Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Need for Speed Undercover Review for Xbox 360

Need for Speed Undercover Review for Xbox 360

In Need of Tweaks

Black Box and EA are back at it with yet another edition of Need for Speed (NFS). This time, we’re going Undercover to unravel the mysterious link between street racing toughs and arms dealers. Undercover tries to get back to the days of NFS: Most Wanted (and even Hot Pursuit to some extent) by reintroducing the fuzz into the racing mix. Consequently, players will divide their time between street events and outruns (which sometimes become one and the same). The open world “feel” is back, and there are a number of appealing, well-modeled, licensed cars to choose from.

Need for Speed Undercover screenshot

Unfortunately, there simply aren’t enough varied events to keep players interested for long stints. Also, Undercover has shunned any and all simulation challenge by switching to the arcade-like Heroic Driving Engine (HDE). The resulting experience is one that’s decidedly forgiving and accessible to novice racers, but it provides for no substantial test of driving skill. Nevertheless, the decent online features and excellent skill upgrade system should keep fans of the series occupied for a while.

The simple story of NFS: Undercover plays out across several incredibly short live-action clips starring Maggie-Q (there’s even an appearance by Christina Milian). Disappointingly, these scenes would be hard-pressed to make it off the cutting room floor of the next The Fast and the Furious film. Unlike the overtly cheesy Command & Conquer cuts, Undercover’s clips take themselves far too seriously, and the dour tone outstrips the production values and actors’ abilities. The idea to use live action scenes is novel, but pulling off such a lofty goal is next to impossible in a video game. Subsequently, NFS: Undercover’s story falls prey to the unintended kitsch.

Story missteps could be set aside as long as the core driving mechanic succeeded. However, it’s a mixed bag. The well-balanced, one-part-sim/one-part-arcade controls of previous entries have been spurned for a more cinematic, purely arcade driving experience. The Heroic Driving Engine (HDE) employed in Undercover isn’t necessarily a bad thing; you just have to know what you’re getting into. Novice racers will surely enjoy winning nearly every race the first time, the ability to pull off 360s and J-Turns at 160 mph, and the wild card Speedbreaker button that stops time, allowing them to nail 90 degree turns at the last second without ever slowing down. Admittedly, this can be fun for a short stint about town, but the lack of substantial challenge will eventually alienate the racing adept.

Need for Speed Undercover screenshot

Moreover, unlike the varied events available in previous NFS offerings, Undercover has a very limited scope. There are five street racing, three crime syndicate, and three pursuit events. Street racing includes Highway Battles (dodge cars and stay in the lead), Sprints (beat seven other racers), Circuits (multi-lap runs with barriers), Outruns (keep the lead for a set time limit), and Checkpoint races. These street events will earn you Rep points and cash, while advancing the plot.

Pursuit and syndicate events, on the other hand, shun classic racing for an escape-the-police model. Of the six available events, all of them are remarkably similar, save for the very fun Boss Chasedown. Sure, sometimes you’ll be driving a stolen car and will need to keep it in good shape, other times you’ll have to do as much destruction to public property as you can, but in every case you’ll have to simply evade capture. In essence, this portion of the game, while fun, is one large challenge. What’s more, this pursuit mechanic will even creep into street events, as your Rep translates into a Heat Meter that will agro any cop you happen to pass. As a result, no matter what kind of race you’re participating in, it all eventually begins to run together.

Need for Speed Undercover screenshot

Fortunately, NFS: Undercover does get a number of things right. For starters, the Driver Skills and Wheelman leveling system are great. As you gain Rep by winning events and evading pursuit, your Wheelman level will increase. With each increase in level, players will get a major boon to specific Driving Skills. Driving Skills are divided into seven abilities, including Engine, Transmission, Nitrous, Forced Induction, etc. and three percentage multipliers, including Earnings Bonus, Parts Discount, and Zone Bonus. The Zone Bonus acts as an XP multiplier during races. XP is earned for near misses, drafting, stylish stunts, etc. and is what is applied toward leveling your Wheelman rank and will give minor skill increases along the way.

Second, though races are painfully easy to win, achieving the Domination classification for a given race is a bit more challenging and was a nice idea. The trouble is it isn’t nearly challenging enough. I consider myself to be a neophyte racer at best, and I was still able to dominate 75% of all races on the first try. Thankfully, the inclusion of Master Events does up the ante significantly later on. Nevertheless, the idea behind the inclusion of the Domination multiplier is a solid one that I really enjoyed.

