''Need for Speed: Undercover'' is a 2008
racing video game
Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic raci ...
, and is the twelfth installment in the ''
Need for Speed
''Need for Speed'' (''NFS'') is a racing game franchise published by Electronic Arts and currently developed by Criterion Games (the developers of the ''Burnout'' series). Most entries in the series are generally arcade racing games centered ...
'' series following ''
Need for Speed: ProStreet'' (2007). Developed by
EA Black Box
EA Black Box (formerly Black Box Games) was a video game developer based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, founded in 1998 by former employees of Radical Entertainment and later acquired by Electronic Arts (EA). The developers are primarily k ...
and published by
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
, it was released on November 18, 2008, for the
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
,
PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
,
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
,
Wii
The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
,
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
PlayStation Portable
The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...
,
Nintendo DS
The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...
,
and then on a number of
mobile phone
A mobile phone or cell phone is a portable telephone that allows users to make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while moving within a designated telephone service area, unlike fixed-location phones ( landline phones). This rad ...
platforms in 2009.
The game sees players conducting illegal
street races within the fictional Tri-City Area, with the main mode's story focused on the player operating as an
undercover police officer to investigate links between a criminal syndicate, stolen cars, and street racers. Gameplay operates on the same manner as previous entries such as ''
Need for Speed: Most Wanted'' and ''
Need for Speed: Carbon'', now including a larger selection of licensed real-world cars, and RPG-styled system in the game's main story mode.
Upon its release, the game received mixed reviews, many of which criticized the game's difficulty, story, setting, and repetitive elements, with some editions receiving lower scores due to severe issues. As of 2021, ''Undercover'' is no longer available for purchase
digitally in any online stores. ''Undercover'' was succeeded by ''
Need for Speed: Shift'' (2009), the
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto. It develops, publishes, and releases both video games and video game consoles.
The history of Nintendo began when craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi ...
-exclusive ''
Need for Speed: Nitro'' (2009), and the ''
Need for Speed: World'' (2010)
MMO.
Gameplay
In the game, players take part in illegal street races that focus on different styles of races, utilizing a variety of licensed real-world cars (available at the time of the game's development and release) that can be upgraded and customized with new parts, while contending with the involvement of the police in their efforts to impede the player. Racing events featured in the game include the series' standard of circuit, point-to-point, and checkpoint races, alongside the return of
Police Pursuit
A car chase or vehicle pursuit is the vehicular overland chase of one party by another, involving at least one automobile or other wheeled motor vehicle, commonly hot pursuit of suspects by law enforcement. The rise of the automotive industry i ...
events featured in ''Most Wanted'' and ''Carbon''. In addition, ''Undercover'' includes new events such as "Outrun" - players must overtake a rival and stay ahead of them for a period of time - and "Highway Battle" - similar to ''Carbon''s "Duel" and ''Underground 2''s "Outrun" event, players attempt to stay ahead of a rival on a highway, battling against both them and local traffic, winning instantly if they pull far ahead and losing for the exact opposite - with its game modes consisting of Career, Single Event, and Multiplayer; both the PlayStation 2 and Wii editions also feature a fourth mode, Challenge Series, which operates similar in function as in ''Most Wanted'' and ''Carbon''.
In Career mode, players take on the role of an undercover police officer seeking to break up a syndicate operating within the underground street race world. Like ''Most Wanted'', players achieve this by completing both Racing Events and Pursuit events - the majority of events in this mode include the opportunity to "dominate" them by completing them faster than a specified time record for domination. In ''Undercover'', progress in the story involves completing events that not only earn money, but also experience (or Wheelman Rep) and a special performance bonus - these bonuses either improve the player's driving abilities with all cars or provide other bonuses to the player's playthrough (i.e. an increase in race earnings). Earning enough experience levels up the player's Wheelman level, unlocking a larger performance bonus, new cars and upgrade parts, as well additional events including Jobs - special story-based missions in which the player must complete a specific task such as taking down a criminal's car. Police pursuits in this mode function like in previous editions, though the player's Wheelman level directly impacts how aggressive the police are when in pursuit of the player; the higher the level, the more tactics and vehicle types used in the pursuit.
