellent. I’ve always enjoyed the NFS franchise, way back to the original release that I had for the ol’ PC. It’s no Gran Turismo, and it doesn’t have the pure joy that the Test Drive series for Playstation had, but it has plenty of variation in types of races to keep one interested. It gets a little tiring driving around the same city blocks over and over again, but the game switches it up enough to keep things interesting.
Second, and not so positive, is the whole storyline/concept of the game. Maybe I just don’t get the whole import thing, or maybe I don’t believe that people actully throw money and time away like that, but I find it hard to believe that there are really “underground” racing clubs that tear through city streets when no one is apparently looking.
Basically, you start out with a normal somewhat crappy car. I chose a Volkswagen Golf. (They didn’t have a Jetta.) I could have chosen from a wide selection of other exotic cars, such as a Honda Civic, a Mazda Miata or, and this is awesome, a Dodge Neon. That’s right, a Neon.
The point of the story mode is that you win races and contests to get money in order to upgrade the performance and “street cred” appearance of your car. That’s cool. I’m all about bumping up the top speed and acceleration of my Golf. It’s that whole “street cred” thing that gets me. See, I’ve reached a point where, in order to advance in the game, I have to make my car look stupid. I have to boost my “rep” by adding neon ground effects and wicked ugly decals and vinyl. I’ve reached a point where I’m not really willing to add anymore shit to my otherwise pretty cool stark white Golf. It started with a paint job and some custom bumpers and a hood with a cool scoop. I even went so far as to add a goofy spoiler and some custom rims, and the final stretch was adding some white neon lights to the bottom. But I just can’t bring myself to add decals and “paintbrush” vinyl graphics to the side of the pristine white paint job on the Golf. Maybe that’s shame on me, but I think the car looks better without all that shit.
Maybe I just don’t get it. Oh well, the racing part is still a blast. Any suggestions for other good Gamecube racing games?
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