Plot
The game's story mode sets the player in the story as a police officer going undercover into the criminal underground of Tri-City, a fictional city where the game is set. Players take on dangerous 'jobs' and compete in races in order to infiltrate and take down a ruthless international crime smuggling syndicate of street racers and car thieves. The player's only contacts to the police are federal handler Chase Linh, and later Lt. Jack M. Keller. As the player wins races and blends in with the gangs by doing different jobs like stealing cars, he later ends up taking out the bosses and their thugs. As the end draws near Chau Wu calls the hero telling to return one of his cars that he claims that G-Mac had him steal when it was Hector and Zach that stole the car to begin with. The player gets the car from Carmen and then takes the car to the Warehouse district in Sunset Hills to save Chase. When he gets there he finds out that he has been tricked by Chase Lihn the whole time and then kills Chau Wu for his cell phone which has important data in regards to stolen cars from the docks. The player evades the police since they are after him as he tries to escape and go after Chase. Then the player goes after and takes out Chase and she is arrested for framing him and being involved with Chau Wu. Then later Carmen is seen talking to the player and she asks him to take her back to the University and mentions that she is a med student.
A few days before the release, EA revealed some new plot details of Undercover. A video shows the player evading capture from the Tri-City Police Department (TCPD). The player was aided by detective Chase Linh and then Lt. Jack Keller. The player gains an ally named Carmen Mendez, played by singer and actress Christina Milian who becomes friends with the player. As well, six criminal characters (Chau Wu, Gregory "G-Mac" MacDonald (a former undercover police officer from the TCPD who's gone native, played by actor David Rees Snell, of the television series "The Shield"), Rose Largo played by actress Heather Fox, Hector Maio played by actor Kurt Caceres", Freddy "Nickel" Rogers , and Zack Maio have been introduced. There are three other characters to note: Jonathon Cross is listed as an acquaintance to "G-Mac", yet not much is known about him at this time; and Isabel "Izzy" Diaz, one of the "Blacklist" members in Most Wanted, and Caleb Reece, the main antagonist in Underground 2, are listed as acquaintances to Hector Maio. Additionally, Rachel Teller of Need for Speed Underground 2 is listed as an acquaintance to Rose Largo. However, these characters don't appear in the game, making them only a loose connection between the newest games in the franchise. Ryan Cooper, the player character in ProStreet is briefly referenced in one of the police scanner dialog sequences as a police officer says he has a man named Ryan Cooper in the back of his car who refuses to speak or remove his racing helmet.
The game's story mode sets the player in the story as a police officer going undercover into the criminal underground of Tri-City, a fictional city where the game is set. Players take on dangerous 'jobs' and compete in races in order to infiltrate and take down a ruthless international crime smuggling syndicate of street racers and car thieves. The player's only contacts to the police are federal handler Chase Linh, and later Lt. Jack M. Keller. As the player wins races and blends in with the gangs by doing different jobs like stealing cars, he later ends up taking out the bosses and their thugs. As the end draws near Chau Wu calls the hero telling to return one of his cars that he claims that G-Mac had him steal when it was Hector and Zach that stole the car to begin with. The player gets the car from Carmen and then takes the car to the Warehouse district in Sunset Hills to save Chase. When he gets there he finds out that he has been tricked by Chase Lihn the whole time and then kills Chau Wu for his cell phone which has important data in regards to stolen cars from the docks. The player evades the police since they are after him as he tries to escape and go after Chase. Then the player goes after and takes out Chase and she is arrested for framing him and being involved with Chau Wu. Then later Carmen is seen talking to the player and she asks him to take her back to the University and mentions that she is a med student.
A few days before the release, EA revealed some new plot details of Undercover. A video shows the player evading capture from the Tri-City Police Department (TCPD). The player was aided by detective Chase Linh and then Lt. Jack Keller. The player gains an ally named Carmen Mendez, played by singer and actress Christina Milian who becomes friends with the player. As well, six criminal characters (Chau Wu, Gregory "G-Mac" MacDonald (a former undercover police officer from the TCPD who's gone native, played by actor David Rees Snell, of the television series "The Shield"), Rose Largo played by actress Heather Fox, Hector Maio played by actor Kurt Caceres", Freddy "Nickel" Rogers , and Zack Maio have been introduced. There are three other characters to note: Jonathon Cross is listed as an acquaintance to "G-Mac", yet not much is known about him at this time; and Isabel "Izzy" Diaz, one of the "Blacklist" members in Most Wanted, and Caleb Reece, the main antagonist in Underground 2, are listed as acquaintances to Hector Maio. Additionally, Rachel Teller of Need for Speed Underground 2 is listed as an acquaintance to Rose Largo. However, these characters don't appear in the game, making them only a loose connection between the newest games in the franchise. Ryan Cooper, the player character in ProStreet is briefly referenced in one of the police scanner dialog sequences as a police officer says he has a man named Ryan Cooper in the back of his car who refuses to speak or remove his racing helmet.
Development
A Porsche 911 GT3 RS in Need for Speed: Undercover.
Electronic Arts CEO, John Riccitiello, stated that the previous release in the series (ProStreet) was only "an okay game...[and was] not good" and that Undercover would bring better innovations and gameplay. He stated Undercover would have a considerably longer development cycle 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 films such as The Transporter, with a large embedded narrative.
Frank Gibeau (President of the EA Games 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 and a "Most Wanted-ish" sandbox style of gameplay. 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 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 Porsche 911 GT3 RS in Need for Speed: Undercover.
Electronic Arts CEO, John Riccitiello, stated that the previous release in the series (ProStreet) was only "an okay game...[and was] not good" and that Undercover would bring better innovations and gameplay. He stated Undercover would have a considerably longer development cycle 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 films such as The Transporter, with a large embedded narrative.
Frank Gibeau (President of the EA Games 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 and a "Most Wanted-ish" sandbox style of gameplay. 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 cars that was "conceptualized" in the game was then brought to life for the game from a brief description to being approved by Porsche.
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