The fifth and final game i have chosen to review is Need for Speed: Undercover the 12th installment in the popular racing game. Need for Speed: Undercover was released in Europe by EA on the 21st November 2008 on various platforms such as Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo Wii, PSP and the Nintendo DS. The plot of the game is, the character is a police officer who goes undercover into the criminal underground of Tri-City. Which is a fictional city where the game is based in. The character has to complete dangerous jobs' and compete in races if you are to infiltrate the members of the illegal street racers and car thieves. After so long the character continues to prove himself as a brilliant street racer and wheel man. The further you get into the game the more you have to take out different criminal "friends".
Gameplay
This game features a new open world map that has a 100 miles of road and a large highway system that makes it the largest EA has created so far. The game has four environment's that consist of Palm Harbor, Port Crescent, Gold Coast Mountains and Sunset Hills. Them four boroughs all make up Tri-City. The longer highways make it more realistic. Also, unlike previous Need for Speed games, the whole map is open from the start of the game. In the game, the police system is similiar to what it was like in Most Wanted and Carbon. The bar graph that moves between blue and red which mean "Evade" and "Busted". Police tactics such as "road blocks" and "spike strips" all feature. The damage system also returns in this game and it's similiar to ProStreet. The only difference is the damage is only seeable but doesn't affect performance and is automatically repaired after every police pursuit or career race. The customisation of the cars is also quite similiar to ProStreet but the graphics and detail have been enhanced. The character can also earn reputation as they progress through the game by doing side missions or doing manuevers in a police chase.
Graphics
As soon as i started
playing Undercover the first thing i noticed was the terrible frame rate in a game that's had a dependable series. I also noticed while driving through the city, it was bathed in fog and parts of it will suddenly appear as if it had just been teleported. In general the city is boring and that includes the design. Full Motion Video is used in the game but the acting is rather over the top by Maggie Q who plays Chase Linh in the game. Their acting in this game as if their expecting an award of some sort.Sound
Undercover does boast a very good soundtrack in the game. Well known music artists such as Nine Inch Nails, Pendulum and the Prodigy all have songs featured on the soundtrack. So the strong soundtrack that has plenty of variety for everyone. Although if you're playing the game on the Xbox you can always just use your own music which is probably the best option for some people. The sound effects are good with all the car sounds such as squealing tires to the engine revving at high speed. However the sound effects for collisions are pretty much silent as if their not dangerous. The little voice over work that is done, mostly from police dispatchers and police who radio for help is pretty good.
Conclusion
If you like racing games in general then this game is worth a rental at least. In my opinion there's too much to do and is probably missing something that could have made this game one of the best around.
