Need For Speed Underground Rivals Critic Reviews

The racing here is just flat-out fun, with growling engines, jumps and shortcuts that allow you to smash through fences. But there are thoughtful additions, including Party Play.

NFSUR's down 'n' dirty street racing complements "Ridge Racer's" arcadey day-glo driving perfectly.

It doesn’t play quite as well as the two other racing big guns, but it’s easily just as entertaining and probably has the strongest lasting appeal.

With the PSP's powerful graphics processor, the images in the game look stunning throughout and playing with this gadget really does feel like taking your PS2 with you on the move.

After all of gaming sessions with NFSU Rivals, I always found myself going back to "Ridge Racers." Rivals’ controls could use a little bit of work along with how the cars look.

The gameplay, cars, and tracks are new and offer a fresh take on an awesome series.

The PSP's analog nub also works well here with just the right balance of sensitivity and full range of motion, from tiny course-correcting nudges to hand over fist power-sliding.

The big feature missing, which also made Underground innovative, is the ability to draft other cars. Without it, Rivals is just another racing game. Additionally, the Drift mode, which was addictively fun on the consoles, is now water downed to a flat, frustrating way of trying to skid your car in an unfashionable manner.

Features the same aesthetic and attitude as its renowned predecessors but lacks some of their soul. On the plus side, the game is a heck of a lot better suited to mobile gaming.

It runs into setbacks with its graphics and controls that make it a distant second-place choice behind the superior competition.

Sure it doesn’t control as well as "Ridge Racer" but this is a portable version of the Underground game minus the empty exploration or a story.

While Rivals isn’t a perfect racing game, it does manage to fulfill that adrenaline rush that speed junkies crave on a regular basis. With plenty of game modes and tons of upgrades, players will have lots of replayability in their hands.

As complete a package as one could hope for.

Fans of the Need for Speed Underground series will feel right at home with Rivals.

It gets rid of the overblown, big-city atmosphere of the recent console release and puts the focus on getting into races--the best part of the series--very quickly.

NFSU Rivals gets back to the basics, but I miss the intuitive performance tuning of "NFUS2," the analog stick is disappointingly implemented, and the AI isn't elastic enough... I'll be sticking with "Ridge Racer."

Overall, the graphics in Rivals do justice to the Underground faceplate. All of the signature visual touches are present, including the dark settings, the lighting effects, the blurring, the flaring, and so on. Likewise, the sense of speed is exhilarating.

For a game called Rivals, I expected a little more personality...you know, maybe some actual characters or confrontations.

The unreliable framerate, quirky controls and “rigged” A.I. certainly detract from what this game could have been, but I have to admit I did have a lot of fun.

Rivals comes in second place to Ridge Racer, but it does offer something different; plus, this game will definitely please those who like to modify their vehicles.