Need for Speed: Underground 3

***Need for Speed: Underground 3***, simply known as **Underground 3** or **NFSU3**, is a fictional installment in the *Need for Speed* franchise developed by EternalBlaze Industries and Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts. Although it is a sequel in the *Underground* series of the franchise, it does not directly relate to the storyline created by the two previous *Underground* games.

## Setting

*Map coming soon...*

*Underground 3* takes place in a fictional city known as Bayside. Bayside contains all types of terrains and is the largest *Need for Speed* location yet. It features the civilized inner city as well as the open road out in the desert. Bayside's city portion is based off the likes of New York City, Tokyo, and London.

### Bayside North

The northern area of Bayside consists of mountains and more mountains. It is the perfect area for drifting and touge battles, with the roads being narrow enough for barely two cars normally and the conditions very risky. Bayside North is one of the few places where there is much wealth, as wealthy people like to build houses in the mountains. Apart from private properties, there is a ski resort at the top of one of the mountains and some camping grounds at the bottom of the mountain areas.

### Bayside East

Bayside East is the city part of the Bayside, where all the people are, basically. It is also the largest region in the entire city. What you'll see are tall buildings, loads of pedestrians on the sidewalks, extremely dense traffic, and a lot of crashes. There is a large population in Bayside, and Bayside East is the home of much of the population, so be wary of all the people and their own cars when driving at high speeds there.

Bayside East is also comprised of most of the suburbs of Bayside, both rich and poor. To give a perspective of how large it is, Bayside East is about as large as Los Santos and Vice City combined in the *Grand Theft Auto* franchise.

### Bayside West

Bayside West is where the desert and flatlands are. Keep in mind that flatlands do not simply refer to desert, as they can also be other types of climates and flat terrains. It is farther away from the civilized society in Bayside East than the mountainous regions of Bayside North. There are even other smaller towns within Bayside residing in the western portion of it.

* **Coral Reef** - A small town on the western edge of Bayside.
* **Kingstown** - A ghost town found in the exact center of the desert.
* **Westington** - Found in the lower western part of the green flatlands.
* **Grandon** - One of the larger towns found on the border of Bayside West and East.
* **Fuller** - A larger town found in the jungle flatlands.

### Bayside South

Bayside South contains some city and suburbs like East, but also contains vast jungles, forests, and beaches. The beaches are where there are people and human life in general. The terrain is generally flat, except for the forests and some jungles, which can be very hilly even to the extent of being as high as a mountain.

### Caste Beach

Caste Beach is the official name of the beach that goes along the southern portion of Bayside. It is the most popular beach, so naturally, a lot of people moved to Bayside South to enjoy the beach and its beauty.

### Fujiwara Beach

Fujiwara Beach is located in Bayside East. It is similar to Caste Beach, but is less known, mostly because a lot of people don't know how to get to it. It is considered exclusive only to street racers, but then again, only a select amount of street racers are allowed to it. They say it has some sacred or secret ability or power, but that's just a rumor and rumors are always flying around, right?

## Gameplay

Compared to previous *Need for Speed* games, *Underground 3* chooses the open-world route, like games such as *Underground 2*, the original *Most Wanted*, and later games. There are also other new elements that were added into the game, thus enhancing the open-world gameplay and experience, as well as player immersion.
In a sense, *Underground 3* has moved towards other open-world games in terms of what players can do within the game, other than race, obviously.

### Racing

So it's a *Need for Speed* game. Racing is obviously the central gameplay element, right? Yes. Racing is, and always will be, the main element of *Need for Speed* games, or else what would it be? Everything in the game revolves around racing.

Racing is what the player must do throughout the game in order to progress. Similar to the other *Need for Speed* games with open-world gameplay, the player must go to event markers, while in free-roam, in order to activate them. In *Underground 3*, when the player starts an event, they will get a call on their cell phone about the race and if they want to participate in it. When they accept, the race will be loaded with the player next to their opponents, bystanders on the side, and a generic hot chick in the middle to start the race.

Winning races in both singleplayer and multiplayer give players money and respect. Money can be used for anything, whether it's for a car, upgrades, or buying property. Respect points, also shortened as RP, is the game's experience system. RP in singleplayer can land the player sponsors with companies, but that's really the only use for it. In multiplayer, RP is essential for leveling up and unlocking various things, like parts and properties.

