You may recall that I had mentioned Pole Position as one of the first ACTUALLY good arcade racing games. You had to find paint, car, and upgrade shops based on the light they gave off, like this. In the main hub world, everything was in it. Underground 2 ensures that you’re paying attention to the race thanks to various civilian cars always, unintentionally, vying to ruin your day. While Burnout Revenge and Burnout 3 are both seen as the best in the series due to their addictive, destructive, arcady playstyle, Burnout Paradise did an immensely good job of translating that to an open world where you barely have to stop when it comes to doing races or secondary shit. You must have a vast yet populous map that is easily accessible. Now a good open-world racer doesn’t simply mean plopping a car in an empty city and calling it a day. That distinction belongs to *checks notes* 1986 Turbo Esprit for the ZX Spectrum, which had a massive influence on GTA itself. Granted, Need For Speed Underground 2 was far from the first open-world racing game. These early 2000’s powerhouses showed how much potential a pure open world had.

Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City had a cataclysm effect on the gaming world.

But Underground 2 decided to bring one element that shaped modern racers forever. It expanded on the extensive customization options available and improved the overall driving physics. It continued the story from the first and even adapted a comic book style in its cutscenes. Underground 2 improved on this formula for success in just one year. Supercars chucked into the trash in favor of Toyota Supras, Mazda RX8s, Nissan Skylines, and Ford Mustangs. Ferrari 550 Maranellos, Jaguar XJR-15's, Lamborghini Countaches. It abandoned the prototypical rare and exotic cars people ironically became used to in previous titles. The only problem was that it also stole London’s tendency to rain all the time. It ditched the sunny and exquisite exotic locations of old, adopting the nightlife of Olympic City, a made-up locale with elements of Tokyo, San Francisco, and New York all mixed together like a Long Island Iced Tea. It gave the players some extra motivation to go through the races. It had a story mode, and while cheesy, was very fun to follow. With Fast and Furious sparking an interest in this culture, EA found themselves their own street racing champion. It was solely focused on honorable street races, with no cops around to spoil the fun. Underground 1 took many risks to separate it from the other NFS games.

So what made Underground 2 so good? It had a great foundation to build off of. An absolute banger (it's on Apple Music and Spotify if your wondering).

Pcsx2 forza horizon