Upgrades And Tuning

NFSU2 offers much greater detail in car upgrades. Performance upgrades are now available in packages as well as individual parts. But in the end, you’ll end up getting all the best parts.

Sometimes, the upgrades can be done in a way where an Option 3 package will only replace a few items in Option 1. With a bit of planning, you can actually reduce the damage to your pocket – but frankly, I find it pointless.

I found one aspect of the upgrading process that is more tedious than it was in the first NFSU - the selection navigation.

To illustrate : After I selected Option 1 to upgrade, the selector returns to Stock. So, I had to navigate from there, rather than from where I left off, i.e. at Option 1. I would very much prefer the selector to remain in the last location it had been.

Visual upgrades have been brought to a new height in NFSU2. This time around, we have nitrous purges, hydraulics, trunk modifications and add-ons, spinners, dashboard displays, fancy doors and hoods and a whole range of vinyl to suit your tastes.

It’s nice, but other than trying to achieve the objective of owning a car with a 10-star rating, I personally prefer to stick to my 6-star, somewhat plain-looking car.

The developers have also added a fancy new feature that allows you to perform hydraulic jump actions and nitrous purges, not only during magazine cover shoots but also in the Explore mode as well.

This is really a great way to get nice shots of your car, especially when you want to impress your friends even though you know you really have the artistic skill of a worm.

Show them your fancy doors, fancy hoods, nitrous purge, hydraulics and even the sound system at the back of your car.

Another highlight of this game is the ability to fine-tune your car to suit the type of race you’re in, or to suit your driving preference.

Though I’m not a performance-tuner kind of guy, I did play around with some adjustments on the suspension and handling and I must say I could really feel the difference .

You will be presented with some statistical display on the effects of the changes and you get to try the car out on a custom racetrack before hitting the road.

Finally, the game offers cash and information pickups. This is a new feature that the developers included in the Explore mode. Cash pickups add a small sum of money into your bank account while information pickups give you tips about the game via in-game SMS.

The pickup points are not shown on the map. As you drive around town, you might come across some fancy icons flashing at the roadside or in some hidden places. Just drive over the icon and you'll pick it up.