Who Still Plays NFS: Underground 1?
- Thread starter JakeMR2
- 40 comments
- 22,601 views
The AI's top speed is affected by the top speed of the player's car. A strategy to exploit this is to use the MX5 with stock gearing (and no unique transmission), but with the rest of the upgrades. This reduces the top speed of the MX5, which in turn slows down the AI. The RX7 is the fastest car in the game, but even with stock gearing, it's top speed is too high for this exploit to work.
- 5,562
- The US of A
Been a while since this thread saw any activity again, but I am going to bring it back since I have something to share.
So Underground 1 was a game my dad got on the PS2 way back on March 21st, 2006 according to the receipt, only a few months after we got our PS2 along with GT4, NFSUG2, and Ford Racing 3. I played Underground for a brief time around mid-2006 and generally recall being pretty happy with it as a game. However, after a week or so, possibly a few weeks, I ended up abandoning it simply because I was knee-deep into GT4 and Underground 2 since I had just gotten them for Christmas and would much rather play them instead. That said, Underground 1 just came at a bad time for me and ended up being overshadowed by those games as a result and ultimately overlooked for many years. Apart from going into the game a handful of times to look at things like the tracklist and test it on emulation, I hadn't done any races or spent any quality time playing the game since.
That was, until last night I decided to finally go back to it again for the first time since mid-2006 and finish what I started when I was 12. I am not entirely sure why I didn't do it sooner other than the fact I hadn't been in the right mood and was too focused on other games. I do know one thing though, SestoScudo had shared this video in another thread and that was what sparked me to finally come back to this game after so long.
It was quite a trip looking at the cars I had made when I was 12 and just seeing what all I had done during the brief time I played it back then. I actually don't remember much of them anymore beyond a few small things, but it was nice to see them once again. As for the racing, I was a little pessimistic about how I would feel about it because of what I had heard about its rubberbanding, but it actually was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I am still a little concerned about how much harder the game gets near the end, but so far so good!
That said, it's good to be back and I look forward to seeing what this game had to offer and what all I had missed out on over the years!
If I feel like it, I may start an entirely new save game once I am done just to get the full experience since it's been many years since I had done so.
So Underground 1 was a game my dad got on the PS2 way back on March 21st, 2006 according to the receipt, only a few months after we got our PS2 along with GT4, NFSUG2, and Ford Racing 3. I played Underground for a brief time around mid-2006 and generally recall being pretty happy with it as a game. However, after a week or so, possibly a few weeks, I ended up abandoning it simply because I was knee-deep into GT4 and Underground 2 since I had just gotten them for Christmas and would much rather play them instead. That said, Underground 1 just came at a bad time for me and ended up being overshadowed by those games as a result and ultimately overlooked for many years. Apart from going into the game a handful of times to look at things like the tracklist and test it on emulation, I hadn't done any races or spent any quality time playing the game since.
That was, until last night I decided to finally go back to it again for the first time since mid-2006 and finish what I started when I was 12. I am not entirely sure why I didn't do it sooner other than the fact I hadn't been in the right mood and was too focused on other games. I do know one thing though, SestoScudo had shared this video in another thread and that was what sparked me to finally come back to this game after so long.
It was quite a trip looking at the cars I had made when I was 12 and just seeing what all I had done during the brief time I played it back then. I actually don't remember much of them anymore beyond a few small things, but it was nice to see them once again. As for the racing, I was a little pessimistic about how I would feel about it because of what I had heard about its rubberbanding, but it actually was a lot more fun than I anticipated. I am still a little concerned about how much harder the game gets near the end, but so far so good!
That said, it's good to be back and I look forward to seeing what this game had to offer and what all I had missed out on over the years!
If I feel like it, I may start an entirely new save game once I am done just to get the full experience since it's been many years since I had done so.
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SestoScudo
(Banned)
- 3,000
- Australia
- Decepticon 47
I have also been playing both NFS UG1 and Juiced.
All I can say is both have their pros and cons but NFS UG1 is just much more superior especially handling.
Juiced has a very good car list and very good customisation but the game has had me rage quit so many times in the past now I tried it again still the same. The game more so tries many things new at the same time makes a lot of people get bankrupt. Juicied car list is really varied lots of variety I mean its got Jdm, European and American cars. Even the Jdms you get Subaru wrx 22b, honda nsx, honda crx, nissan 300zx, toyota celica 6th gen.
NFS UG1 is just good old fun it also has its fustrating moments but Juiced is even more fustrating.
I can see why most people prefered playing NFS and Midnight club for their street racing fix. Juiced is also unique in its own way but if you want to play juiced just to have fun you are going to be disappointed.