Players can freely select any event from the game's map, or by using a hotkey to move on to a highlighted event after completing their current one, and are able to replay previous events but only for a reduced amount of cash. The game features a wide variety of licensed real-world cars which are divided into three tiers of performance and four classes -
Exotic,
Tuner,
Muscle
Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...
, and
Sport
Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...
. Players begin Career mode with a limited selection of cars to use and purchase, but unlock more as they level up and can earn additional cars by defeating criminals in the story. Cars, upgrades and customisation can now be done by visiting the player's safehouse, rather than separate stores, with fine-tuning of a car's performance also conducted in this manner. For the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Wii editions of the game, players can also use police vehicles but only upon unlocking them during the main mode. Cars receive only cosmetic damage during the game, except in Highway Battles and Job events, where it is possible to "
total
Total may refer to:
Mathematics
* Total, the summation of a set of numbers
* Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs
* Total relation, which may also mean
** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...
" a car in these event, the latter per specific parameters assigned to the Job the player is undertaking.
Multiplayer mode varies across the platforms the game was launched on - online multiplayer is possible on Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and DS editions; PlayStation 2 and Wii editions feature split-screen multiplayer, while mobile phone platforms do not include the game mode. For online multiplayer, events consist of multiplayer versions of Sprint racing and Highway Battle, along with a team-based event entitled "Cops and Robbers" - two teams of players compete against each other to score points across two rounds; in the first round, the "Robbers" collect flags and deliver them to specified areas to score points, while the "Cops" attempt to arrest them to earn points, whereupon in the second round, the teams switch roles, with the team with the highest score winning the match. While the PlayStation 2 and Wii features Cops and Robbers in its multiplayer mode, albeit with fewer players allowed, they also feature two exclusive events - "Lap Knockout", in which players compete across a circuit, with the last player at the end of a lap being knocked out and the winner being the remaining player at the end; and "Timed Circuit", in which players compete across a circuit over a predetermined length of laps and time, with the player in first place at the end winning the event.
Plot
Setting
The game's story and events take place in the fictional region of the Tri-City Bay, mainly during the daytime between sunrise and sunset. The region consists of four boroughs - Palm Harbor, a downtown city district; Port Crescent, an industrial port that also houses a naval base; Gold Coast Mountains, a mountainous region of observatories and wind farms; and Sunset Hills, a suburban town with rural farms - with each borough linked to the other by a series of highways. The region's design was heavily influenced by the real-life city of
Miami
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, alongside locations visited by the development team across the Gulf Coast and California Coast, with the setting's
open world
In video games, an open world is a virtual world in which the Gamer, player can approach objectives freely, as opposed to a world with more linear and structured gameplay. Notable games in this category include ''The Legend of Zelda (video game ...
map consisting of around of road.
In the Nintendo DS edition, the boroughs are named Metropolis, North Port Crescent, South Port Crescent and Riverton, while in the Wii and PlayStation 2 editions, the game's setting takes place within a carbon-copy of two boroughs taken from ''Most Wanted''s setting leaving Beach borough.
Story
The player, an
undercover police officer for the Tri-City Bay Police Department (TCBPD), is called in to Palm Harbor police station by their superior Lt. Jack Keller (
Paul Pape
Paul Pape (born July 17, 1952) is an American actor. He is known for the role of Double J in the 1977 film ''Saturday Night Fever''. Post Saturday Night Fever, he has appeared in over 20 films. He also played a supporting role in the 2008 racing v ...
). The player is informed that their current investigation into the region's underground street racing world is to be joined by Inspector Chase Linh (
Maggie Q
Margaret Denise Quigley (born May 22, 1979), professionally known as Maggie Q, is an American actress.
She began her professional career in Hong Kong, with starring roles in the action films '' Gen-Y Cops'' (2000) and '' Naked Weapon'' (2002), ...
), a federal agent of the
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
, who wants to bring down an international criminal syndicate operating in the region that is involved in smuggling stolen cars. The player is instructed to pose as a new street racer and join in on major illegal street races, along with gaining infamy with the TCBPD, in order to secure entry into the syndicate. The player achieves this by being recruited into a gang that works with the syndicate, run by Hector Maio (
Kurt Caceres
Kurt Caceres (born Kurt Heinzman; October 18, 1972) is an American actor of German and Mexican descent. He is best known for his role as Hector Avila on the hit Fox drama ''Prison Break''.
