Need for Speed Underground Q&A

Need for Speed Underground is the latest entry in Electronic Arts' long-running racing franchise. The series has featured some unique offshoots from its core racing theme over the years, but the latest entry puts a new twist on the Need for Speed formula with a jaw-dropping new look. We recently spoke with Chuck Osieja, the executive producer on Need for Speed Underground, to find out how the promising game is coming along.

GameSpot: The Need for Speed franchise encompasses a wide variety of games. Could you walk us through its best installments over the years and what the games did right? Which entries, if any, do you look back on and go, "What were we thinking?"

Need for Speed Underground features a shiny new look.

Chuck Osieja: I wouldn't say any of the Need for Speed games were bad. The one that we would consider to have had the least connection to the fans still sold more than 1.5 million units. Not bad even for the best of games. I'd say the following three games were the best:

Need for Speed - The granddaddy of them all. Designed to allow players to "test-drive" some of the finest cars in the world, the first Need for Speed was at its core a simulation. One of the first driving games to incorporate a variety of exotic world locations, Need for Speed allowed gamers to not only drive the best cars in the world, but also do it on the coolest roads on the planet. Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit - The first game to incorporate police chases as a part of the core game experience. Leaning more toward accessibility than simulation, Hot Pursuit affected every arcade racing game to come after it by setting the bar for "chase-based" racing.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 - The return of the arcade king, baby! The first Need for Speed on a "next-gen" console, Hot Pursuit 2 redefined arcade driving by creating the ultimate in "hero driving physics." The game combined exotic cars with cop chases that took things to another level with police choppers that dropped exploding 50-gallon drums on the driver. Missed the mark? I wouldn't say the following games were bad, but they're not as fondly remembered by consumers: Need for Speed: High Stakes - The follow-up to Hot Pursuit introduced "be the cop" into the Hot Pursuit mix on the consoles. Another innovation was racing for "pinks," where players could lose their car to an opponent during a race. A great idea in theory, but players were less enthusiastic when they actually lost their cars. Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed - Devoted completely to the rich history of the Porsche. Unleashed was a return to the original Need for Speed roots of hard-core simulation driving. The highlight of Porsche Unleashed was the "factory driver" mode, where the player could test-drive Porsches on actual factory test tracks under a variety of conditions and challenges.

GS: What would you say is the franchise's core appeal to gamers?

CO: The core appeal of Need for Speed is the ability to drive the best cars in the world at insane speeds. Every kid dreams of owning a hot car. It's a primal instinct. Guys love cars. Guys really love hot cars. Unfortunately, the reality is most of us will never have the kind of money needed to park an exotic car in our garage. The Need for Speed franchise has given car lovers an outlet to explore their inner Mario Andretti. Let's face it, not only do we love fast cars, but every one of us also believes that we're the best driver in the world. The Need for Speed games have always provided an outlet for car lovers and racing fans to live out their fantasies.

GS: Need for Speed Underground puts a new graphical twist on the series. What led to this new direction?

CO: When we settled on the idea of focusing on the import tuner culture and street racing scene for Underground, a couple of decisions were made for us. In order to truly represent the street racing culture, it was paramount that the game take place at night and in a city setting. It's where and when the kids are gathering to race.

The challenge for the team was that nighttime racing has never been the core focus of a driving game, and it certainly has never been done convincingly. Most games take shortcuts by changing the sky to black, performing a global lighting change on the track, and calling it nighttime. It's not that simple, and it's the main reason why it's never looked good.

If you decide to set an entire game at night, there are a whole host of conscious decisions that need to be made to really create a convincing look and environment. For us, it was first and foremost the lighting. Not just how the light appears in the world, but also how it affects the cars, the other objects, and the world in general.

These are things that are usually taken for granted, and when they aren't done correctly, they'll fail to convince the user's brain that what he or she is seeing is real. You don't know exactly what is wrong, but you know something is.