Need for Speed Undercover screenshot

Third, Undercover’s Tri-City Bay area is a very large racing playground. There a lot of great highways to abuse, streets to power-slide through, and shortcuts to be found. The size and scope of the maps are quite nice and easy to navigate.

Fourth, progressing from race to race is a snap; simply press down to make your selection. Furthermore, if you do get hosed by the frequent, inexplicably cheap civilian collisions or have a savvy cop T-bone you out of contention, you can restart the event in just a couple of seconds; the load times are very minimal, and it’s much appreciated. This comes in especially handy when you’re trying to dominate every race as you progress; sometimes you’ll have to retry the race, and not having to wait through a prohibitive loading sequence is great! Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for tuning and car purchasing. The load times whilst hopping between the 55+ cars, custom paints, and varied vinyls and parts are quite slow. As a result, I shied away from truly customizing the vehicles in my garage and instead simply upgraded their performance with the preset packages.

Lastly, the online features such as eight-person Sprint and Circuit races and the all-new Cops and Robbers are quite fun. Cops and Robbers is an event where eight players are divided into two teams of four. Robbers try to make off with loot and drop it at a specific zone before time runs out. Meanwhile, cops try and thwart the thieves by totaling the robbers’ vehicles or impeding their progress enough so that time runs out. After one round, the opposing teams switch roles. Domination victories are awarded if one team wins as both cops and robbers. The frantic paint trading and demolition derby that results is truly engrossing.

Visually, the game is appealing but not a knock out. The Tri-City Bay area, while expansive, is devoid of true character. Also, the licensed cars available for purchase look nice and even temporarily deform in interesting ways, but they can’t come close to competing with the visual dream that is Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Similarly, the car sounds and street effects are pleasant, but they fail to completely impress. Additionally, voice over work, outside of the awesome police scanner, is very poor due to the lack of acting talent during cutscenes.

Need for Speed Undercover screenshot

Need for Speed: Undercover is an arcade racing game that will provide fans of the series with a fair amount of fun. However, one can’t help but notice that the franchise has seen better days. Also, simulation racing enthusiasts simply need not apply, as they’ll find the experience quite shallow. In spite of its flaws, Undercover does bring an interesting leveling mechanic and some solid online play to the mix, which keeps the package respectable.

RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.6 Graphics
The cars and environments are all nicely captured but fail to completely impress. 3.5 Control
Driving around the Tri-Cities is a breeze. The simple arcade controls are accessible for even novice gamers, though savvy racers will likely blow through this game without ever breaking a sweat. 3.3 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The cars and street noises are passable, and the cutscene acting sequences are mediocre at best. But the chatter over the police scanner is a real treat! 3.5 Play Value
There is a lot of fun to be had in this laidback racer. However, it simply can’t compete with elite competition. The few online features, interesting licensed cars, and excellent leveling system do a nice job of beefing up the title. 3.5 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

  • Go Deep Undercover: Race into an action-packed story of pursuit and betrayal. Take on jobs and compete in races to prove yourself as you infiltrate and take down an international crime syndicate.
  • Heroic Driving Engine: An all-new game engine lets you pull off amazing moves for the ultimate driving edge.
  • Highway Battle: Fight off the cops and others as you take down your prey in high-speed, high stake multi-car chases. New and vastly improved A.I. mechanics mean more aggressive and intelligent cops focused on taking you out fast and by any means necessary.
  • Own the Open World: Tear Across the massive highway system and discover the open world of the Gulf Coast Tri-Cities area, with three unique cities connected by an extensive highway system.
  • Online: In addition to the classic sprint and circuit race modes, Need for Speed Undercover features an all-new multiplayer mode, Cops and Robbers. The visceral team-based mode supports up to eight players and pits two teams of four players against each other. Robbers must pick up the money and take it to the drop-off point while the cops attempt to prevent the drop-off.
  • Photo Real Cars and Performance: Over 55 licensed cars are available, featuring performance tuning that enables the player to dynamically adjust the vehicles to create the vehicles that can accommodate all action driving scenarios. Some of the cars include the Mercedes CL55, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT2, and Nissan 370Z.
  • Screen Resolution: Up to 1080p (Full HDTV).

  • To top