Need For Speed: Undercover

Need for Speed:  Undercover

Rating T

Score   8.5/10

            In my review of Need for Speed:  Pro Street, I mentioned it was disappointing because it had no cops and there was no open world style.  Most gamers felt the same way.  The game designers must have heard our cries, because they stayed close to the Need for Speed: Most Wanted roots this time.  A common problem with games, though, is that they stay too close to their roots..is this the case?  This game is available for the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Playstation 2, Playstation 3, PSP, Xbox 360, PC, iPod Touch, iPhone, mobile phones and the N-Gage 2.0.  To summarize all that, it’s on everything it possibly could be!

             To be truthful, staying too close to its Most Wanted roots wouldn’t be the worst thing the designers could have done, even though this game isn’t Most Wanted 2.  The gameplay is similar to Most Wanted and Carbon:  it’s an open world filled with challenges and cops.  As in all the previous games, you start off with a car that likely has a top speed of 60 kmh.  You soon upgrade to bigger and better cars once you win races and get money.  It’s the overused, but effective, Need for Speed story.

             However, there’s more to it this time around.  This time, you’re an undercover cop!  What a plot twist!  You’re taking down street racers by outracing them…maybe not exactly how real cops do it, but whatever works.

             Even though you’re a copy yourself, other cops will arrest you if they catch you breaking the law.  They must be holding back, because it’s never a challenge to outrun them and get away.  They do use PIT maneuvers on you, but they announce it to you before they do, killing any chance of it being a surprise.  They wouldn’t want it to actually be a challenge apparently.

             You might be thinking right now “Is that all there is to the game?  Cops and challenges?”  Well, you obviously have never played Need fro Speed.  That’s all there is.  There are some new challenges, and the cops are easier, but that’s about the most significant change made.  Other smaller changes include good music, new cars and better graphics.

            While newcomers will enjoy this addition to the Need for Speed series, fans still cry for their Most Wanted 2.  While it improved on a lot of what made Most Wanted a fun run, it also ruined what made Most Wanted fun, the challenging cops!  Will fans ever see the perfect sequel to Most Wanted?  We may never know…