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The opening cinematic is promising enough, with all the feel of a high-budget summer action flick as police helicopters swoop across the screen over a busy city highway and sirens wail, and Need for Speed: Undercover throws you directly into the action as you are instructed to evade the cops in a high-speed pursuit. Unfortunately, after Undercover hooks you and reels you in, it slowly starts to release the line.
The illegal street racing plot was popularized in the movies in 2001, and games like Need for Speed and Midnight Club soon picked up on the trend. As you play through the game, it quickly becomes apparent that the attempt was for a cinematic experience that could ride alongside the Fast and the Furious. You are hired by a federal agent to do some undercover work and crack down on a big bad international crime syndicate. The result is a semi-decent racing/action game with soap-opera quality live-action cutscenes.
When it comes to core gameplay, Need for Speed: Undercover just barely hits the mark. You drive around in an open world city and can choose to accept challenges as they pop on screen. Some of these challenges are your standard race against other cars, and others will be more mission-based and ask you to escape the police while causing thousands of dollars of damage to the city.
The game's main character, known only as the ‘Wheelman' must be an undercover agent of the utmost importance, because even the police don't know who you are. The second a cop spots you, the game initiates a car chase in which you must escape the police. It is obvious that this is purely for gameplay, because the whole, "Give the cops a hard time to win over the gangs" is a bit tough to accept seeing as how I am supposed to be the guy going behind enemy lines to take down the bad guys. I know I am undercover, but does that actually mean I should actually put civilians in real danger?
The challenges will have you go head-to-head with another car and reach an objective like, "Get 1,000 feet ahead of opponent". The idea fine with me, but the annoyance is once again in the game trying to be a Hollywood blockbuster. For some reason, the team at Black Box decided that a dramatic camera angle would be the best way to convey the action and speed of the race. I had a minor gripe with the camera view defaulting to the front bumper of your car, giving you the '1 foot off the street' look used so often in racing movies. While it looks cool in the movies, it becomes a real hindrance while racing, because you cannot see your car, losing your sense of proximity to the things around you. None of that is ideal for a racing game.
The game also features live actors for the cutscenes. While it seems that this was meant to take the game's storytelling to higher levels, the acting is not convincing. It is a throwback to the 1994 era of video games when live-action video sequences became standard. Short, irrelevant video clips in which actors will say one or two lines like, "Prove to them that you are a wheelman" could have easily been replaced with a much simpler voiceover.
Underground's visuals are not bad on their own; it's the problems that arise during gameplay that hurt it. Many times my race was slowed down by choppy frame rates and the overall appearance was hindered by the game's performance. It was not unusual to see pop-up with trees, cars and even buildings. At one instance, I even saw a car drive right into a wall and disappear. This brings me to the AI.
Most of the non-racer cars wander down the road and like to swerve mindlessly into your lane at the most inappropriate times becoming more of an annoyance than a challenge. The opponents' cars don't seem to try very hard either. I am terrible at racing games and I was still able to dominate the competition. Great for a novice like me, but the more seasoned racing fans may find it a bit too easy for their liking.
It may sound like I am just talking this game down, but Need for Speed: Underground does have its merits. The Heroic Driving Engine makes awesome stunts and maneuvers easy. Once again, it is about EA Black Box going for the action movie feel, but it works. Pulling a 180 at over 100 miles per hour or quickly kicking the car into reverse and pulling a j-turn with such ease makes you feel like a total badass.
As I said before, Need for Speed: Undercover is barely a passable game. Most of the challenges are just regular races or variations of races. There are times I found myself saying, "Really, do I have to do this again?" The repetitiveness is a real downer, but the Heroic Engine makes for some rockin' driving sequences, especially when fleeing from the cops. I could not recommend buying the game, but may be worth a weekend rental.
Fun Factor: The game is only mildly entertaining, and driving around on the city streets and running from the law gets old fast.
Game Length: You can probably finish the game in a rental.
Difficulty: Flying through the game is relatively easy, seeing as how most of the computer opponents drive like senior citizens.
On the Negative Side: For a game that attempts to deliver so much story wise, there is little variety in the gameplay.
Bang for your Buck: It is hard to justify paying retail price for this game, but as the saying goes,"Try it before you buy it."
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