Alright, I beat the career mode of it yesterday and am at 66% of "game completion". It took just under 15 hrs to complete the career mode. So that's a bit disappointing since it took about 40hrs to complete the career mode in Midnight Club LA, although it's MUCH more non-linear.
The issues I have with NFS:UC:
1) The game is very easy. It never really gets difficult, although I think getting the last 1/3rd of the game may take as long as the first 2/3rds, since it's at a higher level.
2) The game is entirely linear. As other reviewers have pointed out, the "open world" concept is pointless in this game. That being said, this game is basically Most Wanted 2. You do some races, you avoid some cops, you beat a boss, you move on.
3) The environments are lifeless and boring. The roads constantly have this sheen on them like they are wet, but they aren't, and you can tell it's being done just to reflect the sunlight to "look impressive". It gets old really fast.
4) There is some SERIOUS slowdown issues in the game. To the point where I actually started getting annoyed by it during a couple of races. When you have a group of racers ahead of you (which doesn't happen very often unless you suck) and you're smashing into things, all the data on the screen brings the thing down.
What I like about the game:
1) As I said above, it's basically Most Wanted 2. If you loved Most Wanted you'll probably love this game. The cars handle about the same, the cops react the same way, the flow of the game is the same.
2) The graphics aren't bad despite the slowdowns. There's no night racing which is a real letdown, and all the races happen at either sunrise or sunset (and seriously, how many street races take place at sunrise or sunset??) and so the sun will be glaring at you quite often.
3) The sense of speed is INTENSE. The game is worth playing just to get the Bugatti Veyron. I can't even explain how fast it is. It's like driving a missle.
4) The types of races are a lot of fun. One of the most fun they have is "Highway Battle" where you have to get 1000ft in front of your competitor in less than a minute while ripping down a highway at high speeds and trying to avoid traffic.
Overall I've had a good amount of fun with this game. It won't provide me nearly as many hours of enjoyment as MC:LA but it's certainly a fun game to play. I totally disagree with any review that puts this below a 5/10.
I haven't spent any time playing it online.
If you're a fan of Most Wanted you really should play this game. It feels dated compared to other modern racing games, but it's still worth playing. It's probably not worth $60 to buy given the short amount of time necessary to beat it and non-replayability but it's certainly worth a 7 day rental.
Overall I give it a 6.5/10.
For reference I'd give these scores to these similar games:
Midnight Club Los Angeles: 7.5/10
Test Drive Unlimited: 9/10
Burnout Paradise: 7/10
Need For Speed Most Wanted: 8/10
Need For Speed Carbon: 7/10
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I am a huge fan of the NFS series and consider them classics and was really looking forward for this year's release. However I was disappointed with the final product. Need for Speed Undercover is clearly an attempt to cash in on the success of 2005's Most Wanted after ProStreet flopped with critics and fans. The game itself is as straightforward as you'd expect; race, come first, win cash, buy new cars. The underlying story is you're an undercover cop working for the police, quite straight foward. Everything seems to work as it should the racing is fast and frenetic; the sense of speed is swell and the cars look mostly nice and slick. The biggest problem with Undercover, and it's a fundamental one, is that it's lazy.
Undercover features a great range of cars, but it's a simple cut-and-paste job from ProStreet and the cars that followed its release. There just isn't enough new here, and you'll likely have driven nearly every ride on offer here in a previous iteration of the series. The cops have basically clicked and dragged from the three-year-old Most Wanted and also the cities (there are three of them) are big, criss-crossed with wide, but they lack personality and they all begin to look the same.
NFS of old was about hot cars, hot pursuits and miles and miles of open road, a very fine example of this is the addictive NFS Most Wanted. Undercover make a semi-successful fist of recapturing some of this magic. Looks great, plays fine. There's no getting around the fact, however, that Undercover is basically Most Wanted with a new lick of paint.
It is time to consider a new look for this one is repetitive and boring.
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there are a lot of critics of this game but i think EA hit the target with this game. I havn't stop playing the game since i got it for christmas. I've played midnight club LA for one day then i got nfs undercover have gone back to LA yet. the graphics are better, the sound is steller. as with anything two thngs that would have made the game better would be more after market body kits, and more cars. I think once you get use tothe raceoing style of the game its a blast.
Honest reviews on Need for Speed: Undercover - Xbox 360
[I HAVE played this game on BOTH the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 thus am posting this review on both consoles.]
