My final Need for Speed game before Heat was 2011's Need for Speed: The Run, which was also the final Need for Speed game that EA Black Box developed. 2010's Hot Pursuit was fun but the game eschewed the storyline to focus purely on gameplay (not surprising since Criterion Games was behind the helm on this one). While the latter games felt similar to Underground 2, I felt the series was starting to lose its sheen. These early Underground titles set up the formula that would be repeated in many titles to follow such as 2006's Need for Speed: Carbon and 2008's Need for Speed: Undercover, two games I have also played. It was great fun and remains my gold standard for the Need for Speed series and story-based racing games in general. The graphics in NFSU2 were phenomenal for its day, it had a great soundtrack (the main menu music, the Fredwreck Remix of Riders on the Storm featuring Snoop Dogg, is a certified earworm), an engaging story told through comic book cutscenes and the ability to modify a Honda Civic so much it could outpace Nissan Skyline GT-Rs. 2003 saw the release of Need for Speed: Underground and shortly after, NFSU2 was released.

In the early 2000s, street racing had become a popular topic in media, thanks to movies like 2001's “The Fast and the Furious' and its 2003 sequel “2 Fast 2 Furious', so it's probably no surprise that EA wanted to get in on the action. Besides dabbling for a very short time with one of the 1990s Need for Speed games, my first proper introduction to the series was 2004's Need for Speed: Underground 2. It's been a while since I've played a Need for Speed game. It's a pretty game, even on low-end systems

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