All I can say is both have their pros and cons but NFS UG1 is just much more superior especially handling.
Juiced has a very good car list and very good customisation but the game has had me rage quit so many times in the past now I tried it again still the same. The game more so tries many things new at the same time makes a lot of people get bankrupt. Juicied car list is really varied lots of variety I mean its got Jdm, European and American cars. Even the Jdms you get Subaru wrx 22b, honda nsx, honda crx, nissan 300zx, toyota celica 6th gen.
NFS UG1 is just good old fun it also has its fustrating moments but Juiced is even more fustrating.
I can see why most people prefered playing NFS and Midnight club for their street racing fix. Juiced is also unique in its own way but if you want to play juiced just to have fun you are going to be disappointed.
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- 5,562
- The US of A
It certainly does, those drag races are where I struggle the most, but when it's not frustrating, the game is fun. (so far anyhow)
Sounds like it's not for me then, especially since you said it was more frustrating.
- 8,430
- Rockay City
Runs great on Windows 11/Ally, but only with the Widescreen Fix applied, else it wouldn't start. Changing graphics from within the game is iffy too (crashing), but loading a profile.cfg from another computer with settings maxed ran perfectly fine. 👍
Having played this and NFSU2 this weekend: is it just me or were game soundtracks more memorable back then?
Having played this and NFSU2 this weekend: is it just me or were game soundtracks more memorable back then?
- 5,562
- The US of A
So, although I may have finally made my way back to this game last year, I actually didn’t play it too long after posting here. I found myself wanting to do more than what the game actually provided and generally speaking, I was just not feeling it like I had hoped I would and it got on my nerves too. Looking back now, I think a large part of it was simply because I had just played Most Wanted a ton not too long before and was still used to how it played, which may explain why I dropped the game once again.
However, as of this month, not only had it been a while since I played through another NFS again, but I was also in an NFS mood. So I decided to come back to this game again on the 16th, this time to finish what I had started all the way back in 2006 and after 18 years, I finally beat it on the 21st. I must say, I had a FAR better time playing it than I did last year I guess because I was no longer used to the later NFS games and had a more impartial experience as a result. The game was much funner than I expected, but it was also just as infuriating. When it was fun, it was really fun, when it wasn’t, it was frustrating, but the experience was rewarding enough for me to keep going until the end. That said, here are some of my thoughts I had along the way:
Overall, while the game constantly tore at my nerves, I still had fun with it. I am glad I gave it another chance and I am FINALLY done with what 12-year-old me started 18 years ago. Although I am done with my career, I still have some magazine covers left to do, but I think I’ll save that for another time. I have considered coming back for an occasional race or two since this game is pretty fun to play though. It’ll be a while before I ever start another career though because I don’t think my nerves can handle another one just yet, but someday, I will certainly start fresh again to get a feel for the entire experience in one go. This is something I have never done in this game, but it should be interesting to see when that time comes!
However, as of this month, not only had it been a while since I played through another NFS again, but I was also in an NFS mood. So I decided to come back to this game again on the 16th, this time to finish what I had started all the way back in 2006 and after 18 years, I finally beat it on the 21st. I must say, I had a FAR better time playing it than I did last year I guess because I was no longer used to the later NFS games and had a more impartial experience as a result. The game was much funner than I expected, but it was also just as infuriating. When it was fun, it was really fun, when it wasn’t, it was frustrating, but the experience was rewarding enough for me to keep going until the end. That said, here are some of my thoughts I had along the way:
1. When the AI decides to play fairly, it’s very fun to play, but when they don’t, it’s just downright egregious. The longer I played this game, the more I realized why people hated the rubberbanding. However, the biggest issue I had with them was not even how fast they could catch up to me, rather it was how fast they were once they got ahead. Strangely, they seemed to rubberband even harder once they got ahead of me than they did when they were behind me, which made catching up to them difficult.
2. The physics in my opinion are alright until they’re not. I generally don’t mind them most of the time, until I hit a traffic car, get sideways when airborne, or crash in some bad manner. Once that happens, my car will bounce around like a tin can being kicked across a parking lot and this leads to me restarting many races.
3. Everyone talks about event #95 being the hardest in the game, but that actually wasn’t the case for me. Maybe I got lucky, but the event, while not easy, didn’t feel much worse than some of the others for me. The worst ones for me were some drag race in the 60’s I can’t remember at the moment, the tournament right before event #95, event #103, and then the very last one with Melissa. Meanwhile, I beat Eddie in a single try and you’d think he’d be the hardest, but he wasn’t!
4. The customization options in this game, while I don’t like all the parts they offer, still impress me even now. I can see why being forced to customize your car in order to progress would bother people, but it actually didn’t bother me at all.