Life and career
He was also a standout football player ...
) and his brother Zack (Joshua Alba). At the same time, they befriend Carmen Mendez (
Christina Milian
Christina Milian ( , Flores; born September 26, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Following a number of minor television and film roles in the late nineties, Milian made her recording debut on American rapper Ja Rule's 20 ...
), a member of the gang. The brothers quickly assign the player to steal cars for them during their racing activities. Upon completing the jobs, Chase instructs the player to arrest the gang, including the brothers.
With Hector's gang out of action, the player is sent to Sunset Hills in order to get recruited by a crew operated by Gregory "GMAC" McDonald (
David Rees Snell
David Rees Snell (born August 20, 1966) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Detective Ronnie Gardocki on the crime drama ''The Shield'', Detective John Burrows in '' S.W.A.T.'' (2018–present), and Paul in '' The Beacon'' (2009). ...
) - a former TCBPD police officer - Rose Largo (Heather Fox) - an honor student who turned to crime - and Brad "Nickel" Rogers (Lawrence B. Adisa) - a former boxer. Whilst conducting races along with jobs for the crew, the player is instructed by GMAC to steal a car from Chau Wu (Jack Yang), the
Triad
Triad or triade may refer to:
* a group of three
Humanities
* Trichotomy (philosophy), often called triads
* Triad (sociology), a group of three people as a unit of study
* Triad (relationship), or ''ménage à trois''
Music
* Triad (music ...
leader of the syndicate the player is investigating. When the player finds themselves confronted by Chau, he offers to overlook the theft in exchange for the player's help in recovering a car he lost that he needs back, believing it was stolen by GMAC's crew; a meeting with Carmen suggests the theft was likely committed by someone else. Eventually, the player is instructed to arrest GMAC and his crew, though is unable to locate the stolen car in their possession.
Shortly after arresting GMAC's crew, Carmen contacts the player and requests a meeting. Upon reaching her, she reveals that Zack and Hector unknowingly stole the missing car from Chau, and asks them to get rid of it for her. Chau quickly contacts the player the moment they take possession, and receive instructions to deliver it to a warehouse, learning that he knows them to be a police officer and that they have kidnapped Chase to coerce compliance from them. Upon delivering the car, Chase reveals herself to be a corrupt federal agent, who was working with Chau to recover the car as it possessed vital evidence of his activities and a sizeable quantity of cash. Before Chau can dispose of the player, Chase betrays him, murdering him and his henchman, before framing the player for their murder while escaping with the money and evidence.
The player is forced to flee from the TCBPD upon being wanted for the killings, but finds support from Keller. On his instructions, they proceed to take down Chase before she can flee the region, as it is the only way to clear their name. After successfully arresting Chase, Keller commends the player for their hard work at recovering the evidence and managing to not forget themselves during their undercover work, informing them that Carmen made a plea bargain with him in exchange for her testimony against the arrested crews. Some time later, the player meets with Carmen to give them a ride to the local university where she is studying as a med
student
A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject.
In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...
.
Development
Electronic Arts
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
John Riccitiello
John Riccitiello () is an American business executive. Previously, he was chief executive officer, chief operating officer and president of Unity Technologies, Electronic Arts, and co-founded private equity firm Elevation Partners in 2004. Ric ...
stated that the previous release in the series (''ProStreet'') was only "an okay game...
nd wasnot good"
and that ''Undercover'' would "be a much better game".
He stated ''Undercover'' would have a considerably longer
development cycle
In software engineering, a software development process or software development life cycle (SDLC) is a process of planning and managing software development. It typically involves dividing software development work into smaller, parallel, or s ...
than its predecessors because the ''Need for Speed'' development team had been split up into two teams, both of which would work on a "two-year" development cycle with future titles, alternating releases between them.
Riccitiello stated he was "torturing" the development team with a tight development cycle in the past.
"When this change was implemented in mid-summer 2007, one team started working on ''Undercover'' (giving it only a 16.5 month development cycle), while the other team (that finished ''ProStreet'') would start working on the next title."
