Need for Speed: Undercover
Mobile Game Review
Title: Need for Speed: Undercover
Developer: EA
Publisher: EA
Release Date: 11/08.
Format: J2ME
Game Features: Race tough A.I, tune your car.
Reviewed on: SE C905
Summary
Chase or Be Chased in Need for Speed Undercover. The cops are back like never before in this action-packed game of pursuit and betrayal.
Go up against ruthless street racers out to win at any cost. Earn respect and fill your garage with the world's fastest cars. Reach the finish line first in circuit races. Bust up the city in bounty challenges. Show your skills for a shot at top drivers. Choose between Career or Quick Race mode. You're the hunter and the hunted in Need for Speed Undercover.
Features may vary by handset:
Dare to enter the world of street racing.
Win races to fill your garage with tunable cars.
Challenge your driving abilities in 2 thrilling modes: Career and Quick Race.
Test your racing skills in 5 exciting race types: Circuit, Sprint, Lap Knockout, Speed Camera and Bounty.
Race your way through 4 unique areas: Downtown, Industrial District, the Suburbs and the Outskirts.
Gain hard-earned respect to battle 4 top drivers.
Review
This week Need for Speed: Undercover, probably one of the biggest game to make it to mobile this year but is this just another game thrown out by EA?
Well maybe, but as you may know by now when it comes to Need for Speed on the mobile, EA almost always seem to pull it off.
So then what do you get with Need for Speed: Undercover?
Well you get; seven cars, an impressive twenty two courses and eight events that are all unique to each other, so Undercover is off to a good start, but a good start doesn’t always mean that you’re on to a winner, but saying that it does seem that Undercover has pretty much everything you need for a good if not brilliant racer.
As I said there are eight different race events within the game, starting with the circuit race, in this event you’ll find yourself up against three different rivals/cars in which your main goal as is with every circuit to cross the line in first place, but to do so you’ll need speed, so getting into one of your rivals slipstreams is key, sometimes you’ll need to slow things down a bit hitting ‘5’ on the straights enters you into some sort of matrix slow-motion thing which allows you to weave in and out of the on-coming traffic which at high speeds is quite a hard thing to do without it.
There are other ways of gaining speed, the first of them being nitro or nos which needs to be built up before use, once you have some you can use it whenever you like.
Another way is drifting in the corners, not only does this earn you a bit of speed it also earns you money. Pressing ‘5’ in the corners triggers the car into a drift and also a balance bar in which you’ll need to keep your car in the green otherwise anything in the red and you spin, losing you time, speed and most probably position.
There’s no need to worry about acceleration as it’s all done automatically, so there’s no awkward hand positions needed to play the game.
Speaking of acceleration the sense of speed is brilliant, everything seems to pass you by in a blur, until you crash leaving the road and taking things with you.
Other modes include Speed Camera mode, Cop Take Out, Boss races and Bounty Mode in which you cause as much damage as you can in one lap, and it’s a nice break from the normal races against some tough A.I, and of course this being NFS you get your own garage where new cars are available to buy and soup your existing car up be it acceleration, handling, nitro and top speed, body kits are also available, so if you want to turn your shopping trolley into a erm... even better shopping trolley then put one on.
Conclusion
It’s this just another EA quickie? Indeed it isn’t, Need for Speed: Undercover is a top racer and deserves as much praise as it possibly can get. Not only that it’s one of the best looking 3D games I think I’ve ever played.
Screenshots
Graphics: 9/10
Great 3D graphics.
Sound: 8/10
Suit the game.
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Great controls and easy to play.
Story: 8/10
You're undercover, but a bit short.
Overall Score: 8.5 out of 10
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