*sigh* I had hopes. In fact I had high hopes, and that's what makes it so dissapointing.
It's been said a lot Most Wanted was a great game. A fantastic game. One of the very few games I decided to play through twice just to try a different approach.
What made Most Wanted different for a driving game was a compelling story. It wasn't even a very deep story, but you had conflict right from the get-go and it made you eager no, determined to get revenge. It gave you a clear, linear story 8 "bad guys" (I think it was eight...) to take on until you reached the baddest dude of all the guy who took your car, took your reputation, even tried to take your girl... But in between those linear points, the game was a free-for-all. You had set things you had to do, but you could do them in any order, you could do them however you wanted. You always knew were the next objective was, but still had that freedom.
Undercover is just a cluster. There's roads everywhere, cops everywhere, races everywhere... You have no idea what to do. The story is clear only because we've read about it here on Amazon, on other review sites... Honestly, the game has never told ME that I'm an undercover cop.
The came starts with a car chase you at the wheel and a million cops behind you. You're in a 350z, pretty decked out, Red. Suddenly you get away. Then you're watching a clandestine meeting between a woman and a shadowy, male figure. She says he's going to be their driver. It wasn't until my second re-start (tried a different console) that I realized, "Oh, I guess I'm that guy..." Next thing you know you're sitting on the street in a POS Nissan. What happened to the 350z? What am I doing? What's the objective? Who am I??
So you start running races easy to do, just push down on the D-pad and it'll automatically launch the next race. You'll run a few races and then get a short, somewhat vague cut-scene. That'll open up a unique race which you'll run and nothing special will happen. So you'll do a few more races, then something else suddenly happens... It's really only curiosity that keeps you playing. There's no motivation, no apparent pay-off... I've played now for a bunch of hours and still have only unlocked a small handful of parts. I never understood that theory you have enough money to buy something but it won't let you. The game just levels up the opponent cars anyways let me buy whatever I can afford!
As far as actual game play goes, it's... ...alright. Graphics are okay up close, but distances get real vague. There are a LOT of aliasing issues, and items appear very blocky and granular. I've had a couple frame-rate issues during auto-saves and what-not VERY frustrating in a driving game while you're drifting a corner at 140 miles per hour. Technical tracks become challenging because you can't see far ahead. You can, but you can't make out what you're looking at. Is that a turn? Oh, no it's a bridge abutment... Oh and forget the map. The cities of Undercover are pretty convoluted, which is nice, except that the map doesn't detail elevation changes. So an intersection that appears on the map could actually be a bridge going over another road. Oh yeah that's fun when you're trying to dart a corner while running from cops... *SMASH* oh, THAT road is BENEATH me!!! Thanks for the help! You're under arrest...
I of course have no idea how far into the game I am, but it's not very challenging. I've won every race, and have "dominated" all but a few of the "jobs." The cops are present, but they lack that... ...je ne c'est pas... They have no spirit no soul. They appear out of nowhere hit a chase-breaker (usually a road-side object that you can hit to stop chasing police cars) and the game goes into a quick cut-scene to watch the destruction. That's always fun, except that I've come out of those cut scenes only to plow into a road block that appeared out of nowhere. Very frustrating. **UPDATE** Even MORE frustrating when those roadblocks include a spike strip in later levels of the game... Sure ended THAT chase pretty quickly. Thanks EA!!! **/UPDATE** The [cops] seem to pit-maneuver you pretty easily suddenly accelerating out of nowhere... But if you keep dodging, taking corners instead of following the road, this isn't much of an issue. They just don't have the organization of Most Wanted. When you think you're about to escape, more will appear out of NOWHERE. When you finally do escape, they literally dissapear! In instances when you're TRYING to rack up more points, more cop-car-kills, more damage, etc, you can't!
A lot of the game just seems tacked on. Remember the first "Underground" NFS games? There were shops everywhere that focused on specific areas, like body parts, performance parts, certain brands of cars... Now you just push start [pause] and select "Cars." You basically buy cars and customize them from the pause menu. How pathetic is that?? And if you actually go to a shop, you see the EXACT same screen.
The "crews" from Carbon are gone thank God. You don't have to hire certain staff members just to customize your car. Autosculpting is available immediately and that's a welcome change.
NFS Undercover quickly becomes boring. You run a race, unlock some new races, run some of them, and maybe if you're lucky you'll trigger the next story sequence. But you have no idea, you have no motivation, and all you're left with is another highly anticipated let-down.
