GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 vs Need for Speed: Underground 2

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is a racing game (2002) while Need for Speed: Underground 2 is a racing game from EA Vancouver (2004).

Quick answer: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 has the higher Metacritic, 68 to 65.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

2002 · Studio not listed

68Metacritic

Need for Speed: Underground 2

2004 · EA Vancouver

65Metacritic

What each one is

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is filed under Racing. In contrast, Need for Speed: Underground 2 under Racing.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is a 2002 racing video game, the sixth installment in the Need for Speed series following Porsche Unleashed (2000) and the direct sequel to Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998). It was developed by EA Black Box for the PlayStation 2, and a distinctly different version by EA Seattle for GameCube, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 features cars from various high-performance and exotic car manufacturers. Players can compete in races using these cars, or opt to play as a police officer and pursue speeders.

Description from Wikipedia

Need for Speed: Underground 2

Need for Speed: Underground 2 is a 2004 racing video game developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It is the eighth installment in the Need for Speed series and the direct sequel to Need for Speed: Underground. It was developed for Windows, GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS versions were developed by Pocketeers. Another version for mobile phones was also developed by Ideaworks Game Studio. Like its predecessor, it was a commercial success, selling around 11 million copies worldwide and breaking sales records in the United Kingdom.

Description from Wikipedia

Story, characters and reception

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2
Reception

Reception Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 received "generally favorable" reviews on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, while the Windows and GameCube versions received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . In 2003 , the Academy of Interactive Arts Sciences awarded Hot Pursuit 2 with " Console Racing Game of the Year ". It was a runner-up for GameSpot s annual "Best Driving Game on GameCube" award, which went to NASCAR:… (Wikipedia)

Need for Speed: Underground 2
Plot

The story takes place after the initial events of Underground , shortly after the player beats Eddie and his street racing gang The Eastsiders in Olympic City, along with Melissa. Revered as the best street racer in Olympic City, the player wins a race while driving a blue Nissan Skyline GT-R and promptly receives a call from an unidentified individual with an "invitation" to join his team, followed by a threat explicitly disclaiming that he is not… (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Need for Speed: Underground 2 received positive reviews. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 86% for the Mobile version; 83. 50% and 82 out of 100 for the PC version, 82. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2Need for Speed: Underground 2
GamingPickz Score
Steam rating
Critic aggregate68/10065/100
PriceUnknownUnknown
Install size
Steam DeckUntestedUntested
Released20022004
DeveloperEA Vancouver

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 vs Need for Speed: Underground 2, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2Racing game
    Need for Speed: Underground 2Racing game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2No descriptive tags
    Need for Speed: Underground 2No descriptive tags

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2Metacritic 68
    Need for Speed: Underground 2Metacritic 65

    Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.

  4. Price

    Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2Unknown
    Need for Speed: Underground 2Unknown

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The better reviewed of the two: Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (Metacritic 68)

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Need for Speed: Underground 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

Common questions

How different are Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 and Need for Speed: Underground 2 in scope?

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 lists little scope data. Need for Speed: Underground 2 lists little scope data.

Is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 or Need for Speed: Underground 2 better?

Neither carries enough reviews for us to score it reliably, so we do not call a winner. The table above shows what each does have.

Which is cheaper, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 or Need for Speed: Underground 2?

One or both do not have a current listed price, so a straight comparison is not possible. See the table above.

Should I get Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 or Need for Speed: Underground 2?

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 has the higher Metacritic, 68 to 65. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

More on each