NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND 2, Electronic Arts
Last year's Need for Speed Underground put gamers behind the wheels of souped-up Nissans and Acuras instead of the Ferraris and Porsches that dominated earlier NFS games -- a smart nod to the growing "tuner" car culture. This sequel expands on that idea with plenty of new territory and customization options.
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The city of Bayview's streets cover five times as much ground as in the last NFS game -- almost 80 square miles, split into five areas with varying shops, racing styles and opposing drivers. This game also provides even more ways to tune a car, such as new mirrors, spoilers, side skirts and roof scoops, and allows you to modify your vehicle under the hood. Put the car on a dynamometer to measure various parameters in easily grasped charts and graphs, then tweak brakes, suspension, transmission and more to boost its performance back on the track. Many real -- Momo, Neuspeed and StreetGlow -- and made-up brands of aftermarket gear are spotlighted, pushing the number of possible car variations into the thousands.
The soundtrack thumps with the sounds of some of the biggest names in hip-hop, and the sharp graphics -- especially on the PC and the Xbox, thanks to the smoother action delivered by their faster frame rates -- make it the best-looking racing game in town. -- Tom Ham
Win 98 or newer, $40; GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, $50
AMERICAN CHOPPER,
Activision/Creat Studio
Never mind the name -- this low-budget game has little to do with the popular Discovery Channel TV series. Building custom, high-powered motorcycles was evidently deemed too boring for this game, leaving a series of rides that require you to race a chopper from Point A to Point B to retrieve parts like spark plugs.
As you progress through the game's 50 repetitive missions, you'll encounter rival gangs. (Of mechanics? We're not sure.) And you'll need to flee before they catch up. (A cowardly biker? We don't get that either.) You can earn extra points by running on sidewalks and scaring innocent pedestrians -- but if you splatter them against a wall, you get points deducted. A set of boring drag races rounds out what passes for action here.
The game does offer numerous bikes to choose from, but customizing them beyond recognition -- the entire point of the show -- isn't allowed. All you can do is bolt on parts between rides, without getting a different feel or better performance. Graphics look sub-par across the board, and the tinny soundtrack and muffled chopper engines encourage frequent use of the mute button. The show's characters come off worst of all; Paul Sr. looks and sounds more like a mobster than a biker, except when the stiff, un-lip-synced animation makes him resemble a zombie. This game needs serious shop time.
