Firstly, as the Need for Speed franchise can't seem to make up it's mind whether it's a straight racer or a story driven racer, I'm reviewing this compared directly with Need for Speed Most Wanted - as this game is most similar to that than any of the titles before or since (not including "The Run").
I've played every single Need for Speed game right from the first one. There's been some real highs and some real duds in the NFS series (NFS Pro Street, anyone?) Need for Speed Undercover is though, I'm pleased to say, definitely, for me, one of the highs. It even brings back some FMV throughout the game - and not just before a race. This brings back fond memories of those Full Motion Video games of the 90's, and indeed it's faithfully recreated here, complete with terrible acting throughout (this is a good thing!).
There are a number of definite improvements over Need for Speed Most Wanted - most notably the graphics of course. The car textures are beautiful - in fact near faultless. Smoke effects are really worth a mention as being very impressive. Also very much improved is the damage model. Through a race you can end up stripping just about all the body parts off your car to leave it unrecognisable. However, due to the real car licensing restrictions placed by the real world car manufacturers on EA, once again you will see that no matter what you do to your car externally, it's performance will remain exactly the same as if it were in brand new condition - which slightly diminishes the whole point of a damage model. Nevertheless it's a good step up from a shattered windscreen and a few scrapes.
The sat nav, or "GPS", is one thing that is NOT an improvement. Whilst huge great arrows at the top of the screen don't make for the most immersive driving experience, they at least worked in directing you where you needed to go. The GPS in NFS Undercover is often infuriatingly confusing. The game loses marks for the ease of access to the map. In NFS Most Wanted it was as simple as pressing a key and a map would be brought up instantly. In Undercover you have to press escape, then scroll down to "GPS Map" and then select it - really not intuitive. Another tradition carried over from just about all the previous Need for Speed games is the traffic, which has cars 'coincidentally' always slap bang on the racing line on the bends - a trait which is extremely annoying when you're travelling at speeds of 200mph.
The music has become something to behold on Need for Speed titles ever since Need for Speed Underground - with real bands and artists supplying the music. However it would seem EA has run out of artists/labels willing to part with their tunes. I only recognised one track. And another was even in Spanish.
The map, of course, is huge - equal and probably greater than that of NFS Most Wanted. However, expansive though it is, it all looks largely the same - and certainly doesn't hold a candle to the effort made on the world in Test Drive Unlimited. Also the trees still use the same trick that harks right back to the original Need for Speed - flat boards stuck into eachother to form "generic tree shape".
Still, I've given it 5 stars for a reason. Need for Speed Undercover really, REALLY gives the sense of speed, and intensity. The missions/events are many and varied, and mercifully there doesn't seem to be a single drag race - the event I always loathed in the more recent Need for Speed titles. Your heart will be racing and your face will be contorting - benchmarks of any class A racing title. If you loved Need for Speed Most Wanted, but then hated Need for Speed Carbon - as I did, then rest assured this is definitely a return to top form for the series.