Riccitiello also stated ''Undercover'' took inspiration from
action film
The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...
s such as ''
The Transporter
''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...
'', with a large
embedded narrative.
Frank Gibeau, President of the
EA Games
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted ...
label, stated during development that due to the fact that the sales of ''ProStreet'' didn't live up to EA's hopes for the game, the ''Need for Speed''
franchise would go back to its roots (although ''Undercover'' was already being developed before ''ProStreet''). "John Doyle (Developer at EA Black Box) said that ''Undercover'' would feature a brand new
game mechanic In tabletop games and video games, game mechanics define how a game works for players. Game mechanics are the rules or ludemes that govern and guide player actions, as well as the game's response to them. A rule is an instruction on how to play, wh ...
and a
Most Wanted''-ish'
sandbox
A sandbox is a sandpit, a wide, shallow playground construction to hold sand, often made of wood or plastic.
Sandbox or sand box may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Sandbox (band), a Canadian rock music group
* Sandbox (Gu ...
style of
gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game. The term applies to both video games and Tabletop game, tabletop games. Gameplay is the connection between the player and the game, the player's overcoming of challenges, and t ...
."
The game was also provided with an all new damage system.
Andy Blackmore (Senior Vehicle Concept Artist at EA) explained how one of the
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...
cars that was "conceptualized" in the game was then brought to life for the game from a brief description to being approved by Porsche.
A few days before ''Undercover''s release, EA revealed a few plot details. A video was uploaded that showed the player evading capture from the Tri-City Police Department (TCPD).
Reception
Reception of ''Undercover'' was mixed. There were complaints about the game's easy difficulty, repetitiveness, and poor texture maintenance. The ''IGN'' review went as far as recommending the game's rivals such as
Rockstar Games
Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...
' ''
Midnight Club: Los Angeles'' and EA's own ''
Burnout Paradise
''Burnout Paradise'' is a 2008 racing video game developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. It was also released on the PlayStation Store and via Xbox Live Marketplace's Games ...
''.
The
IGN
''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
review was critical of the PS3 version of ''Undercover'' giving it a 4/10, calling it a "poor game with a ton of problems"
and with "practically no redeeming qualities".
''IGN'' also commented on how the reason for having an open world environment was lost because a player could only start an event from the map.
However, the Xbox 360 and the PC versions received a higher score in contrast to the PS3 version in the ''IGN'' review, due to the fewer severe problems that occurred.
The
1UP.com
''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conte ...
review called the game only "fairly successful," but praised the game's selection of cars and tighter handling on the vehicles.
However, the "leveling" system that unlocks cars and upgrades was criticized for resembling "
grinding".
In general, sparse traffic, wide-open roads, and poor AI led to complaints about extremely low difficulty, however, one reviewer commented on how this may have been a marketing ploy to target a wider audience.
The reception to the live-action cutscenes was almost universally negative, with many critics noting that the videos were poorly acted and lacked purpose.
Some compared the cutscenes to a
Michael Bay
Michael Benjamin Bay (born February 17, 1965) is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special eff ...
or
Roland Emmerich
Roland Emmerich (; born 10 November 1955) is a German-American filmmaker. Emmerich is widely known for his science fiction and disaster films and has been called a "master of disaster" within the movie industry. His films, most of which are Eng ...
film.
The lack of connection between the crime fighting undercover cop story and the racing game play was particularly criticized by ''IGN'' who said, "You ... run missions where you steal cars, make 'special' deliveries and things like this now and again, but you never actually see any sequences that show how the cops are putting the evidence together or anything of that sort. Chase Linh will tell you
hat
A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...
you need to do to get on the inside of a racing group in order to get dirt on them, and then after a race she'll say 'We have enough, let's move in.'
ut you're left asking: How did that help at all? Finally, the in-game
frame rate
Frame rate, most commonly expressed in frame/s, or FPS, is typically the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (Film frame, frames) are captured or displayed. This definition applies to film and video cameras, computer animation, and moti ...
received little praise, and ''GameSpot'' particularly criticized the PS3 version for this problem resulting in a lower score on the platform compared to the Xbox 360 and PC versions.
''Need for Speed: Undercover'' has sold 1.4 million copies in the United States.
References
External links
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