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Need for Speed Underground 2 came out in 2004 and to this day, it is fondly remembered as a cult classic by many fans of the racing franchise. Paired with 2005’s Most Wanted, Underground 2 still stirs some strong positive emotions within the minds of veteran video gamers.
While fans have expressed their yearning for a reboot or remake of the original from EA, there has been no positive response from the company so far. This is where YouTube’s Ivan Novozhilov came in with their work-in-progress Unreal Engine 4-powered remake of Need for Speed Underground 2.
Making use of the modern-day technology of Unreal Engine 4, the unofficial remake seems to have significantly elevated the visuals and the general vibe of the 2004 classic. However, it is clear from the work-in-progress gameplay video footage that it does not veer too much from its roots.
This Need for Speed Underground 2 fan remake in Unreal Engine 4 looks exactly like what fans want
From the looks of it, this UE4-powered fan remake very much seems like how an official remake would turn out to be. Not only does it look like a remake, but the sprinkling of the small yet significant gameplay mechanics on top also makes it feel like one.
In fact, it is so good that it raises the concern of whether EA would come in with a Cease and Desist order. While that remains to be seen, there is no doubt that this will quite easily satiate the needs of everyone who has been yearning for an Underground 2 remake for all these years.
The set of features of the fan remake that the creator has posted about are as follows:
Car:
- Turbo
- Nitrous (not used here)
- Earn NOS back by doing some stuff (airborne, powerslide, almost crash...)
- Completely new steering.
- Optimized auto transmission and clutch
- Fixed slip ratio (no more stuttering)
- Collision sounds and sparks
- Suspension compression sounds
- Engine sounds are done except for two.
- Sweetener (hear the backfire)
- Turbo, sweetener, engine, and transmission sounds are done and picked depending on the performance upgrade.
- Drastically changed driving behavior. It is still in the making and requires a lot of tweaking, but strongly depends on slip angle and traction. These values are changed depending on the speed to allow arcade-y driving behavior and nice drifts at low speed. Depending on the game mode, this may change in the future.
Zones:
- Audio zones
- Reverb zones
- Named zones
- Every island has a distinctive colorization.
Graphics:
- Optimized graphics for much better performance and an overall more pleasant look.
- Optimized weather cycle
- New textures
- Added more missing meshes
Misc:
- Traffic node system (not visible in the video)
- More optimized camera shake
- More optimized radial motion blur
- Destructible environment (signs, water barrels, etc.)
- Music from Underground, Underground 2, Most Wanted are implemented. You can also skip tracks or play the previous track
- Whoosh sounds
- New camera lag and rotation (lag)
UI:
- Drift score counter + nifty messages
- Drift zones (these blue red white striped decals) are used for additional multipliers along with speed for the drift score.
- Menus are in the making and already working partially, but not shown in the video.
