The Need for Speed franchise has always been about frantic racing, but last year's Underground game introduced the street-friendly element of car customization. Need for Speed™ Underground 2 takes that introduction and runs with it. After all, you're not driving exotics in the Underground series like you did in Need for Speed™ Hot Pursuit 2. You're taking base models and moving from there—stock just isn't good enough.
The spotlight now isn't so much the idea of customizing, but on which elements of the car you'll be able to tinker with. The short answer: Everything. Whether it's tinting your windows, buying new slicks, pumping up your sound system, adding neon undercarriage lights, painting, putting on decals, or even putting in a new engine, nearly every option you could desire is right at your fingertips.
Throughout the game's city, there are several different types of customization shops. Each shop deals with a specific category of customization. This article gives you a look at your options and will help you know what each shop offers.
Note: The shops will offer more options over time. The more you win races and build your reputation, the more options you'll have to choose from.
Choosing a car.
The Car Lot While not specifically a customization shop, the whole process starts here. Near the beginning of the game, you're given just enough cash to purchase your first car. At first, your options are limited, but remember, this is just the stock model. You'll be upgrading from there.
Also, each car is given statistics in acceleration, top speed, and handling, but don't sweat these details too much. After all, you'll be improving all of these attributes as you upgrade your car.
And, don't forget that you can buy more than one car, too. Pimping out one ride over time is nice, but having a stable of vehicles (perhaps one car for each different type of race) is so much better.
Performance Shop This shop is exactly what it sounds like. If you want your care to handle better, this is the shop for you. You can buy new brakes, upgrade your engine, mess with your fuel pressure, get nitrous, reduce weight, install turbo, and even do little things like remove the top-speed limiter. (That last one is my favorite. It's just plain sneaky!)
You can also dive into the performance tuning option, which allows you to tune your car to perform best in a specific type of race. Adjusting for a drag race, may, for example, lower your gearing, so you get more torque in the lower gears and can fly off the line. You can also test the new settings by taking your car out on a test track to see if the performance is to your liking.
For the knowledgeable car enthusiast out there, you can actually tune each element of your car individually, from adjusting the front-down force and tinkering with the drive train to altering six different settings for your suspension!
Rocking the neon undercarriage.
Specialty Shop These shops offer a lot of little tweaks and design options that don't belong in a performance or graphics shop. This is really where you can design the look of your car by adding neon undercarriage lights, window tint, new custom gauges, a split hood, spinners, doors, a new sound system, and other such items.
The performance shop will help you win races, but the specialty shop will make look good doing it. It also helps you earn extra reputation, which is just as important as the money you get from winning a race. You can literally spend hours in this shop, examining each option and pimping out your ride to match your aesthetic needs.
Graphics Shop When you get all the little parts and pieces that you want on your ride, it's time to start turning your attention to paint and such. The graphics shops will sell you a new paint job, including not only a new color, but also a style of paint as well (e.g. gloss or metallic).
You'll also be able to start putting little decals that you've unlocked all over your car, whether it's on the windshield, rear window, or what have you. Beyond decals, you'll be able to sport vinyl (I've got some wicked lightning bolts going on) or even choose predetermined graphics sets (including the paint, vinyls, and decals) if you want to save some time.
When it's all decked out.
Body Shop If you're looking for big new additions to the body of your car, you'll find them here. Along with the graphics and specialty shops, this is more about the aesthetic than performance, but it's equally important. These large body pieces also provide the most separation from the look of the stock model. You'll be able to purchase new bumpers (rear and front), different sideboards, spoilers, hoods, rims, exhaust tips, and a whole host of other options. You can really mix and match here to create a look that you can call your own.
The customization available in Need for Speed Underground 2 is unparalleled in the arcade racer genre. There's just so much to do, see, buy, and unlock that you can literally spend as much time in the game customizing as you do racing. Dive into all the options and build a vision from the ground up. Half the excitement offered by Underground 2 is watching your car take shape and improve as you go.
