Review – Need For Speed Undercover

In late 2005, the biggest games company in the world took one of the best selling racing game franchises of all time out from under the covers. EA took Need For Speed out from the underground, and into the day. Then they added in some cops, and boy, what a game they had. Need For Speed Most Wanted, flaws and all for us was one of the best arcade racers out there. We couldn't wait for the sequel, and when it came, it wasn't exactly the best. A year on, in Need For Speed Pro Street, the game was legalised and races were done on proper tracks. That kinda ruined it, and the game didn't sell very well. So, EA did the only thing they could do; they brought back the police.

After a cheesy cutscene, you're thrown into a very familiar situation; driving around an open world in a car, with someone talking to you through your mobile. Basically, it seems the same as Most Wanted. Surely that can't be a bad thing? Well, we're afraid it is. Undercover spends the whole game trying to be Most Wanted, but at the end of it, its only half the game its trying to be.

For a start, the legendary police chases are pretty pathetic. In Most Wanted, you could be chased by ever better police, who would do everything they could to stop you; send 4x4s charging at you, block you in, put down spike strips - the lot. Undercover, its a totally different story. If you can drive for long enough, the police will just about give up; one minute you've got ten cars chasing you, the next minute its one. We managed on multiple occasions to lose the police driving round a tiny roundabout. That just about sums it up. If you're causing enough mayhem, then you might get some SUVs chasing you. Regardless of what you're driving or how fast you're driving, these SUVs will shoot up from behind you and sit in front of you. Regardless of how fast you're driving SUVs will shoot up from behind you.

Next on the list of problems is originality. Aside from trying to be a three year old game, Undercover is about original as a cheap Tetris rip-off. Well, maybe not that bad but you get the idea. Races are, well, races. Circuit races, sprint races, checkpoint races, outrun races, escape from police races... Theres nothing original or exciting there. Races take part in the open world, but unlike EA's other big racing title, Burnout Paradise, you're not given any option as to how to get to your destination. Weirdly, when you're in a race, just about all the traffic disappears. Occasionally, you'll have to get from A to B in an attempt to advance the story. Oh yeah, the story.

We were promised a deep and marvelous storyline, with international superstar actors. What we've got is something not quite like that. The storyline is a bit weird, and basically you're a police officer who goes deep undercover in an attempt to bring down an international smuggling street racing gang. Once you've "gathered enough evidence" (which, by the way, seems to involve racing them!?) you'll often be told that you should wreck their car so that the police can arrest the person. Why can't the police do it themselves? And, say the person got out the car. Don't think anyone thought of that.

As always, Undercover is set in an open world, which you're free to drive around in outside of races. However, there isn't really any point; all of the races and shops can be accessed by pressing a button on your controller. I thought the whole point of an open world was that you could drive around finding stuff. Speaking of shops, you can go to any of the shops and buy upgrades to your car, or even buy a new car, but thats something else that dosen't really have any point - as you race you upgrade your car, and these upgrades can only be unlocked by "dominating" a race. Yet, you can buy separate upgrades that only apply to a single car. Confused yet?

Undercover can't decide whether its really easy or really hard. Just about all of the time it goes for the first one - don't crash into anything and you'll soon have a massive lead - you don't even have to have a decent car. Yet at the same time, in sprint races especially, your ten second lead is suddenly two and with 95% complete, your opponent will find another gear and shoot past you.

The problems aren't just superficial; if you're driving at speed, the sky will suddenly have lines in it, and the trees and buildings in the distance will appear too late. I thought we'd left that sort of thing behind years ago.

However, Undercover is, despite all of the glitches, enjoyable. But only just. If you were a fan of Most Wanted, then go out and buy this now. You might be a bit disappointed, but the concept is so good its still enjoyable. If you weren't a Most Wanted fan then go for Burnout Paradise.

Nometet.com says:

+Online modes good fun

+Good range of cars

+All said and done, it remains good fun

-Buggy

-Open world open just for the sake of it - nothing to find

-Police give up after a while

Xbox 360 version reviewed. Some frame rate issues with the PS3 version.