Stop doing this, gaming industry. Quit focusing on the dollar and make us some games that are worth playing. We're tired of looking behind us at "what was." Give us something to look forward to, or quit wasting our money. I'm tired of the $60-dollar coasters.
**UPDATE**
I have to say, the last 1/4 to 1/3 of this game was nearly unplayable. These games are completely unrealistic when it comes to high-speed "simulation."
Throughout the game you have "highway battles." On these challenges, you race against a singular AI opponenet, and have to usually get 1000 feet ahead of them to "win." Of course you start off behind them, and big surprise, they're automatically pulling away from you." In the begining they were easy, towards the middle they were challenging, and at the end they were impossible. Why? Well, because you're allegedly going 230 miles an hour, going over blind hills and around blind corners in a see of traffic, up against an opponent who of course has impeccable reaction and timing. The only way you could win these was to get lucky and have the AI "goof," smacking into a car at the exact same time that you got a clear straightaway to put some distance between you. But many times I'd pile up into a STACK of AI "traffic" cars, and watch as the opponent deftly weaved around them like it was a cakewalk. Completely unrealistic, completely impossible, and utterly frustrating. I beat the game, and gave up on the rest of the "completion" achievements.
I cannot explain how HAPPY I am that I rented this game.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Need for Speed: Undercover - Xbox 360
I was really excited about this game when I first heard about it. After the uncreative NFS Pro Street, NFS Under Cover was suppose to take the game back to its roots. The only problem is, I didn't expect them to go all the way back to the early 90's.
I started the game out, and right away I notice loading, loading, and more loading. Do you want to look at the map to see the next race, loading, do you want to go to your garage, loading, do you want to start a race, loading. Everything you do has a load screen...EVERYTHING. I managed to start playing and I was a little excited. That was until I took over the car. The cut scenes look good, but the game is a mess. There are problems with the frame rate, there are issues was the way the cars look, and the general graphics are poor. If they would have used the graphics from say NFS Hot Pursuit I would have been happier.
The main issue I had was the constant freezing. I finished the first race, but that was it. I could not start another race. Anytime I would pick anything, the loading screen would come up and freeze the entire game. A few times I managed to start a race, but the game would freeze during the race. I was more than let down. I was pissed.
Naturaly, I looked online for others with similar problems, and there are a ton of people. The freezing, frame rates, are all common problems. Some people have been blessed with the lack of problems, but others like me not so much.
One last note. After having the freezing problems, I installed the game to the xbox hard drive. After playing thru a few races I can say that this has, so far, fixed the freezing issues I was having. I am sure a patch will be released to fix most of the games issues, but the only patch worth waiting for is a better game.
11-22-08 EDIT
An auto update was released for the game which may fix some issues. As my biggest issues was the constant freezing, and I fixed that by installing on the hard drive, I am unsure as to what bugs got fixed. I can say the overall the game does not feel as fragile as it had at first.
11-24-08 UPDATE
After getting some time to actually play the game, I will discuss my additional thoughts. The game itself is a lot like the older NFS, where you have an open world with some street races and of course the police chases. The game, as described in another review, can be summed up as LAZY. You actually don't have to do any open world driving. You can pick races from the "GPS" screen, or you can race the closest event by hitting down on your d pad. I felt bad, because it really puts the open world usage to shame. I have not customized any part of my car yet, as its not as fun as it used to be, or should be. Also, anytime you purchase anything in the game it asks if you want to use "In game cash" or "Microsoft Points". I would hate to see how many points it would cost.
The open world consists of three "Cities" each with their own races, and groups to take out. The races seem repetative, more so than in the past. Most of the police cut scenes are the same, as are the begining of most every race. I have only progressed thru the first city, and am on the second.
ONLINE PLAY
I did get to play a few matches of cops and robbers online. I must say that this was very fun. The object is to "steal" the money and take it to your hidout before you get busted by the cops. There are up to 8 people playing, 4 robbers and 4 cops. The game is pretty straight forward, and easy to pick up on. I have not yet had a chance to play any other modes. Even though this is fun, I wouldn't pay more then $10 to get this mode. The game just isn't where it should be.
Based on the games progress I would re-rate this MAYBE 2-2.5 stars. However, if you are still not sure about spending the money, I would still wait. Had I have played a demo before hand, or rented the copy first, I would not have purchased. I have yet to recommend this game to anyone, and would still tell people to avoid this title.
