Ever dream of being an illegal street racing superstar? Do you spend most of your free time dreaming of customizing the ultimate racer? Before you go out and spend thousands of dollars on a race-worthy car and upgrades, I have a cheaper alternative. Grab yourself a copy of Need for Speed: Underground and buckle in for the nitro-charged ride of your life.

The latest installment of the Need for Speed series looks stunningly beautiful. The tracks (although repetitive) look incredibly detailed. The city feels alive with traffic that always provides you with a tough obstacle. The cars look every bit as good as their real-life counterparts. The FMV’s are extremely high-quality and move the story along well.

The story follows a young racing upstart (played by you of course) trying to become a big shot. People along the way will help you out as long as you keep winning, which is going to be very difficult to do. After an eight hour marathon of Need for Speed: Underground, I had only completed around 30 of the game’s 111 races.

Some races are easy as pie, and some will destroy your very soul. Finding the perfect balance between speed and handling for your car helps, though. Car enthusiasts are going to love the sheer amount of customization in the game. Not only are there engine upgrades, but all the awesome vinyl’s and decals are available to help you make your dream car.

All of the top racing cars from most of the major car manufacturers make the list in this game with a few bonuses thrown in like the car Rob Zombie owns. Racing to unlock new cars and customization parts becomes a pure addiction. Finding the perfect car that fits your driving style and giving it a flashy paint job and decals is going to eat away hours of your day.

The controls are silky smooth with the right trigger as the accelerator, and the left trigger as reverse. The B button activates your nitro boost (after you have unlocked and installed it) and the A button is your brake. During the drag races, the Y button acts as your gear shift. The race types are varied, with lap knockout, drag, sprint, and the highly difficult endurance races all making the list.

No game is perfect, however, and this one does have a slightly nagging problem. Track repetitiveness rears it’s ugly head after a while. All of the races take place in a single city, and many of the tracks look similar. More shortcuts can be found as you progress through the game however, but the tracks still feel the same. Though you will be going so fast, you won’t have much time to admire scenery.

The soundtrack will please any rock, punk, rap, or heavy metal fan. You also have the ability to turn off any of the tracks you don’t like. Fuel, Story of the Year, The Yin Yang Twins, and Rob Zombie are just a few of the artists featured in the game. The music is a little forgettable however, especially when you are trying to concentrate on keeping your engine from blowing on a drag race going 150 miles per hour.

Any racing fan should most certainly own Need for Speed: Underground. The sheer depth and customization is staggering. You will be up late many nights just trying to finish one more race and unlock one more car or part. Leave the street racing on the GCN though, you could get killed doing this stuff for real. The worst that can happen to you playing this game is sore thumbs.