Much like previous outing EA has opted to use another sex symbol to play the role of your superior officer Chase Linh. Speaking of the story the campy cut scenes return and this time you assume the role of an undercover agent that will take to the streets to uncover a smuggling ring that is being run by one of the street gangs. There is enough variety to keep the game interesting, but you will often find yourself hunting down specific favorites instead of progressing the story. Additionally there is a mode where the objective is cause massive amounts of damage throughout the city. There are also a host of events involving the fuzz, which in my opinion are the highlight of the game. This mode is intense because the game defaults to the ground camera and every single pass through traffic can make or break the race. There are a nice selection of play modes such as standard circuit racing and an event where the idea is to overtake another car for a certain amount of distance through heavy traffic. You can also earn bonuses for dominating races, which is basically winning by a substantial margin. Winning races earns you money and you can use this to purchase new cars to fill your garage or purchase upgrade packs. As I mentioned earlier though most of them feel remarkably familiar making choosing a favorite as easy as finding the fastest top speed and design you like. All of the usual suspects are here including such manufacturers as Lamborghini, Porsche, Aston Martin and BMW. While there are only a little over fifty total models the list is what makes it stand out. The amount of cars found in the game is impressive. Disappointingly though most of these tweaks and upgrades don’t have a large impact within the game thanks mostly due to the fact that regardless of how many different makes and models found that are featured the handling feels similar across the board. If you want to get more in-depth there is a tuning tab that allows you to tweak different options such as acceleration and top speed by manipulating a few simple sliders. Everything is straightforward and easy to understand giving you a good idea of how each package impacts your car’s performance. The upgrade system from previous games makes a return offering packages that make the game more accessible to those of us in the world not educated in being a gearhead. You can also bring up the menu and select your desired race from the map without having to drive there, ideal when you want to check out a specific event or work on upgrading your car. To enter an event all you have to do is simply press down on the d-pad, which makes getting into the action easier than ever. This makes races feel very predictable and straightforward because there is no cross traffic to deal with and the AI cars assume the follow-the-leader mentality. The problem with Undercover is that once you enter an event all of the side roads are closed off eliminating any ability to find shortcuts and forces you down a specific path. The whole reason to offer gamers a free roam mode so they can find multiple routes for races and of course to explore the area.

Undercover adopts the open-world philosophy found in previous games, but it doesn’t gel as well as other titles. With all of these great ideas finally coming together you would imagine that Undercover is the pinnacle of the series, but a few setbacks keep it from becoming the game fans have been clamoring for, but it doesn’t keep it from being another solid entry in the franchise. The narrative plays out like a movie, the cop chases bring back memories of the fan-favorite Hot Pursuit and the driving feels like classic Need for Speed. Undercover almost feels like a collaboration of all the ideas found in previous outings all crammed into one package. It seems that ever since the introduction (and a bit before) the release of these fancy new consoles the long-running franchise has been searching for an identity. The Need for speed series has had a rocky road recently.

Need for speed undercover cars list