by Gavin Allan

Created on: May 16, 2009   Last Updated: May 18, 2009

So, the new Need for Speed. Well, its actually very good unlike its predecessor: Pro Street. The reason why it is back to being an NFS game is that all of the Police chases are back (this has a big overall impact on the quality of the game).

The Graphics and sound effects in the game are very good and realistic too. Especially on your personal cars, although the other public cars do have quite bad graphics, but its always the same with a NFS game. In terms of car choice, there are loads of makes/models to choose from. Including; Pagani, Bugatti, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Aston Martin and even Ford Shelbies. Undercover also does what Need for Speed games are famous for very well: Customisation/tuning. In the game, there are loads of different aftermarket bumpers, hoods, spoilers, exhausts... to choose from. Although it has to be mentioned that the choice of body kits is quite limited. There tends to be only 3 options for most cars.

In terms of gameplay, its very good. There are plenty of different race types to choose from, including the new "Highway Battle" which is basically a race in which 2 cars have to slip through the traffic, the aim is to be 300 ft away from your opponent, this will be a win. The other way around is obviously a loss. The other race types are; Sprint (a short race to the finish (without laps), Circuit (a set track, normally 3 laps), Checkpoint (Reach the set checkpoints in time, pass them quicker than the deadline to get a bonus) and Outrun ( Stay ahead of your opponent, take sharp turns and keep ahead of him until the timer runs out). There also Pursuit events in NFS Undervoer; Cop Take out (disable the target number of police vehicles and evade in time), Cost to Sate (destroy the target amount/cost of property in the time limit), and Escape (evade the police within the time limit). Personally, I find the pursuit events the most fun as you get to destroy stuff and still gain Wheelman rep. Wheelman rep goes from 1-18 in levels, the more races you win and pursuits you evade, the higher your rep goes.

The career is a good length and every single event is a different track. All in all, there are about 180 events of different kinds (see above). Not to mention the story missions that go along beside the races.

(Online play section is mainly written for Xbox 360)

Online play is good on the whole, the new events such as cop and robbers are quite fun to play. However I do find it annoying that you can't have a local match on your own console. The online events are much the same as offline except from a few additions such as cops and robbers. Online play is also available for private matches in which you can invite friends in to race and check out each others cars. There is also an add-on pack available on Xbox Live Marketplace for new vehicles. Personally, I would recommend buying it if you are looking to own online, as the pack gets you new tracks and new cars including the koenigsegg CCX (the fastest in the game).

Other new features in the new NFS include the Heroic Driving Engine (HDE), the HDE level gives you an idea of how dangerous/stylish you are driving. Points are awarded for 180s, 360s, burnouts, drifts and a whole load more. Points are taken off if you drive slowly or crash into objects.

Overall, I think this game is well worth buying and it does honestly last quite a while. As you can mess about in police chases and make loads of awesome cars in the my cars section. One last thing for the people who think NFS isn't realistic, it isn't meant to be, thats what makes it so good. Like Guitar Hero.

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