Need for Speed Undercover Hands-on Preview

[Master X]

Even though it seems like it’s been awhile since the last Need for Speed game on the Xbox 360, it’s only been two years since Need for Speed: Carbon. I guess we’ve all become very used to seeing a NFS game at least once a year, so such a short break seems like a long time. But it’s probably a good thing for everyone involved: it gives gamers a chance to miss the franchise and it gives the developers at Black Box the time they needed to reinvent the game from the ground up.

So how did they try and reinvent it? For one, they’re trying to make a storyline that not only weaves through the action appropriately but is also fun and engaging to watch. To that end, they went out and hired real actors like Maggie Q (Balls of Fury, Mission Impossible: III) to appear in live-action cut-scenes. Yes folks, FMV is back. We saw a couple clips, and the production values are a lot higher than those old games of the 80’s that used live action sequences. Plus, they’re interspersed with some awesome looking CGI racing action. Double plus: Maggie Q is pretty easy on the eyes.

They also created a brand new environment for you to experience the world of NFS: Undercover. It’s called the Tri-City Bay Area and no, it is not a recreation of the SF Bay Area or any other real world place referred to as the “Tri-City area”. It’s a totally new and fictional open world featuring plenty of different areas for different types of driving: long straight freeways, tight-cornered downtown areas, and mixed bag surburbia, over eighty miles of roads in all.

We got to see and play a little of what EA and Black Box had to offer at an event in San Francisco recently announcing the game. This NFS marks a new direction for the series both in the way it couches its action within a storyline and visually how looks like a true now-generation title. No doubt about it, this is the best looking Need for Speed game to come around in quite awhile. The cars are appropriately shiny and metallic and look like very faithful recreations of their real world counterparts. The only licensed whips that we know are drivable in the game for sure are the Audi R8, BMW M6 and Lexus IS-F. Still, if you’re going to run from the cops, you might as well run in style.

Yes, cops are once again a crucial part of the Need for Speed equation, and in our brief experience playing the game at the event, the cops proved to be very tough and very capable when it came to tracking me down and putting me out of commission. Good thing the city you’re driving around in is so full of shortcuts and stunt jumps. It wouldn’t be a Need for Speed city without them, now would it?

Even though you’re running from the cops, you actually are one. That’s what the “undercover” part of the title is referring to. Told through the live action cut-scenes starring Maggie Q as your “handler” (ahem) you are at the center of a story that would be right at home on the big screen: and undercover cop infiltrates the underworld as a getaway driver and car thief. Since it’s an open world game with a cops vs. robbers theme, your missions are much more objective based than just a series of races. That doesn’t mean you’ll be getting out of the car and spraying someone with bullets. This is first and foremost a driving game. But if the developers have their way, it’ll be more like a big budget Hollywood action flick where you get to take part in the experience.

But as a game goes, it’s still Need for Speed. The controls and physics still strike that balance between arcade and simulation; between realism and fun. Need for Speed has always had a broad appeal and that doesn’t look to change anytime soon.

In addition to the intense police chases and high speed shenanigans, you can expect plenty of other long running features to make their way into Need for Speed Undercover like car customization and multiplayer. But we should have many more details on those between now and the game’s release November 18th of this year.

http://previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-36...Undercover/p1/

[crazzeto]

Need for speed is a pretty good race series, though I'm not sure if I'll pay full price for one... Besides, I've got DiRT already

[Blueguy]

Even though it seems like it’s been awhile since the last Need for Speed game on the Xbox 360, it’s only been two years since Need for Speed: Carbon. I guess we’ve all become very used to seeing a NFS game at least once a year, so such a short break seems like a long time. But it’s probably a good thing for everyone involved: it gives gamers a chance to miss the franchise and it gives the developers at Black Box the time they needed to reinvent the game from the ground up.

WTF? Seriously?

NFS: Pro Street was released Nov last year.

[onavarr8]

Originally Posted by Blueguy

WTF? Seriously?

NFS: Pro Street was released Nov last year.

haha I was thinking the exact same thing earlier when i read it

[Master X]

Prostreet was horrible so I see why they forgot it.

[Graham31004]

I bought Most Wanted and enjoyed that but never played Carbon or Prostreet.