Need for Speed: Undercover

In Need for Speed: Undercover, become an undercover detective and track down lawless street racing gangs, all while putting the pedal to the metal! This modern sequel in the iconic racing series takes things to the open map of Tri-City, where it's your job to win races and events as you infiltrate gangs and eliminate crime. With live-action cutscenes and an RPG-style leveling system, Need for Speed: Undercover is an interesting evolution for this franchise.

Main Game Features

• Career mode and free-roam racing
• Over 50 real licensed cars
• Local and online multiplayer

Story

For the main story mode of Need for Speed: Undercover, you play as an undercover police officer dispatched to the rough streets of Tri-City. Joined by FBI Inspector Chase Linh, you begin a deep investigation into the local street racing world due to rumors of a massive crime syndicate. According to Linh, the street gangs are smuggling rare stolen cars, and it's your job to discover the truth. Before long, you are taken under the wing of gang boss Hector Maio, who lets you join his group. From there, it's up to you to solve the case.

It's cool that Need for Speed: Undercover has a big story to go with its fast races and rare cars, but it's not the best tale in the franchise. Unlike previous classics such as Need For Speed: Underground or Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, the story in Undercover does more to interrupt the action than assist it. Almost every cutscene is performed in live action, which feels random and poorly made. Overall, the idea of being an undercover cop is a good one, but it doesn't translate well in this story.

Gameplay

Need for Speed: Undercover features an open-world map to race on, like Burnout: Paradise, with many events and race types to play. This includes circuit races, sprints, and checkpoint races, along with new variants. The new outrun, highway battle, and duel race types mix up the action with higher stakes, but they don't add any major new gameplay ideas. Besides story mode, you can also play a single event or try out local split-screen multiplayer. Multiplayer offers a few exclusive events, such as lap knockout and timed circuit, as well as “cops and robbers” mode.

The big change in Need for Speed: Undercover involves how you level up your character in the career mode. You will still earn cash to buy and upgrade new cars, but you will also earn Wheelman Rep as you complete goals and objectives. Wheelman Rep works just like experience points in an RPG, and when you level up, you'll unlock new events, vehicle mods, and more. Your Wheelman level also affects how aggressive the police will be during your race, so be prepared to face additional heat as you increase your level.

Conclusion

Need for Speed: Undercover has cool racing action with new modes and fun multiplayer, so it's fun to play for any fan of going fast.

Pros

• Lots of event types
• RPG leveling is fun
• Exciting Cops and Robbers multiplayer mode

Cons

• Career races get repetitive
• Opponents are very easy to beat
• Low budget live action cutscenes

First Thing's First: Undercover is better than ProStreet. However, it isn't the messianic return to form that people were hoping for, despite the return of the police and their instruments of road safety enforcement. There's also a feeling of it being a little too polished, not just because all the vehicles are so ridiculously shiny.

The basic premise of the game is that you are an undercover cop attempting to infiltrate a ruthless gang of illegal street racers who have been getting involved in the international drugs trade, the scoundrels. Your boss (a predictably alluring female operative called Chase Linh) urges you to carry out increasingly outrageous breaches of the peace in order to attract the attention of the criminals, which involves chasing people around, winning illegal races, wrecking property and cars, and that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, you have to do so many of these things that everything gets very samey, very quickly, which is a shame because the actual races are reasonably good fun and give a great sense of speed. You just have to do so many of them (and for most of the game they are very easy) all excitement is quickly drained from the action. There's also a love interest to ogle (Christina Milian, Z-list female celeb fans) but her idea of a romantic first date is, predictably, street racing. Lovely.

Open Uni Dull

As for the police chases, they, like the regular racing, are exciting at first, but become duller than a documentary on farming practices in Lower Saxony during the Middle Ages. Combine this with the generally unsatisfying crashes and you've got little reason to reach the latter stages of the plot.

EA Black Box have tried to introduce some longevity with the levelling up of your character, drip-fed customisation options, online modes and an extensive range of shiny vehicles to drive around in, but when the actual action is as repetitive as it is, you'll probably not want to bother earning the cash to buy a McLaren F1.

While a budding online community may well spring up around the Cops and Robbers and the Heist modes, the single player won't be retaining the interest of anyone bar the most dedicated carwhoring enthusiasts.