Need for Speed Underground 2 Gets a Free Browser Port With Multiplayer Free Roam
A fan project called Underground 2 Revived lets you play Need for Speed: Underground 2 in a web browser, complete with online free roam. It was released in late October and runs in Chrome and Firefox using WebAssembly…
A fan project called Underground 2 Revived lets you play Need for Speed: Underground 2 in a web browser, complete with online free roam. It was released in late October and runs in Chrome and Firefox using WebAssembly and WebGPU, so you just open the website and play. The project page lists up to 120 FPS in widescreen, controller support, and the ability to race friends, and it's free to play. Several reports suggest thousands of players are now roaming Bayview at the same time, and clips of crowded streets seem to be what pushed the project into the spotlight.
The developer, who goes by th0mk, says they played the game with their brother about 20 years ago and wanted to play together again. The dev also jokes that although the game works "surprisingly well," it also got a bit out of hand. Of course, this is an unofficial fan project, and the site says it has no affiliation with EA. There has been no comment from the publisher yet, so we don't know how they will react. Either way, a 2004 racer running in a browser tab with that many players online is quite interesting, to say the least. If you want to roam the streets of Underground 2 once again, it is probably wise to jump in sooner rather than later, just in case.
The developer, who goes by th0mk, says they played the game with their brother about 20 years ago and wanted to play together again. The dev also jokes that although the game works "surprisingly well," it also got a bit out of hand. Of course, this is an unofficial fan project, and the site says it has no affiliation with EA. There has been no comment from the publisher yet, so we don't know how they will react. Either way, a 2004 racer running in a browser tab with that many players online is quite interesting, to say the least. If you want to roam the streets of Underground 2 once again, it is probably wise to jump in sooner rather than later, just in case.