Need for Speed: Undercover is the 12th installment of the popular racing video game series Need for Speed, developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS and mobile phone in November 2008.
Gameplay
Map
Undercover features a new "open-world" map consisting of 100 miles (160 km) of road and a large highway system making it the largest Need for Speed "open-world" environment EA has created so far.[citation needed] The games environment consists of four boroughs, called Palm Harbor, Port Crescent, Gold Coast Mountains, and Sunset Hills. These four boroughs make up, Tri-City (the city's name). The road system includes four water crossings, going clockwise: the Main guy Causeway (Ocean Expressway connecting Sunset Hills to Port Crescent via man-made island), the Vale Causeway (Sunset Hills to Palm Harbor), the North T causeway (Man-made island to Palm Harbor), and the Memorial Tunnel (Port Crescent to Palm Harbor). Undercover also features a new contiguous highway system. In previous installments, highways were relatively small circuits concentrated within single boroughs. In Undercover, the main highway circles Tri-City, with each of the four boroughs sharing a piece of the large circuit. The longer highway length gives a more realistic shape, with long straight areas, gentle curves, rest areas and large interchanges. Also, the entire map is open from the start of the game, unlike previous installments where boroughs had to be unlocked.
Police
The police system is very similar to Most Wanted and Carbon. It uses a similar bar graph at the bottom of the screen moving towards "Evade" (blue (or green for the PS2 and Wii only) on the right side of the screen) or "Busted" (red on the left side of the screen) depending on the player's speed and proximity to police. The "Cooldown" period after evading the nearest police units returns as well. Heat levels also return to the game, as well as speedbreaker and pursuit breakers. Like in Most Wanted and Carbon, police vehicles range from generic city patrol cars to federal pursuit cars accompanied by police heavy SUVs and helicopters. Unlike previous games, which types of police appear is not entirely dependent on heat levels (high level police can appear at low heat levels and vice versa) but instead more dependent on the player's wheelman level (progress through the game). At a high wheelman level, high level police will immediately join the pursuit, even at the lowest heat level. Common police tactics such as road blocks, rolling road blocks, spike strips, and PIT maneuvers are all featured, although some are only used by high level police. The player only gets to drive a police car once in career mode, in a mission that consists of stealing a state police car.
Damage
The damage system returns and is similar to Need for Speed: ProStreet. It differs from ProStreet in that the damage is only cosmetic and does not adversely affect performance.However, a car can still be "Totaled" in the new "Highway Battle" mode and in some 'missions', in career mode, a car damage bar appears where the damage level increases depending on the damage done to the vehicle. The primary goal of these missions is to deliver certain cars without totaling them. In general, damage is automatically repaired after every career race or police pursuit, unlike in ProStreet where it had to be repaired by the player at a cost (either money or a "repair marker").
Customization
The customization of cars is similar to Need for Speed: Carbon but has been enhanced on the level of graphics and detail. The new color palette and the "matte" paint had been hyped with a huge improvement. The game also has aftermarket parts like Carbon did. As a bonus, EA added a vinyl similar to the vinyl of the BMW M3 GTR in Need For Speed: Most Wanted.
Missions
The player can gain reputation points that grant them access to new missions simply by participating in side missions or performing flashy maneuvers in a police chase, adding a small RPG-like element to the gameplay.
Gameplay
Map
Undercover features a new "open-world" map consisting of 100 miles (160 km) of road and a large highway system making it the largest Need for Speed "open-world" environment EA has created so far.[citation needed] The games environment consists of four boroughs, called Palm Harbor, Port Crescent, Gold Coast Mountains, and Sunset Hills. These four boroughs make up, Tri-City (the city's name). The road system includes four water crossings, going clockwise: the Main guy Causeway (Ocean Expressway connecting Sunset Hills to Port Crescent via man-made island), the Vale Causeway (Sunset Hills to Palm Harbor), the North T causeway (Man-made island to Palm Harbor), and the Memorial Tunnel (Port Crescent to Palm Harbor). Undercover also features a new contiguous highway system. In previous installments, highways were relatively small circuits concentrated within single boroughs. In Undercover, the main highway circles Tri-City, with each of the four boroughs sharing a piece of the large circuit. The longer highway length gives a more realistic shape, with long straight areas, gentle curves, rest areas and large interchanges. Also, the entire map is open from the start of the game, unlike previous installments where boroughs had to be unlocked.
Police
The police system is very similar to Most Wanted and Carbon. It uses a similar bar graph at the bottom of the screen moving towards "Evade" (blue (or green for the PS2 and Wii only) on the right side of the screen) or "Busted" (red on the left side of the screen) depending on the player's speed and proximity to police. The "Cooldown" period after evading the nearest police units returns as well. Heat levels also return to the game, as well as speedbreaker and pursuit breakers. Like in Most Wanted and Carbon, police vehicles range from generic city patrol cars to federal pursuit cars accompanied by police heavy SUVs and helicopters. Unlike previous games, which types of police appear is not entirely dependent on heat levels (high level police can appear at low heat levels and vice versa) but instead more dependent on the player's wheelman level (progress through the game). At a high wheelman level, high level police will immediately join the pursuit, even at the lowest heat level. Common police tactics such as road blocks, rolling road blocks, spike strips, and PIT maneuvers are all featured, although some are only used by high level police. The player only gets to drive a police car once in career mode, in a mission that consists of stealing a state police car.
Damage
The damage system returns and is similar to Need for Speed: ProStreet. It differs from ProStreet in that the damage is only cosmetic and does not adversely affect performance.However, a car can still be "Totaled" in the new "Highway Battle" mode and in some 'missions', in career mode, a car damage bar appears where the damage level increases depending on the damage done to the vehicle. The primary goal of these missions is to deliver certain cars without totaling them. In general, damage is automatically repaired after every career race or police pursuit, unlike in ProStreet where it had to be repaired by the player at a cost (either money or a "repair marker").
Customization
The customization of cars is similar to Need for Speed: Carbon but has been enhanced on the level of graphics and detail. The new color palette and the "matte" paint had been hyped with a huge improvement. The game also has aftermarket parts like Carbon did. As a bonus, EA added a vinyl similar to the vinyl of the BMW M3 GTR in Need For Speed: Most Wanted.
Missions
The player can gain reputation points that grant them access to new missions simply by participating in side missions or performing flashy maneuvers in a police chase, adding a small RPG-like element to the gameplay.
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