Game: Need for Speed Undercover

[Animeniax]

Borrowed a copy of Need for Speed: Undercover for X360 from a friend and it's more pure fun than any game I've played in a while, including Fallout3, Gears of War 2, etc. I think the last game I enjoyed this much was Call of Duty 4.

I never was that big into the tuning/custom car scene, but it's a lot of fun in this game to tune your car and add car parts to "customize" your car, though there isn't that much variety or options available.

The racing mechanics and types of races are great. It doesn't have realistic driving physics (you can weave through traffic at 180mph), but I've always felt that driving games that are too realistic make it impossible to win, and therefore you stop playing. I've been playing this game almost nonstop for 2 days.

[KrayZ33]

hmmm... I only read bad things from every magazine about that game

example from 4players:

XBox
39/100

PC
50/100

PS2
66/100

Ps3
37/100

Wii
68/100


- framerates suck
- AI is weak
- Car-parts for REAL money (xbox360, Ps3)
- no replays
- way too easy
- no alternation of day and night
- poor story
- boring setting
- no cockpit-view
- fade-ins
- no weather
- "rubber walls"
- no Lan function
- pop-ups (?lol?)

and so on...

most magazines said it's impossible to play because it doesn't run smoothly..
framerates fall down sometimes etc.

they called it a "beta version" and is by far the worst NFS at the moment.

[Animeniax]

I'm not big into racing games, so my opinion on them shouldn't be taken too seriously. This is the first racer I've played on either the Xbox or X360. I wouldn't have ever bought or played it except my friend lent it to me. However, this is a very fun game to play. I haven't experienced any issues with low framerates on X360, I imagine that's more a PC issue.

To address some of your points:

AI of fellow racers is weak and not that challenging in some race types, but cops are brutal, as are bosses. And in one on one challenges, the AI is pretty good.

You can buy car parts with money you earn from winning races and doing jobs, or spend Microsoft points on parts.

You can replay any mission, win, lose, or dominated.

Some of the races early are way too easy, but that's fine by me. They get more challenging later when you're racing the top end cars. Sometimes it's too difficult.

There is no night/day and no weather, but driving in the rain sucks. It's all or nothing races, 1st place or lose, so slipping and sliding in the rain guarantees you lose.

The settings are fine, you're driving so fast it all looks the same anyway.

No cockpit view but there is a "window view".

Yes there are rubber walls. The game is not very realistic, and damage to the car does not affect performance.

Pop ups? Maybe on the PC version.

Unless you're a racing game purist or want realism, this game is great for just racing around. The story is ridiculous, but what racing game has a great storyline?

[Buffalobiian]

So it's just good old arcade fun? Sounds alright to me. It's the reason I bought Sega Rally on PS3 though it's somewhat realistic.

[Animeniax]

Yeah, it's just mindless shameless fun. It's not serious like Gears or Fallout or some of the other games out there. Think of it more like a hack and slash game, but with cars.

After all, you "take out" bosses by chasing and hitting their car with yours several times. How could anyone expect too much from a game like that?

[Marik]

NFS: Undercover was a great game to me. The reviews don't do the game justice. I'd say it's easily the second best of the series, behind only NFS: Most Wanted. I myself, spent 12 days playing it, racking up 47 of 50 achievements for 910 points. So if you're looking for a good arcade racer, I would recommend it.

[KrayZ33]

I haven't experienced any issues with low framerates on X360, I imagine that's more a PC issue.

well they said that the PC version is the one which is the most playable version, because you can change the settings

but the PS3 is unplayable and so is the xbox...I can't say whether it's true or not but comments from users on 4players said the same thing.
and I heard that the story and movie-sequences are pretty bad and trashy and not really "cool"

well NFS:Shift will come for the PS3 "soon" and it looks awesome..I hope they'll release it for the PC too.


they say they want to insert a very realistic first person view.. (with G-forces etc)

[Animeniax]

NFS: Undercover was a great game to me. The reviews don't do the game justice. I'd say it's easily the second best of the series, behind only NFS: Most Wanted. I myself, spent 12 days playing it, racking up 47 of 50 achievements for 910 points. So if you're looking for a good arcade racer, I would recommend it.

Right on, man!

well they said that the PC version is the one which is the most playable version, because you can change the settings

but the PS3 is unplayable and so is the xbox...I can't say whether it's true or not but comments from users on 4players said the same thing.
and I heard that the story and movie-sequences are pretty bad and trashy and not really "cool"

It plays fine on the X360 as far as I can tell. The storyline is pointless and the sequences are terrible (right out of Fast and Furious), but Maggie Q is pretty hot and the game is a lot of fun.

[Marik]

I installed the 360 version to my hard drive and never encountered any issues. From what I hear, the PS3 version of the game is terrible compared to the 360 version.



