Review - Need for Speed: Undercover

If you have ever seen a video for Need for Speed: Undercover, and are thinking of buying it - Don't.

There is a reason why you did not see any media on the game.
There is a reason why you saw no hype on the game.
There is a reason why EA: BlackBox should be shut down.

They are all the same reason; This game fails.

I began this version of Need for Speed just as I have every version of NFS since Underground 2. I was optimistic, and ready to pimp my ride - Again. The install time on my Playstation 3 was relatively short, which was a nice surprise. After this installation I get a short cut scene of a woman talking to another man about an operation they will be undertaking and how I am involved, in some way, to drive for them. I was never really sure how I was involved in this driving, or why I was chosen, just that I'm here, and I've got to get to it. This seemed like the general theme of emotion I had after each cut scene in the future.

I will sum up the fail in the following ways, as you may be as confused as I am right now:

1. Watching a cut scene does nothing for the story. I suppose I'm an undercover police officer. When I am tasked to do something, I never know why, or for what motive.

2. Free-roaming the city is enabled, but completely worthless, as you can press the "Down" arrow in the D-Pad at any time to start a random race, on the other side of the city, which ultimately progresses the storyline.

3. If you loved the old parts you've used to upgrade your car since Most Wanted, they haven't changed. If your sick of them, that's too bad. Oh, and remember when they effected your aerodynamics? Not anymore...

4. Were you planning to buy a new car to beat out the Lamborghini? Don't worry, you can win over that piece of junk in your Nissan 240SX. The stats don't matter either on your car, nor are they accurate, because the Audi TT is listed as having a better top speed and handling than a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX - but forget that, because you can beat both in your 240SX.

5. If you love graphics more than anything in the game, you will be pleasantly surprised to find that this version of Need for Speed uses every bit of the same graphics of Most Wanted. They left out the amazing smoke from Pro Street. They took out the amazing lighting of the night-driving. it's just regular old days, riding around at 200+k, worry free. ON the other hand, if you like your shadows moving strangely about as if you were moving faster than the rotation of the earth itself, that happens too.

6. Oh, did you enjoy the police pursuit in Most Wanted? Is that what would bring you back to the franchise this year? Forget it. The AI in the police went from innovative to garbage, in 0.2 seconds with this version. Road blocks don't use spike-strips. There are no Sport Utilities out there to ram you. Oh, but they've added a helicopter. Go under nearly any shadows, however, and you've lost him as well...

7. So you just want to go with your last resort and buy a car, and trick it out in some off-game mode, where you don't have to worry about the price like every other NFS game in history? Forget that as well - Your in the story, or your playing online, that's it. You pay for paint, you pay for vinyls, you pay for rims, body kits, upgrades, deal with it.

8. Don't let me forget, if you want anything faster than you may normally acquire it, you can be sure that EA has enabled your ability to buy it on your local gaming network, rather than just give out the cheat codes as usual. You can use cheat codes still, however - but good luck finding them, because EA won't tell the likes of you if they can make money on it.

if your looking for a racing game that's fun, buy Burnout. If your looking to trick your ride, buy Midnight Club. If your looking to follow the NFS franchise to the grave, be my guest, because it was the single worst racing game I've ever wasted my money on, and I'm still contemplating if I want to finish it, after owning it.

Hell...there aren't even trophies.

 

I've hard its bad, also got a very little score on metascore.
Yet, I'm going to ignore all those reviews and try it out .

 

im usully a big fan of need for speed. it blows hering its disapoitning

 

I was looking forward to this game so much. Why did they have to screw up again? Well, I think they'll have one more go at it, and if the next version flops they'll give up.

I'm going to try it out nonetheless to see what it's about.

 

I am disappointed of Undercover......Most Wanted is the best i think

 

Wow, I don't usually listen to review, but this one, well changed my thoughts on undercover. I am still playing Most Wanted. I never transitioned over to carbon because it looked bogus, and I played it a few times with my friends, sure it had the auto-sculpt, but all of cars handled like freakin' tanks. The reason I didn't go to pro-street was because you needed to buy almost everything for your car, no freebies, or so I've heard. I am now extremely disappointed in Undercover. I was even looking forward to buying it for myself this Christmas... Thanks for writing the review!

/me Wishes that EA didn't fuck up every game after Most Wanted

/me notices something else... "Almost every game series gets fucked up after the 3rd installment. Examples: The NFS Series, The Halo Series(I count Halo Wars as the 4th installment of the series)

 

I know only thing i enjoy playing is cops and robbers online, lol nevertheless waste of £40 -.- bought it the first day it out came out

 

You're such a tool.

 

Everyone is surely disappointed by NFS:UC,when i first tried the game i was absolutely shocked by the shitty graphics and the crappy Anti aliasing,shadows,everything,even when you max all settings out,including AA,most wanted had better graphics by the way.

Oh and you forgot to mention that when you first start the Career,you are inside a red Nissan 350Z God knows why you are moving at 200+ Kmph,and there's like 20 or so police cars chasing you,then you suddenly hit one of those pursuit breakers and the chase stops,holy fucking shit that was magic!

 

Another bad thing about this game is how long it take for you to get a new car.... The first car you get is ownage and you can beat a Lambo... You don't get the next car until 1/5 of the game is done, and it's pretty good cars... Then you gotta wait a few more races till you finally get to customize... Man. Keep up the Reviews btw...