18th Entry - Need For Speed Undercover

Need for Speed: Undercover (Xbox 360)

Welcome back everyone, sorry it's been so long. :(

The main reason it's been so long is i KNEW i had to do this review next. While I have always been a Need for Speed fan, this one wasn't terribly worthy, even for a fanboy like me.

The game starts out well, despite the cheesy continuation of the NFS story. The gameplay has only improved since the early NFS games, and this is no exception. The sheer amount of customization possibilities is ridiculous, and even a little overwhelming. And, despite that fact that it's a racing game, Undercover still manages to mix up the gameplay enough that it isn't boring.

The meat of this game is the career mode, which is easily the longest in the NFS series. I'm unable to decide if this is good or bad. I can tell you the writing for this game was atrocious, as over half of some characters' lines are (bad) innuendos, as well as the random rivalries that spring up for no apparent reason during the course of the story. The attempt at a "plot twist" is no less obvious than being hit by a semi. Sigh. What will it take for EA to realize a story just doesn't belong? It worked in Tokyo Drift!

The cop chases are fun and exciting, and the infamous Speedbreaker mechanic makes a return to assist you in plowing through roadblock after roadblock.

Despite my love for this series, it always has flaws. Undercover just has lots. The most glaringly obvious flaws for car guys like Poke and I are the arbitrary assignment of car stats.This is a rampant problem throughout the game. The muscle class cars are also impossible to drive because they refuse to turn, and last time i checked, a Chevrolet Corvette was a RWD vehicle, yet the one i drove in the game out-manuevered anything from Japan, which is just plain wrong. A Lancer EVO with worse handling than that of a Challenger? Seriously, what the hell? It seems nitpicky, but this kind of sloppy detail subtracts from the game. (Also, a Bugatti Veyron tops out at 253 mph, not 246. Check on it, EA.)

Despite the lack of "realism" as far as the cars are concerned, the acting is subpar. Just because you put Maggie Q in the game doesn't mean we'll all be too busy staring at her to realize the acting would make Vin Diesel's character in The Fast and the Furious have a nervous breakdown.

(I'm going to go on a quick tangent here. Why does the radio always suck in driving games? I understand, put some rap and R+B in there, that's fine, no big deal. I even understand the crappy mainstream rock. But seriously, throw the metal fans a bone. Not even one song? And I mean real metal, none of this Bullet for My Valentine stuff, or even worse, Slipknot.)

*end rant.

Right, so Undercover has a multiplayer mode, which i tried. I have to say, I'm a gamer, and I can move at a fast pace, but the game of Cops and Robbers i played was too fast to even think. The Nissan Skyline i was driving went 0-100 in about 1.5, and the whole game mainly took place above 200mph. I'm sorry, that isn't even kind of real. It was so mind blowingly fast i didn't even know my team had won. Needless to say, I'm not a real fan of the online modes.

A final annoying feature of the game was the shamless abuse of bloom lighting. Shameless. Poke was once driving into the sun, and the lighting effectively made it appear as if the road was glass, and the glare made it impossible to even see. Come on, EA, too much of a good thing...

So now you're thinking after that flame-fest, Goofy, you're not a fan of NFS after something like that. WEll, yes, I am, and a very diehard one. It's why i hate to see the games start going downhill. NFS is in need of a major return to roots, Underground-esque revival. Unfortunately, Undercover does not provide this revelation.

The career had enough variety to keep me busy. I don't know if it's because it's a good career, or if i'm just a fanboy so I'm patient. Either way, if you feel you're getting bored with it, take a break cause you'll just end up not wanting to pick it up again. Undercover is one of those games. In addition, beware of the Highway Battles. These 1v1 races are generally easy but there were a couple that required 20+ tries, at least on my end, and I like to think i'm pretty good at Undercover.

One thing i do greatly enjoy about Undercover is its plain silly customization options. Yeah, I put 22s on my Aston Martin DB9. Know what i did next? Gave it a spoiler large enough to constitute a plane wing, slapped on some soda can mufflers, and gave it a chrome paint job. That's right, chrome. And when the sun hit it just right, the glare off the car would burn a hole in your retina. You can do anything from serious to silly, and everywhere in between. Personally, I prefer to black-out the whole car. This is my Charger. (502 hp of muscle that runs on souls.)



All in all, if you're a NFS fan, give Undercover a shot. If you're new to NFS, uhm...buy a Gamecube and play through NFS Underground. If you like realistic racing games like Forza and Gran Turismo, you should not play this game. Bottom line - for fans only.

7/10