Need for Speed: Underground 2

Need for Speed: Underground 2 is the legendary 2004 racing game, a direct sequel to Need for Speed: Underground 1, dedicated to nighttime street racing and car tuning. It’s now available right in your browser, with support for game controllers, free-roam driving, and online races with friends.

It all begins in Olympic City, where the player, after defeating the Eastsiders gang, becomes the city’s top racer. A stranger on the phone offers him a spot on his team, but after he refuses, a black Hummer H2 crashes into his Nissan Skyline GT-R. Six months later, the protagonist flies to Bayview, where the key to a Nissan 350Z awaits him at the airport. Rachel Teller brings him up to speed, explaining the sponsorship system and the Underground Racing League competitions. It gradually becomes clear that Caleb was behind the crash, and the career culminates in a final race against him in a custom Pontiac GTO. The reward for completing the game is all the cars and parts, and if you achieve a 100% completion rate, you also get Caleb’s own car.

Bayview is the game’s only city, while Olympic City appears only in the prologue. The city at night is divided into five districts, each with its own atmosphere. The central City Core is available right away, while the other four unlock as you progress through your career, including Beacon Hill with its boutiques, the port area of Coal Harbor, the mountainous Jackson Heights, and the airport district.

How to Play?

Progress through the career mode and build your reputation; victories unlock new city districts, races, and shops. Use the money you earn from races to buy cars at dealerships—ranging from hatchbacks and sports cars to muscle cars and SUVs, each with their own races. Between races, freely cruise around the city, look for races, and collect cash bonuses; in the main menu, customize the controls, camera, graphics, and sound.

There are many types of races: circuit races, point-to-point sprints, drag racing, drifting, closed-course Street X events, the Underground Racing League championship, and Outrun, where you must catch up to and pass a random driver on the street. You can pick up speed on mountain switchbacks and airport runways.

Tuning options are spread across four types of shops, marked on the map by lights of different colors; some of them are hidden. At the Body Shop, you can replace bumpers, spoilers, hoods, side skirts, rims, and repaint your car; at the Graphics Shop, you can apply vinyl wraps and tint windows; at Car Specialties, you can install neon lights, hydraulics, and audio systems; and the Performance Shop handles the engine, turbo, nitro, suspension, tires, and brakes. Read messages, sign contracts with sponsors, take photos of your car, and drive around the city with other players on the same map.