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4 /5

Need for Speed Underground for the Game Boy Advance takes the street racing concept of the console/PC title and adapts it for the capabilities of the handheld platform.

The game's main mode is Underground Mode, in which the player's goal is to make it to the top of the street racing scene from humble beginnings. Starting with 10.000 credits and a choice of 3 cars, races must be won to win money and unlock further cars and upgrade parts to make them available for purchase. In each night of racing, the player must challenge one of the other racers that is slightly above them in the rankings. The race track and parameters are then randomly chosen and winning the race advances the player's ranking. Once other racers are behind in ranking, they can also challenge the player. In that case, the player gets to choose track, number of laps and number of opponents. The game begins in the preliminary rankings, in which there are only standard circuit races. Once the number one position has been reached, the championship rankings open up and there is a different ladder for each of the four racing types:

Circuit (six tracks): The goal is to complete a set number of laps before the opponents. There will be passing traffic at intersections which must be avoided.
Sprint (six tracks): Shorter than circuit races, the goal is to reach a set point on the track the fastest.
Drag (four tracks): The very short tracks are completely straight, but manual transmission is mandatory, requiring precise shifting to avoid engine burnout or losing speed.
Drift (eight tracks): Points are awarded for stylishly sliding around corners, with care taken not to crash into them. The goal is to beat a score set by the opponent.

All modes but sprint also feature reverse variations of the tracks. All in all, more than sixty races must be won to complete Underground Mode.

Between races, cars can be traded and upgraded. 14 different cars are available, and there are a large variety of functional (engines, turbos, transmission, tires, brakes) and visual (bumpers, hoods, rims, paint jobs, vinyls) upgrades. Unlike in the console version, visual upgrades are only cosmetic since there is no reputation system.

Quick Race mode can be utilized for quick challenges using cars and tracks unlocked via Underground mode. The game also features a multiplayer mode via the link cable.

The game engine is fully polygonal and represents cars and tracks as texture-mapped polygons.