5. I think many can agree that even after all this time, the soundtrack to this game still slaps, and there are not many songs in the game I don’t care for.
6. Of all the NFS games ranging from this one to Undercover, I am convinced this one is the hardest because, in almost every race I did, I found myself needing to restart multiple times, even on easy. Like I said earlier, when it’s fun, it’s VERY fun, but when it’s not, it’s frustrating and even rage-inducing at times.
7. Speaking of which, of all the game modes, I think drag was arguably where I had the most trouble in this game. The difficulty curve for timing your shifts right is much higher than MW or Prostreet and it doesn’t help the icons flash, which is something I always found disorienting.
2. The physics in my opinion are alright until they’re not. I generally don’t mind them most of the time, until I hit a traffic car, get sideways when airborne, or crash in some bad manner. Once that happens, my car will bounce around like a tin can being kicked across a parking lot and this leads to me restarting many races.
3. Everyone talks about event #95 being the hardest in the game, but that actually wasn’t the case for me. Maybe I got lucky, but the event, while not easy, didn’t feel much worse than some of the others for me. The worst ones for me were some drag race in the 60’s I can’t remember at the moment, the tournament right before event #95, event #103, and then the very last one with Melissa. Meanwhile, I beat Eddie in a single try and you’d think he’d be the hardest, but he wasn’t!
4. The customization options in this game, while I don’t like all the parts they offer, still impress me even now. I can see why being forced to customize your car in order to progress would bother people, but it actually didn’t bother me at all.
5. I think many can agree that even after all this time, the soundtrack to this game still slaps, and there are not many songs in the game I don’t care for.
6. Of all the NFS games ranging from this one to Undercover, I am convinced this one is the hardest because, in almost every race I did, I found myself needing to restart multiple times, even on easy. Like I said earlier, when it’s fun, it’s VERY fun, but when it’s not, it’s frustrating and even rage-inducing at times.
7. Speaking of which, of all the game modes, I think drag was arguably where I had the most trouble in this game. The difficulty curve for timing your shifts right is much higher than MW or Prostreet and it doesn’t help the icons flash, which is something I always found disorienting.
- 2,231
- Germany
As far as I remember from back when it was the most recent game, this was the main reason I really (really!) loved it.
I dont mind rubberbanding in this action pack-racing games, there is no feel for race-craft anyway and it just makes things more interesting.
The only gripe I always have with racing games that include drifting events is that it either is much too easy to beat the AI there (played only NFS+Grid games to recall), or I dont get the hang of it at all (like GT7).
- 5,562
- The US of A
And I totally get that. Like I said in the other part of my post:
UG1's rubberbanding is a bit of a double-edged sword really.
I don't mind drift races being easy because I'd rather them be too easy than too hard. And yeah, I never could get the hang of drifting in the GT series, especially Aspault.
- 5,562
- The US of A
While I have talked about the game some, something I haven't talked about is the car I used in my career. Back when I first started my career in 2006, I believe I chose the Dodge Neon because it seemed to be the fastest of the bunch and I read somewhere it was. Of course, I as I mentioned earlier, I didn't play UG1 too long before abandoning it in 2006 and I didn't do much with my car since I didn't make it too far into the career. When I returned to the game last year and looked at it again, apparently the only things I installed were a front and rear bumper, everything else appeared to be stock. I don't even remember if I had upgraded the performance or not and part of me wonders if I might have changed the window tint and engine accent colors, but I cannot verify this.
Of course, when I started playing the game this year, it was only natural the car would be customized a lot further since the game requires it in order to progress. Since I knew once the career was over I would not be able to customize it again, I spent a lot of time making the car the way I wanted it to be and this was the final result:
Performance is upgraded to the max and I think it has every visual part on it I could apply. The front and rear bumpers were still the same ones I chose back in 2006 and I didn't see a need to change them. I used this car all throughout my career all the way to the very end and never traded it for anything because I didn't want to since I have had it for a very long time. While I am aware this car certainly won't vibe with everyone, I am quite satisfied with how it turned out.
Of course, when I started playing the game this year, it was only natural the car would be customized a lot further since the game requires it in order to progress. Since I knew once the career was over I would not be able to customize it again, I spent a lot of time making the car the way I wanted it to be and this was the final result:
Performance is upgraded to the max and I think it has every visual part on it I could apply. The front and rear bumpers were still the same ones I chose back in 2006 and I didn't see a need to change them. I used this car all throughout my career all the way to the very end and never traded it for anything because I didn't want to since I have had it for a very long time. While I am aware this car certainly won't vibe with everyone, I am quite satisfied with how it turned out.
