Need for Speed: Underground 2

Need for Speed: Underground 2
North American cover art featuring a Nissan 350Z
Developer(s)	EA Black Box Pocketeers (GBA)
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Composer(s)	Tom Salta
Series	Need for Speed
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows Game Boy Advance GameCube PlayStation 2 Xbox PlayStation Portable Nintendo DS Mobile phone
Release date(s)	November 9, 2004 NA: November 9, 2004 (PC) NA: November 15, 2004 EU: November 19, 2004 JP: December 22, 2004 (GC, PS2) AU: July 27, 2005 (PS2) PlayStation Portable JP: February 24, 2005 NA: March 14, 2005 KO: May 2, 2005 EU: September 1, 2005 Nintendo DS NA: May 10, 2005 EU: May 27, 2005 Mobile NA: July 15, 2005
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	(PC) 83.50% (Xbox) 82.61% (PS2) 80.77% (GC) 79.98% (PSP) 76.44% (GBA) 69.45% (NDS) 65.44%
Metacritic	(Xbox) 83/100 (PC) 82/100 (PS2) 82/100 (GC) 77/100 (PSP) 74/100 (GBA) 72/100 (NDS) 65/100
Review scores
Publication	Score
Edge	6/10
EGM	8.33/10 (PSP) 7.83/10
Eurogamer	6/10
Game Informer	8/10 (GBA) 3.5/10
GamePro	(PSP)
Game Revolution	B (GC & PSP) B−
GameSpot	(GBA) 8/10 (PSP) 7.9/10 7.4/10 (NDS) 7.2/10 (GC) 7.1/10
GameSpy	(PSP) (NDS)
IGN	9.1/10 (PS2) 9/10 (GC) 8.3/10 (GBA) 8/10 (PSP) 7.9/10 (NDS) 7/10
Nintendo Power	(GC) 3.8/5 (NDS) 6/10 (GBA) 2.8/5
OPM (US)	(PS2) (PSP)
OXM (US)	8.9/10
PC Gamer (US)	88%
Detroit Free Press
The Times

Need for Speed: Underground 2 (also known as NFSU2) is a cross-platform racing video game and the eighth installment in the popular Need for Speed driving game series published and developed by Electronic Arts. Released in 2004, it is the direct sequel to Need for Speed: Underground, and is part of the Need for Speed series, available on Microsoft Windows, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and Mobile phones. Like its predecessor, it was also commercially successful, and sold eleven million copies worldwide.

The game entails tuning cars for street races, resuming the Need for Speed: Underground storyline. Need for Speed: Underground 2 provides several new features, such as a broader customization, new methods of selecting races, the "explore" mode (just driving around freely, like the Midnight Club series, in a large city known as "Bayview"). The City Center was based on Philadelphia, Beacon Hill was based on Beverly Hills and Coal Harbor was based on Camden, New Jersey, and Bayview as a whole is a microcosm of the west coast of the United States. Underground 2 also introduces several SUVs, which could be customized as extensively as other Underground 2 vehicles and used to race against other SUV racers. Brooke Burke is the voice of Rachel Teller, the person who guides the player throughout the game.

The game has been ported to PlayStation Portable, under the title of Need for Speed Underground: Rivals. The Nintendo DS port introduces a new feature in which the player is able to design custom decals to adorn any vehicle in the game.