### Police System

Police is featured in the game, considering that most of the racing is illegal street racing and it would only make sense (and be realistic!) that there is police to try and stop these activities from happening.

Level 1 squad cars are usually found on the road, roaming the streets and looking for street racers. There are rarely any cars higher than Level 1, although there can sometimes be Level 2 cars as well.

The police system goes like this:

* **Level 1** - Usual, every day police cars. Nothing special about them.
* **Level 2** - Usual cars with some upgrades. Prepare for some more advanced tactics and determination.
* **Level 3** - SWAT cars, basically. Get yourself ready for some roadblocks.
* **Level 4** - Level 3, but more persistence and a helicopter.
* **Level 5** - Cars are massively upgraded (like really fast cars) and the police are almost relentless.
* **Level 6** - You're pretty much screwed.

Unlike previous games, the police system works like how it does in the *Grand Theft Auto* franchise. It starts off as Level 1 on most offenses and builds its way up the longer the pursuit lasts. Pursuits do not start off on specific levels based on the player's current car's Heat Level, as Heat Levels are not in the game.

If players escape the pursuit, they will be given a rundown of the stats of the pursuit, like how long it took, how many police cars were taken out, and other statistics like that. Statistics can be compared with other players' statistics of pursuits on a leaderboard if online.

If players do not escape and are caught by the police (whether it's from car suffering too much damage or the cops outsmarted them), the car will be impounded and the player must pay a fee if they want the car back. Cars will be in the police impound lot for 15 in-game days, but will be crushed after those 15 days are up and the player still has not claimed them.

### Buying Property

One of the largest additions to the franchise is the ability to purchase properties. In the beginning of the game, players start off with a generic, pretty crappy garage. Once they accumulate the funds, they may purchase different garages and even houses and mansions as well. Players can also spend money on acquiring stores of all kinds. They will receive a discount at whatever stores they own and will periodically receive a small bit of money.

### Customization and Tuning

In-depth fine tuning was introduced to the series in *Underground 2*, but was never to be seen again in any game afterwards. It has returned in the third installment in the series and even more in-depth (pretty much to the extent of the *Forza Motorsport* series). This allows players to fine tune specific cars and make them the perfect racers for specific races, such as drag racing or off-road racing.

Returning to the series is the ability to customize and tune cars. Although it's true that not all *Need for Speed* games revolve around car customization as opposed to the racers/cops idea, it is the very aspect that promotes creativity and uniqueness in-game. Players will have thousands of combinations that they will be able to create when customizing just the appearance of their car, and even more once the performance modifications are taken into account.

Tuning does not always have to be tuning for performance. A feature added into racing games for the first time is the ability to stance one's car, or being able to tune it to look nice. These cars, obviously, won't be any good for racing, but can be used for the events where appearance can play a larger factor, like car meets, specific car shows, and magazine opportunities.

### Types of Races

There are multiple types of races that players will have to do at some point in the game, depending on the route they choose to go in.

* **Circuit Race** - Your basic lap race.
* **Sprint Race** - A race from Point A to Point B.
* **Drift Race** - Players must drift to accumulate a number of points. Whoever has the most points at the end of the race wins.
	+ **Realistic Drift** - The winner is determined by drift skill (including entry, exit, and style), the longest drifts, and how close they can get to the wall without crashing. There are no points in the game.
	+ **Mountain Drifting** - Regular and Realistic Drifting, but in the mountains, where the road is smaller and more dangerous and it is much easier to lose (from driving off the mountain).
* **Drag Race** - A (usually straight) race to a certain points. Whoever reaches that point first wins.
	+ **Original Drag Race** - Drag racing, but only with muscle cars.
* **Touge** - A cat-and-mouse chase type of racing. See this page for more information.
* **Rally Racing** - A race (usually a sprint, sometimes a circuit) that's mostly, if not all, off-road.
	+ **Hardcore Off-Roading** - Off-road racing, but only with specific off-road vehicles. Usually has more demanding tracks as well.
	+ **Hardcore Rally** - Rally racing, but only with rally cars. Usually has more demanding tracks as well.
	+ **Realistic Rally** - There are no boundaries. Players must be guided by a co-driver, who tells them where to go in order to finish the race. Opponents do not race side by side, but compare times. Players cannot take short cuts or be off the track for too long.
* **Outrun** - An impromptu race between the player and another player or an AI.

