Need for Speed Payback vs Need for Speed: Underground
Need for Speed Payback is an open-world racing game from EA Gothenburg (2017) while Need for Speed: Underground is a racing game (2003).
Quick answer: Need for Speed: Underground has the higher Metacritic, 77 to 62.
Need for Speed: Underground
What each one is
Need for Speed Payback is filed under Open-World and Racing. In contrast, Need for Speed: Underground under Racing.
Set in the underworld of Fortune Valley, you and your crew were divided by betrayal and reunited by revenge to take down The House, a nefarious cartel that rules the city’s casinos, criminals and cops. In this corrupt gambler’s paradise, the stakes are high and The House always wins.
Need for Speed: Underground is a 2003 racing video game and the seventh installment in the Need for Speed series following Hot Pursuit 2 (2002). It was developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. Three different versions of the game were produced: one for consoles and Microsoft Windows, and another for the Game Boy Advance. An arcade version developed and published by Global VR came out two years later.
Story, characters and reception
Plot
Tyler "Ty" Morgan ( Jack Derges ), Sean "Mac" McAlister ( David Ajala ), Jessica "Jess" Miller ( Jessica Madsen ) and mechanic Ravindra "Rav" Chaudhry ( Ramon Tikaram ) are part of a crew in Silver Rock, Fortune Valley. Fixer Lina Navarro ( Dominique Tipper ) tasks them with stealing a precious Koenigsegg Regera belonging to Marcus "The Gambler" Weir. However, as Tyler arrives at the drop point, he finds Rav knocked out. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Need for Speed Payback received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Luke Reilly of IGN praised Electronic Arts for repairing the problems of the game's predecessor, Need for Speed , but criticized its "scripted" story, lack of police chases during free roam, scripted police chases, loot box -like mechanisms during customization, poor car handling, unrealistic car damage and several other… (Wikipedia)
Plot
The game begins with a circuit race set in Olympic City , with the player driving a white Honda/Acura Integra Type R that sports a unique set of vinyl and a wide body kit . They dominantly win the race; only to be awakened from a daydream by a woman named Samantha. Samantha is the player's contact in Olympic City, touring them across the import culture scene and illegal street racing therein. (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Need for Speed: Underground received positive reviews according to review aggregators GameRankings and Metacritic . Both gave it a score of 84. 29% and 85 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version, 83. (Wikipedia)
At a glance
| Need for Speed Payback | Need for Speed: Underground | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.1/10 | — |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (85%, 32,277) | — |
| Critic aggregate | 62/100 | 77/100 |
| Price | $29.99 | Unknown |
| Install size | 30 GB | — |
| Steam Deck | unsupported | Untested |
| Released | 2017 | 2003 |
| Developer | EA Gothenburg | — |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Need for Speed Payback vs Need for Speed: Underground, 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.
Genre and premise
Need for Speed PaybackOpen-world racing gameNeed for Speed: UndergroundRacing gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Need for Speed PaybackRacing, Open World, Combat RacingNeed for Speed: UndergroundNo descriptive tagsThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Need for Speed PaybackMetacritic 62Need for Speed: Underground ✓Metacritic 77Metacritic's critic aggregate, from the game's Wikipedia reception where it was never on Steam.
Content and scale
Need for Speed Payback32,277 reviews · 4 add-ons · 30 GBNeed for Speed: Underground—Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Need for Speed Payback$29.99Need for Speed: UndergroundUnknownRead live from Steam and subject to change.
Need for Speed: Underground 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: Underground (Metacritic 77)
Where they differ
RacingOpen WorldMultiplayerCombat RacingControllerSports
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Need for Speed Payback is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Need for Speed: Underground is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Need for Speed Payback and 0 for Need for Speed: Underground. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Need for Speed Payback and Need for Speed: Underground in scope?
Need for Speed Payback has drawn 32,277 Steam reviews, ships 4 add-ons and installs in 30 GB. Need for Speed: Underground lists little scope data.
Is Need for Speed Payback or Need for Speed: Underground 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 Payback or Need for Speed: Underground?
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 Payback or Need for Speed: Underground?
Need for Speed: Underground has the higher Metacritic, 77 to 62. 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.
Related comparisons
All comparisonsHow 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.