It’s been over a decade since the first Need for Speed debuted back in 1997. Since then, the franchise has thrown all kinds of curveballs into the progression trying keep itself unique and on top of the racing simulation list. And therein lies the fundamental problem with Undercover (as well as the past few in the series), the absence of any significant progression. Undercover underperforms with watered down gameplay, a lack of serious challenge, and just overall indistinctive from other racers. On the other hand, the production value has gone up. The sound effects are spot-on perfect and the cut scenes are sexy and entertaining (although sometimes cheesy). The end result is finely-polished ride with no engine driving it anywhere.

As the player, you jump into the shoes of an undercover cop in the tri-city area and with the help of sexy Maggie Q, you have to bring a group of thugs to justice through street racing (of course). The cut scenes are not very well acted but they sure are pretty (check last month’s American Cinematographer magazine for an in-depth article on how they achieved them). As you slowly build your way up the car chain, you’re given the opportunity to drive some pretty sweet rides, which include beautifully rendered fully licensed cars. Each of these vehicles are completely customizable and although it has little effect on your handling, you can make them look pretty outrageous.

Undercover is set up with an “open world.” You can drive around and smash up cars, practice J curves, or just look at the striking scenery with over 80 miles of city playground, but not much else. Each event glows on your map and you can quickly and easily jump to the nearest race with the push of a button, so it’s kind of pointless to actually drive to each one. These events include various types of races, damage runs and my favorite, cop chases. As you complete each event, you unlock new parts as well as the next chapter (and race) in the story. You can upgrade your car individually or use total packages to outfit your ride with the newest and fastest gear. This is done by winning races, which boost your stats. How? Well, there is a new leveling system involved here. With each new level-up you accomplish, the more cars you can drive. This is my opinion, which is supposed to be a new “addition”, is actually a pain and more restrictive in this newer “open-ended” world because even if you can afford a new car, if your stats aren’t up to par, you can’t drive it. As long as you constantly do upgrade as soon as addition are available though, the races themselves aren’t that challenging. You’ll complete each one by the third try with only a few exceptions. The cop chases get pretty tough though when four or five cruisers are bouncing you back and forth like a pinball. But you can ram, smash, and lead them into booby-traps by tearing the supports away from parts of buildings or bridges, etc. and enjoy the spectacle of their demise. They were without a doubt, the most enjoyable aspect of the game for me with the tension mounting as each new cruiser appears.

Undercover looks beautiful, period, but it pulled my PC to a screeching halt more than once. Now granted my once top-of-the-line custom PC isn’t so top-of-the-line anymore, but still, even with all the settings turned down, the game’s framerate dipped considerably low. So take my heed, you are going to need a fairly up-to-date rig to run this one.

On the audio side, NFS delivers just as strongly as before. A great musical foundation and exaggerated sound effects really give the sense of speed and adrenaline. The NFS series has always been strong in this regard and Undercover is no exception.

And last but not least, the multiplayer offers up to eight players to compete at once in a variety of different races, but the most exhilarating mode is the “cops and robbers.” This is where you are split up into two teams: robbers trying to get to drop off points, and cops trying to stop them. It’s a ton of fun and would be even more fun if 10 or 12 people could play at once. It’s also a lot further rewarding beating another living, breathing human than the sometimes questionable AI.

In the end, if you own more than one previous Need for Speed, it’s probably not worth picking this one up, especially since Burnout Paradise is coming in February. It hurts to say it but, “the need for speed” is lacking in this latest rendition.

Gameplay: 7.0
The open world is kind of boring, but the races keep things fun.

Graphics: 8.8
Graphics really shine, but sometimes too much. The sun reflects off the pavement a little hot, but the cars and world are gorgeous.

Sound: 9.5
The sound design is perfect. The cars shift, squeal and scratch each other perfectly while the music keeps the energy up at all times.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Concept: 8.0
The concept of an open world with a game that offers high energy cop chases and variety of different race modes is great. The problem is, it’s been done better by games other than this one. 

Multiplayer: 7.0
Cops and robbers is the only thing that sticks out of the other common multiplayer modes.

Overall: 7.5
Ya can’t really hate it, but it’s hard to really love it.