Need For Speed Undercover Races Into Stores

[Steve_OS]

NEED FOR SPEED UNDERCOVER RACES INTO STORES

Go Undercover with Stunning Gameplay and Live-Action
Movies in this Holiday’s Biggest Action Racing Adventure

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – November 18, 2008 – Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS), announced that Need for Speed™ Undercover is available at retailers today in North America and on November 21 in Europe. Need for Speed Undercover is an action-packed game whose story of pursuit and betrayal takes players back to the series’ roots with break-neck cop chases, spectacular highway battles and an expansive open-world.

Need for Speed Undercover features stunning Hollywood-style live-action in-game movies in which the player is recruited by Federal Agent Chase Linh, played by Maggie Q (Mission Impossible III and Live Free or Die Hard), to go deep undercover in order to infiltrate and takedown a ruthless international crime syndicate. Posing as a wheelman, the player will be required to prove themselves by completing jobs, racing through speedways, dodging cops and chasing rivals.

Need for Speed Undercover also features its signature real-world damage and car customization for over 55 of the hottest licensed vehicles including the Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, Audi R8, Porsche 911 GT2 and the all-new unreleased 2009 Nissan 370Z.

The all-new Heroic Driving Engine delivers an unprecedented level of control allowing the player to execute incredible high-performance moves at 180 mph. The player will need to master the Heroic Driving Engine in order to evade the cops and take out opponents while navigating over 100 miles of open roads, including an expansive highway system. These causeways are the setting for the high-speed, high-stake chase sequences that will push the player to the limit. An enhanced new A.I. mechanic delivers a realistic high-energy action driving experience with ultra-aggressive and intelligent cops using actual high-speed pursuit techniques to take the player down.

Need for Speed Undercover is developed by Black Box in Vancouver, B.C. The game will be available for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system for a MSRP of $59.99. It will be available on the Wii™ for a MSRP of $49.99 and on PCs, the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and PSP® (PlayStation® Portable) for a MSRP of $39.99. It is also available on the Nintendo DS™ for a MSRP of $29.99. For gamers on the go, they can download the mobile platform for a MSRP that starts at $2.99. The game is rated T by the ESRB and 12+ by PEGI. More information can be found at www.needforspeed.com.

[Crash Davis]

this game is getting terrible reviews, anyone have any impressions?? im feeling very skeptical about picking this up.

[bkfount]

yeah, IGN tore it a new one with its 50 rating. The Metacritic average is 65 as well.

Of course it'll be hard to now compete with Burnout Paradise, and I never liked the cheesy live action scenes, but I loved Most Wanted. So if anything, I'll gamefly it and hope it has enough of that game in it to tolerate.

[goh]

I rented it on PS3 for a day.

Graphics were down right terrible at first then I went into video options and it said the best setting for my TV would be cinema mode,that made it look acceptable but still not really all that good. The in-game engine cutscenes look a lot better than in game itself for some reason. The bulidings and sky and all that look nice but the road and cars,not so much. I guess this is supposed to be Miami,it feels like Bad Boys 2 most of the time.

My next problem is massive for me,probably minor for others. There's no way to select the soundtrack! I don't just mean there's no custom soundtrack,you can't even block out songs that are in the game,not only that you can't even see what songs are there. The only music option is volume. So far I've had FOUR Madden repeats in FIVE races wich makes it an even bigger problem.

I've did a couple of races (or maybe chases?) where I had to get ahead by a certian ammount,these had a movie like score instead of a soundtrack and that was pretty cool. This defaulted to the first person view for some reason but you can change it right back to the behind the car cam.

It looks like you can pay real life money for in game customization. I changed paint and Playstation Store was an option for paying for it. I'm not hooked up online with it so I don't know. Speaking of wich according to the book IF it ever comes up that you end with a car with 3 strikes and can't afford in game money to get a new one you either have to start all over or pay real life money to download one from the store.

However the game is on the easy side and that probably won't ever come up. Drive perfect and you'll win perfect. There's a specific time for "domination" and you'll get rewards for it. Better than the alterantive that's for sure. (I stick by MCLA being the worst racing game ever,especially after trying it again yesterday) You also get rewards for evading cops wich is actually doable.

There's not a lot of traffic (nor should there be for the time) but they will often try to hit you. However unlike MCLA the AI isn't invincible to them either so they can also get hit by them and also unlike most other racing games they WILL crash and drive badly without you or the traffic influencing them. There doesn't seem to be any rubberbanding at all.

You have to take a photo when the action is happening. For example I did this cool thing where I took a high route and jumped 2 cars,I wasn't able to rewind to that and take the pic. Would've had to be taken during the jump.

I find it much better than Prostreet and Carbon.
I'm concerned about how long the game will actually last so I'm still not sure if it's a buy but it's no 4/10. Initial impression is a 6.5 at least,8.5 at most.

[Crash Davis]

hmmm thanks for news, it almost sounds like the cop chases and the ammount of cars are the best part. that whole real money crap better not catch on to other games, man what a dumb idea games are already expensive enough. I saw all that DLC on PSN for this game, some DLC once in awhile is ok but not that much, not to the point where theyre taking general things and making you buy them.

Ive been playing MCLA its been pretty good, its getting harder though now that im near the end of the story,
I think i better wait on undercover maybe pick it up if its cheap around xmas somewhere, this is dissapointing