Need for Speed: Undercover Review (Xbox 360)

By Jeremy Yerby | November 22, 2008

Need for Speed Undercover is the latest in a long line of a somewhat troubled series of racing games.  In recent years the series has had ups and downs, has been handed off to different internal developers, and has seen many gameplay tweaks and alterations along the line. They tried the open-world style found in Undercover once before in Need for Speed Most Wanted, but after a couple of misguided games that deviated from what makes Need for Speed fun and different, Blackbox is attempting to bring Need for Speed back to form with Undercover. The result is a game that can be a lot of fun, but also has many issues that may hamper the experience. As a matter of fact, I found the perfect way to describe Need for Speed Undercover right there in the game’s loading screen: “You’re not good, and you’re not bad.”

The story chronicles your character’s undercover infiltration of a street-racing group that has been responsible for a number of car thefts. You must gain their trust by winning races, helping them get stolen cars to chop shops, and other similar wheelman duties. The best part of the story is the hilariously overacted live-action scenes between missions. These usually show groups of ridiculously dressed people playing loud music in an alley while revving engines in some sort of car appreciation orgy, during which someone will either be talking about you or talking on the phone to you to progress the story, or challenging you to some ridiculous race. I do think the scenes are intended to be funny, but the funniest thing about them is how serious they managed to get the actors to look while doing and saying ridiculous things. The whole thing reeks of The Fast and The Furious, and while that movie itself is not a shining example a fabulous acting, this really takes the cake.

There are plenty of slick rides in Undercover

The races themselves are quite varied and usually pretty entertaining providing you can overlook some things. Undercover does take place in an open-world city, however most race types put you on a specific path in the city and actually have roadblocks set up at turns so you have to follow that path. It seemed strange that a group of street-racers would go through the trouble of setting up these roadblocks. The part of me that always took a wrong turn at the last second in a Burnout Paradise race welcomes this, but the other part of me wonders why this game is in an open city at all if you can only follow one path. Sure there are shortcuts to be found, but ultimately there is only one way to get to the finish line. However, this really isn’t a huge issue, it is just something a little strange. Another perplexing thing is the presence of traffic in these races; why are there cars in the closed-in racing area that are not participating in the race? I’d frequently notice them sitting at intersections waiting to turn at a dead end. Okay, so Need for Speed is not a simulation, but these design choices are a little strange. There are other race modes that do make use of the open city, but these seem to be in the minority. I also find the learning curve in this game to be more like an open valley; even towards the end of the game you’ll find very little in the way of challenges. I am not of the opinion that the difficulty of a game is directly proportionate to the game’s fun, however, the excitement kind of wears off when you realize you can pretty much dick around and not have to worry about anyone catching up to you. You’ll get more than halfway through the game before you really need to pay attention to win; up until then you can pretty much swing wide one way or the other at the beginning of a race and pass the whole group; except for the lead car which for some reason is always a slight bit faster than the others. Lucky for you the AI is thick as a board and that lead car will screw up at some point and allow you an easy pass.

There are some inventive race modes including a cat-and-mouse type race that puts you and another car in the open city. You usually start off following the other car as he leads you around the city until you can pass him in which case you will have to lead the path. The first person to maintain the lead for a straight minute will win. Unfortunately I found you can break this mode by coming up to a T-intersection and instead of turning left of right just place the nose of your car against the wall. Your opponent will be unable to “pass” your car and they will lose. There is another mode that pits you and an opponent on the interstate, weaving in and out of cars, racing to gain a 1000 foot lead on the other.

Police chases are the clear highlight of Undercover

Various missions will also place you in the seat of a stolen car, and you must evade police. These are amongst the most fun times to be had in this game as the police are relentless and are pretty quick to find you. Finding clever ways to lose your pursuers is clearly the highlight of this game, and they actually installed some police obstacles throughout the city for you to activate. For example, a sign or overhang will fall on the police cars if you run into specially marked support beams, causing them to be trapped. Seeing one of these when being chased is very exciting and pulling it off can be tricky but rewarding. The police AI typically has one agenda: ram your car. The police chases are very over-the-top but really quite a bit of fun. I often found myself purposely attracting the 5-0 just to try and outrun them.

The open-world mechanic has been done in many games and you should know what to expect. You get a map on the lower corner of your screen that will highlight the course you are on. You can open your GPS to see all available races and missions, or press down on the D-pad to just skip to the nearest one. Probably the only issue I take with the open-world setting is that you don’t ever really need to use it. At the end of each race, just push down on the D-pad and you’re in another one. Not that I enjoyed driving to each event in Burnout Paradise, but, it’s somewhat apparent that this game could have been largely unchanged even without the open world setting. There is nothing to really find or discover in the world and no penalty for just skipping to each mission. To some people this may not be a bad thing, but it just makes me wonder why the game is in the open world to begin with.

The great sense of speed is plagued by technical problems

Probably the biggest problem with this game is the technical issues. Any time you are in an exciting race the frame rate drops to about half the norm, sometimes worse. When you’re flying down the interstate at 180 MPH weaving in and out of traffic and the frame rate is moving like a flipbook, you are bound to hit something.  The graphics in the game are quite good otherwise, so it’s a shame the performance isn’t where it needs to be. The lighting effects are nice, and the city is about as detailed as I expected it to be. The shadowing is a little wonky at times, sometimes moving very quickly as if the sun is circling the earth like a meteorite. Also, nearly everything in the main menu including the GPS requires a small load just for another menu. It’s usually only a couple of seconds but it is noticeably frustrating. The sound in the game is done pretty well, and I particularly enjoyed the detail that went in to the police radio chatter you hear as you play. Some of it is really funny and some of it is really useful in determining where the police are setting up roadblocks. The music is hit or miss, mostly music you’d expect to hear in a Fast and the Furious movie, but none of it stood out as explicitly bad to me.

Need for Speed Undercover is a good game that could have been great. I really think there is much fun to be had in this title, but, amongst the literal avalanche of great games this holiday, it may not hold up. That, and it’s hard to recommend $60 Undercover when Burnout Paradise, a game that has mastered open-world racing, can be had for $30. However, Undercover is by no means a bad game, and if you try it you will likely get hooked as I did. I have confidence that if the ideas used in this game are applied to a game with better technical performance and some design changes that it would be a winner. However as it is, I give it 3.5 Aeropausonauts out of 5.