A visit to EA Studios, part 2

Ok so now I can actually start talking about the thing everyone wants to know the most: Need for Speed Underground. I'll describe all the features separately and if you want to know more, just ask it here and I'll try to answer as much as possible.

[b]Car Customization[/b]
If car customization was the heart and soul of the Underground series, it's become at least #3 in Most Wanted. Don't worry, you'll still be able to customized the car quite a bit, but it's not really the purpose of the game. I must say that I actually didn't get to customize cars ingame much since we didn't get a savegame with everything done. So exactly what visual parts are in the game I don't know, but I do know there's a big difference: no more bumpers and sideskirts. That part of exteriror customizing has been reduced to about 6 EA designed bodykits, different for every car. Additionally exotics and tuners have about the same amount of modding options -> yes you will have the ability to make a purple Mercedes SLR with pink vinyls, a huge spoiler and chrome rims.
With performance tuning, the system is about the same: you get to buy perfomance upgrades. But there's a catch that I'm not too happy about: you will get to tune a euro hatchback to the point where it will actually be able to compete with any exotic. There is some logic in the fact that if you invest $200.000 in a tuner car that it'd be pretty fast, but as fast as a Carrera GT?

[b]The World[/b]
As you know Most Wanted takes place in Rockport city which is an imaginary city that takes some inspiration from the real world, especially if you're from Vancouver you could notice some similarities. The size of the world is about one and a half of Underground 2 but if Underground 2 had only 3 distinctive parts (Jackson Heights, City Centre, Coal Harbour), this world is much more diverse. Expect downtown tracks, industrial areas, countryside and more! Another huge difference is the amount of off road tracks: if NFSU2 contained a few parking spots off the main road, you'll be able to drive through golf court, countless parking spaces, garages, gas stations... All these off road locations have a special meaning: cop evasion. But I will talk about cops later :). If hitting a tree in Underground stopped you down to a full stop, in Most Wanted you'll actually be able to run the tree down: but not just trees, there are benches, streetlights, people... (just kidding, we won't be able to run over people). There are also certain objects that by hitting them can cause a much bigger reaction: like gas station exploding, huge objects dropping. And remember such things will be crucial in pursuits - the best way to get rid of a cop is to have a huge donut fall on their car (I'm serious here).


That is about enough for today, I need to get my rest and get used to a different timezone, so stay tuned, more is coming soon!