Platform: Wii™
Genre: Simulation
ESRB: T (teen)
Release date: November 18, 2008


The Need for Speed franchise has been one of the most popular and successful in gaming history. And finally, the Wii gets its fair share of awesome in Need For Speed: Undercover. Featuring a storyline with actors, jumped up graphics, and a great city to explore, the next game in the NFS Franchise delivers.



We'll get right off with the storyline - not the strongest part of the game, but OK nonetheless. You play the story as an undercover cop (giving the game its name) trying to infiltrate gangs and stop a massive smuggling operation. As the story plays out, actual actors appear onscreen, and pretend to be talking to you, supposedly making the story more believable. Despite all of this effort, the story still seems to unfold like a Soap Opera...and not a good one (If you can even stand watching those).


The story does take some twists and turns, but hearing an angry guy yelling into a cellphone that he's going to cream you just doesn't feel quite right, almost too "staged", making the story that much harder to believe.

The story does not have much flow; and some of the tasks that you complete are unrelated to what is currently happening in the storyline. A nice attempt at adding a storyline, but it could use some major upgrades.



This is what really makes the game worth the money. It's an absolute blast to get into high speed cop chases, and see what the cops throw at you. Personally, I love smashing their Porches, which gets my CTS (Cost to State) in the millions very quickly.

 

There are many types of events in the game - ranging from illegal driver jobs to small circuits to highway battles. The game lets you chose either to drive around searching for these events, or you can simply skip from event to event without driving to them.

The list of vehicles that this game provides is impressive, it boasts 55 cars, ranging from a 70's Camero to a Nissan GTR. However, the game has taken on a RPG like system for purchasing and upgrading cars. When you complete missions, you get points. When you get enough points, your car is automatically upgraded (you can still manually upgrade it as well), and you gain a "level". Even if you have enough cash to buy that Audi, if your level isn't high enough, then you'll have to keep racing until you get to a high enough level.

Controls are very easy, and frankly, very similar to NFS Carbon: Most Wanted. We won't actually list the controls, but know that they are easy enough and you should be taking sharp corners at high speeds in almost no time at all; just be sure not to try out drift tires right away.

Graphics here aren't the best, but they are good for the Nintendo Wii, as it lacks the processing power of some of its competitors.


You will encounter graphic related glitches, but not often. However, when you do encounter them, it can diminish gameplay a ton. Some examples include driving throught cops, and sometimes throught walls and off into no-mans-land. Sometimes, when you encounter these, the game will freeze, but you can usually recover.

 EA has instigated damage, just like Prostreet, and in order to improve it (they added dents to cops, civs, and your own car), they were forced to limit the color pallet to duller colors and to use colors in more places than usual. It's not nearly as bad as you think, the colors are still vivid, but you will just notice a slightley "darker" feel to the game, but it takes a good eye to notice it.





Surprisingly, you won't find much music in this game. The songs that you do hear are "street songs" - mostly rap and pop music. They are heard faintly in the background during freeroam, and during races, you don't here them at all.


The sound effects are, as always, very well done. The engines all sound different based on your upgrades, and the same with tires and squealing. When you are in a cop chase, you can hear the cop's radio conversation (to dramatic music), which is very entertaining. This is a very strong area of the game, and one of the areas that the NFS series excels in.


1-Story: 6/10
2-Gameplay/Controls: 9/10
3-Graphics: 7/10
4-Music/Sound: 9/10
5-Replay Value: 5/10

Total Score: 7.2/10

CONCLUSION: If you're a fan of NFS or not, this game is a must have. It's a great racing game, and despite its flaws, you'll have a blast playing it.


If you want to discuss this game with others, check out our forum.