14 DAY TRIAL // 
After playing games like Wipeout Pure and Ridge Racer, you'd expect the PSP to have lost its inspiration in the racing game universe. Need for Speed is already a brand and the racing games fans drool even when they see an "N" ," F" or "S" in the same sentence. Need for Speed Underground found a niche in the whole racing games system, adding the illegal night races to the gas-smelling world we love.
Story The story is Underground, but don't look it up in the basement. The original Need for Speed didn't have a story, so why should Rivals have one? Car racing doesn't need a motivation, doesn't need a love story, and doesn't even need a time and place setting. All you need is a car and a driver.
Concept Need for Speed Underground: Rivals is a street racing game, set apart from its predecessors and followers by the vibe it sends to the player. It might just be the whole tuning process, it might be the way the image vibrates when racing at high speed, might be just me. You can only race against 3 cars, at any time, but not in multiplayer. I didn't play Rivals with the analog control, which is a real pain and useless for this title. Thank God for the D-pad and for the training I had with the fighting games. Drive about 24 cars, customized and ready to roll at your command. Manage your garage and points with care, because the first races might be easy, but as you progress, the AI will start giving you a hard time on the tracks. If you don't have the time to custom or select the many options, start with a quick race and choose the number of laps (ranging from 1 to 10), the direction (reversed or normal) or the traffic (normal, light or heavy).
I was talking about controls earlier and it puzzled me to find out that I can't modify the buttons from the options menu and set them in a more drive-friendly manner. Wondering about the rides? Let me just say that you can't drive any Batmobile around, but I guess you'll be happy with a Mazda RX-8, a Pontiac GTO or a Toyota Celica GT-S. Notice how the producers were keen on American and Japanese cars. Some of you might think that it's no challenge at all to race against 3 others cars. Let's say we eliminate one of them each lap in some sort of knockout race that you'll be able to play if you choose that mode.
Another game mode is the Rally Relay that allows the player to change his car between laps, of course that means that your garage has already more than one car. Check out this racing mode: "Nitrous run"! I bet that Nitrous run is Nitrous fun. Since the first movie that showed the cool effect of nitrous oxide in street racing - Fast and Furious, this has been the most famous chemical of all, starring in more movies than let's say, hydrogen. During this mad run, you have to reach some gates to get added time to your depleting timer and refill the nitrous oxide tanks.
The Street Cross mode implies racing on smaller, indoor tracks, but the fun is all there. Drift must be the poorest of all these driving modes, it's all about right timing and spinning around in (almost) circles and some playing with traction in colored areas called drift zones. The star is clearly Drag Racing. It's cool, hip and adrenaline-pumping. Lined up at the starting line, there are four cars ready to face this gear-changing adventure. The aim here is getting a perfect shift each time you have to change gear and not getting the car totaled in the process. So you'll have to avoid obstacles while pressing the R button to shift a gear up or the triangle to shift down. The car will have a pre-designed road pattern, or so it seems, so there's not much steering to do.
Gameplay As a racing game, Rivals doesn't offer a new package for the NFS aficionados, but it's closer to the tuners' hearts. Funk around with those rims, exhaust, lights, accessories, modify your car's aerodynamics and add all sorts of upgrades to the vehicle. You can even mess around with paint and neons. Getting points will be enough to pay new cars and spoilers, as cash is not a notion used in Rivals. While racing against the AI, the other cars don't seem to quite notice you, so they won't put up much of a fight or try to ram into your ride. Ending the race gets you medals, gold, silver or bronze ones. Fans of arcade racing might be scared of the idea of having obstacles on the tracks.
You may sit still, because the obstacles aren't such an impossible task. I, for one would rather worry about traffic, that may seem light at first, but when you're driving the wrong way, you know that you're about to get totaled. "Driving experience" - two words that define what you squeeze out of the moments that you spend behind the steering wheel. Or the buzz you get while chilling in your bedroom and playing some racing game that has nitrous oxide, a few cool Japanese cars and is called Need for Speed. I was very satisfied with the whole driving experience stuff in this game and the speed sensation is great, as are the background and the behavior and physics of the cars.
Video I know that this is a driving game, but it's so rare that you see some good music videos on the same UMD with a game. Check out some music videos from The Donots and Soulwax and you'll surely be impressed by the graphics even if you're not a rock fan. You'll find those videos in The Pocket Trax Mode, a revolutionary option that allows the gamer to listen to the 33 songs of the game, create a playlist or watch rock videos. PSP was called limited by some and it might have taken the insult personally. You'll see the cars reflecting light, motion blur at high speed, sparks flying around the place!
The crashes between cars and objects or cars and other cars are realistic and well done thanks to the pretty decent physics. The game won't have a problem with weights and distances either, as it was all very well taken care of. There are no brands on the car spoilers if you check them out, only very few of them take part in the whole advertising business. Call this game ad-free! The sense of speed is all there and buildings look quite good, not to mention those groovy colors. It all starts with the first FMV that takes the driver into a speed chase, plunging on the streets filled with gasoline smell and crawling with crazed drivers. You'll be able to race on beautifully designed tracks in their normal or reversed version and experience the blurring and shaking effects at high speeds especially with nitrous on.
Sound I have to admit that my favorite song of NFS Rivals is "Nobody gets out alive" played by Skindred, one fine work of art that gets your blood pumping and your car speeding. If you're keen on some songs from Rivals there is the Pocket Trax menu, where you can organize and select your playlist and listen to the licensed songs. My chemical romance, Xzbit, Queens of the Stone Age, Tiesto and The Doors are featured in a cool set of 33 mind-blasting songs. You have a cool tool to use, a music player that looks like a speedometer with a cool blue skin, and a winamp-ish touch. Music is not all that you'll hear in NFS, as the exhausts and tires make some music of their own. Engines roar and tires squeal when taking turns at high speed and braking suddenly.
Multiplayer Need for Speed is a game made to be played with people, not with the clumsy AI. However, one might have thought about Wi-Fi multiplay with 4, 6 or 8 racers. Instead, PSP owners got a two player race via Wi-Fi. However, 4 people can play NFS Rivals on the PSP thanks to the Party Mode. This can be a real pain, because it involves racing by taking turns and sooner or later, someone will fight about whose turn it is. As for the versus race, there are not too many options to toy with and the seemingly attractive multiplayer will prove to be a disappointment soon.
Conclusion We're witnessing a game that's a blend of customized cars, superb music, nitrous oxide and illegal street races. While some may notice that there is no free-roaming and no story, I took notice of the fact that this is a PSP racing game that rises to the expectations of the NFS fans. It can easily level with Ridge Racer and Wipeout Pure, although the slight genre difference sets it apart from those two. All in all, Need for Speed Underground: Rivals is a good racing game that even begins with an educative warning : "When driving a car in real life remember to use a safety belt."