### Types of Events

Races are not the only things that are available to the players while hooning in *Underground 3*. There are other events and activities around the city that can be done if races are just too plain boring after a while. Events can also include things like racing tournaments and competitions.

* **Car Shows** - Official car showcases where players can show off their rides, earn money, get unique parts and designs, and more.
* **Car Meets** - Similar to car shows, except less formal. They are more frequent, but not as much money can be earned and unique parts and designs are rarer to get. There are different types of meets that can be found around the city, depending on what you're into!
	+ **Muscle Meets** - Meets for guys (and gals) who can't get enough of that V8!
	+ **Exotic Meets** - Speed and elegance are the greatest aspects a car can have.
	+ **Tuner Meets** - Anything out of Asia will find a place here.
	+ **Truck Meets** - Want something bigger than a car? Try a truck!
	+ **Drifter Alliance** - Meets for drifters and their cars.
	+ **Kids Heart** - Touge fans unite!
	+ **WRC Fanboyz** - Getting down and dirty in some rally races.
	+ **Drag Kings** - Let's see how fast you can do a 1/4 mile.
	+ **Get Low, Get Low** - Form > Function. How low can you go?
* **Magazine Opportunities** - Like being in the spotlight? Have your car appear on the front page of multiple car enthusiast magazines! Each magazine will net the player a specific amount of money. It's an easy way to get money, but there are challenges that go along with earning these opportunities!

## Singleplayer

### Story

Welcome to Bayside, the unofficial home of illegal street racing. In the underground world, racing crews of all kinds control the city, dividing it up into territories. These crews always struggle with one another for more power over various parts of the city, resulting in feuds, but no progression.

The protagonist of the game, Sam Kiley, is part of one of Bayside's largest crews, Sinister Six, being the leader's right hand. Everything is going smoothly until the crew's leader, Arielle Foster, gets caught and jailed by the police. In an attempt to bust the boss out of prison, the crew is overwhelmed by the police force's brutality and skill and eventually crack. All of the crew members die in the escape except for the Kiley, who manages to narrowly lose the police.

Weeks later, after the Sinister Six goes down in a very shameful manner, crews begin fighting for the top spot. It is revealed that another crew, known as the Red Skulls, have taken over. They are led by a mysteriously masked figure who goes by the name of, "Ghost."

Kiley is left at the bottom of the pile know that they are without a crew and any serious reputation at all. They meet up with some old contacts and manages to get some help in starting up again, but must find a new crew on their own. Kiley creates a new crew (crew name is determined by players) and begins to make a name for it in the racing scene by participating in everything they can.

As time passes by, Kiley's crew becomes slowly more popular and renowned, while posing more of a threat to the Red Skulls. Although they are still not *that* known, it is possible that they could become what the Sinister Six once was (as everyone knows by now who Kiley is and their past). Before taking on the Red Skulls, Kiley must go for the more powerful crews in the city, including the Driving Sideways Clan, Burned 'U Out, and Posh.

More time passes by and those final crews are beaten, leaving the Red Skulls as the last major crew that Kiley and friends must take down in order to assume power in Bayside once again. The races are tough, sweat is drawn, and blood is spilled as the final moments of the game unfold. "Ghost" is revealed to be one of Kiley's old crewmates, Nathan West, from the Sinister Six.

A final touge duel is issued between Kiley and West, after Kiley and the crew defeat all of West's crewmates. Upon winning the mountain race, Kiley and the crew become Bayside's most powerful racing crew, striving to keep the racing scene alive and kicking.

### Characters

See this page for all the characters in the game.

### Crews

See this page for all the crews in the game.

## Cars

The full list of vehicles in-game can be seen here.

## Expansion Packs

### Code Red

Code Red ($6.99) is an expansion pack that allows players to play as the other side of the law, the police. The pack includes an entirely new story, more police cars, and police activities to do around Bayside.

In Code Red, the player assumes control of Pat Carson, who recently joined the Bayside Police Force. The campaign revolves around Pat's progression as a police officer and the struggle he has with his older brother, Mike, who is one of Bayside's most notorious street racers.

## Trivia

* Kids Heart, the specific meet for players with touge cars, is named after the real life auto shop in Japan that produced Sileighties, a mix of the Nissan 180SX and Nissan Silvia (both S Chassis Nissan vehicles). Nissan vehicles are very popular in the tuner scene, especially cars from the Silvia family line.