I must have offended a PS3 fan. I myself own a PS3 and 11 games, so I wasn't trying to diss it. Here's an excerpt from the IGN review...

"While the Xbox 360 version runs at a mostly steady framerate, though certainly not a blistering one, the PlayStation 3 version can become downright unplayable at times. You'll see framerate hitches constantly from the start, but entering a race with a full lineup of fast cars who kick up dirt at the start can cause the game to crawl.

You also clip into the back of vehicles when you hit them, and I've even seen a truck launch off the street and hover slowly to the side while spinning rapidly. After following it for a short bit, it changed directions and then shot at me at an incredible speed and knocked my vehicle in the air. We'll have to wait and see if the next issue of the National Enquirer runs my encounter as a UFO cover story."

[Animeniax]

Haha I got negative rep for starting this thread.

I've had a few issues with clipping, like when I set off a chase breaker and it falls on top of my car, and the pipes lay on top of my car. And once or twice a truck was floating in the air as I passed. Otherwise, no issues with laggy framerates that I can see.

Kind of a spoiler, but for one of the missions near the end of the game, they make you drive a slower car, which is tough after you've gotten used to driving around in a tuned racer with nitrous.

[Buffalobiian]

Bit off-topic, but the hitches in PS3 framerates, are they because the game's not ported/optimized properly, or because of PS3 hardware/OS itself? (Reason is, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm hitches infrequently). Of the three machines (PC excluded), I'd imagine the PS3 least likely to suffer bad framerates.

[KrayZ33]

it's most likely because they didn't program it well enough.
so it's poorly optimized/ported..

the graphics aren't that good and the PS3 has better hardware than the Xbox360 and I doubt that there is a game out there which makes the PS3 sweat in terms of graphics.

maybe EA urged Blackbox to release it too early... they do that often. I can't see another explanation for the bugs/lags in the game.

From what I read even most of the videos are not working properly and with low framerates

[Animeniax]

Edit to my last post, you can customize your last car (a BMW M6) before taking on the last boss, so it's a lot easier. The nitrous boosts make all the difference, plus you need better handling for 150mph cornering.

It's funny but after you beat the big boss, you can go do other missions you skipped before, and the big boss is still there, telling you to do stuff after it's all over.

My favorite car is the Porsche GT2.

[darkshadow]

....
the graphics aren't that good and the PS3 has better hardware than the Xbox360 and I doubt that there is a game out there which makes the PS3 in terms of graphics.
...

You don't honestly believe that do you?
Anyway, my say of the game.
This game should be avoided if you game on console or on a mediocre pc, the framerates are absolutely abysmal, while the gfx suck and the streets are empty. Somehow they managed to code a terribly inefficient engine and just release it anyway.

However, when played on a pretty beefy pc, the framerates normalise and the gfx suddendly aren't so bad anymore (thank you anti-aliasing), couple that wih some finetuned handling over NFS carbon ( still the best NFS), and it's actually a pretty damn fun game and I absolutely dig the highway chases.
Fav. car so far is pretty much always the supra.

But then burnout paradise came a long for pc, and it's just a better racing experience overall, its also coded/optimized far better, almost as good as DMC4 pc and Dead Space pc.

[KrayZ33]

You don't honestly believe that do you?

I forgot to add "sweat"" in there
but if you understood the sentence nonetheless, then yes - I really believe that...

the only problem the PS3 has is it's main memory and it seems alot harder to programm games for it.

[Animeniax]

This game should be avoided if you game on console or on a mediocre pc, the framerates are absolutely abysmal, while the gfx suck and the streets are empty. Somehow they managed to code a terribly inefficient engine and just release it anyway.

However, when played on a pretty beefy pc, the framerates normalise and the gfx suddendly aren't so bad anymore (thank you anti-aliasing), couple that wih some finetuned handling over NFS carbon ( still the best NFS), and it's actually a pretty damn fun game and I absolutely dig the highway chases.
Fav. car so far is pretty much always the supra.

As stated previously the game runs fine on X360. The graphics look good, and there are races where the streets are crowded, but a lot are empty.

My only real complaint is how short the game is. I finished the main storyline in 2.5 days of play, maybe 12 hours total, and that's with do-overs including a few times the disk became unreadable (scratches). There are still other races to finish, so maybe 20 hours total game time so it's ok I guess. Just feels like a short game.

[Kakashi_Solo]

I think that this Need for Speed was a good game too. I still havent experienced bugs/framerate problems etc. But as far as racing games go GRiD is the king of them right now.

[Animeniax]

I forgot to mention, but there's a huge bomb dropped at the end of the game, something you'd never expect and which makes the story writing something to marvel at.

Carmen, the mechanic chick, is also in medical school studying to become a doctor because her father said she should!! Man, that's some amazing script-writing there, and a completely unexpected plot twist for that character.