Need For Speed: Underground 2 Retrospective

Legendary Classic Games Series (2004): Need For Speed: Underground 2

Electronic Arts' first NFS game entered our lives in 1994 with "Need For Speed." Since that day, the NFS series has managed to become one of the industry's masterpieces. Even though 26 years have passed, we can't skip over Underground 2, still one of the most memorable games in the still hugely popular NFS series. The latest game in the series to date, "Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered," released on November 6, 2020. While covering 2004 in our legendary games series, we included Underground 2 among the games that turned the series into a giant. So what sets this game apart from the rest of the series? Let's find the answer together.

Why Underground 2?

Chief among the things that set Underground 2 apart, besides its graphics and soundtrack that were ahead of their time, was the ability to freely roam around the city. Previous games only had a menu where you could modify your car, and from that same menu you'd pick a race and run it one after another. The free-roam city mechanic introduced in the second game gave us the freedom to drive around the map however we liked whenever we got tired of racing. It also added a brand-new race type alongside the multiple street and circuit races: "Head-to-Head" racing, meaning a straight one-on-one race. While roaming the city, you could challenge race cars marked with an orange icon on the map to a race whenever you passed by them. One of the most enjoyable parts of this race type was that it didn't have a fixed route. From the moment the race started, the car in front dictated the route, and the car behind had to match its sharp turns, anticipate its moves, and keep up with its speed. To end the race, whoever was in the lead had to put a certain distance between themselves and the racer behind them. The racer who opened up that gap won the race and took a portion of the loser's money for themselves. This mechanic went on to be used extensively in later games in the series. Standing out with a bunch of small additions like this, Underground 2 earned the honor of being one of the best in the series thanks to these small changes.

The 2 Fast 2 Furious Effect

We've already covered most of what made the game one of the most important entries in the series, but alongside the features that still make it enjoyable to play today, there's one more thing: the Nissan Skyline! No matter your age, very few people can look at this car and not fall in love with it. Underground 2 making this car drivable impressed everyone and gave us a special kind of joy.

So what makes the Nissan Skyline so unforgettable? To answer that, we need to step outside the game for a moment and dip into the film industry. Just as the Need For Speed series is considered the father of racing games, the Fast and Furious series is the father of racing movies. "2 Fast 2 Furious," the second film in the Fast and Furious series, hit theaters a year before Underground 2, in 2003, and like the first one, it was also a huge success. One of the most iconic cars in that film, and arguably the whole series, was the silver Nissan Skyline with blue accents driven by Brian O'Conner, the character played by the late Paul Walker, in the first race. After the film made such a splash, Need For Speed, the pioneer of racing games, made the smart move of adding that same legendary car to the game.

Need For Speed Underground 2 Cheat Codes

Not quite to the extent of GTA San Andreas, but Underground also had cheat codes you could use to make the game a little easier, more interesting, and more fun. Unlike San Andreas, though, you had to enter these codes on the game's login screen rather than in-game. If you entered these codes before getting past the login screen, that code's effect would activate in-game. We've collected some of these cheat codes for you. Might be a bit of nostalgia!

Need For Speed Cheat Codes List

• regmebaby: Grants 20,000 points when entering Career Mode.
• opendoors: Unlocks game areas.
• ordermybaby: Unlocks all cars.
• gimmevisual1: Unlocks Level 1 visual modifications.
• gimmevisual2: Unlocks Level 2 visual modifications.
• needperformance1: Unlocks Level 1 performance modifications.
• needperformance2: Unlocks Level 2 performance modifications.
• needmybestbuy: Unlocks the best-sellers list.
• gotmycingular: Unlocks the sponsors list.
• gottahavebk: Unlocks the Burger King list.
• gottaedge: Unlocks the major sponsors list.
• davidchoeart: Unlocks the David Choe Corolla design.
• shinestreetbright: Unlocks the Shine Street Lexus IS 300 design.
• wantmyd3: Unlocks the D3 Eclipse design.
• yodogg: Unlocks the Snoop Dogg special design.
• wannacapone: Unlocks the Capone H2 design.
• gimmechingy: Unlocks the Chingy Navigator design.
• tunejapantuning: Unlocks the Japan Tuning G35 design.

NFS Underground 2 Soundtrack

Instead of classical scores, Need For Speed largely used the era's popular songs in its games. We don't know whether it's from playing the game morning and night or because they're genuinely legendary tracks, but every Underground 2 player knows this soundtrack by heart and comes back to it again and again. Here's the legendary soundtrack:

• FREELAND - Mind Killer (Jagz Kooner Remix)
• Capone - I Need Speed
• Chingy - I Do
• Christopher Lawrence - Rush Hour
• Cirrus - Back on a Mission
• Felix Da Housecat - Rocket Ride (Soulwax Remix)
• Fluke - Switch/Twitch
• Helmet - Crashing Foreign Cars
• Killradio - Scavenger
• Killing Joke - The Death & Resurrection Show
• Ministry - No W
• Mudvayne - Determined
• Paul Van Dyk - Nothing But You (Cirrus Remix)
• Queens of the Stone Age - In My Head
• Rise Against - Give it All
• Septembre - I am Weightless
• Skindred - Nobody
• Sly Boogy - That'z My Name
• Sin - Hard EBM
• Snapcase - Skeptic
• Snoop Dogg feat. the Doors - Riders On The Storm (Fredwreck Remix)
• Sonic Animation - E-Ville
• Spiderbait - Black Betty
• Terror Squad - Lean Back
• The Bronx - Notice of Eviction
• Unwritten Law - The Celebration Song
• Xzib