Need for Speed Undercover Exclusive Preview

[Bojan]

After playing Need for Speed Undercover for well over 6 hours at EA Blackbox in Vancouver, what can I say about the game? To sum it up in one sentence:

It is a very fun game with incredible sense of speed and great driving style, a great successor to Most Wanted.

You can read whole preview which will give you a good idea on what we are getting on November 18th or just take a look at the quick facts below.

Quick facts
* incredible sense of speed
* very easy driving
* easy to pull off stunts
* big story with video sequences
* from 12 to 25 hours of career
* cops
* around 55 cars (full list)
* around 8 game modes
* 3 online modes
* only visual damage
* simple performance tuning

The whole article

[prince1142003]

Interesting article, Bojan. Good to know that the cars actually feel different and provide a challenge, even though the game is arcade-like. The game modes are also good (yay for checkpoint!). I noticed you mentioned outrun races. Does that mean there will be random opponents flying around the city, or will the races be mission based?

Did you end up tuning any of the cars? If so, I was wondering how limited the performance tuning is. I understand that there are only 5 sliders, but do those sliders have much effect on the car? And are performance upgrades implemented in any way? Also, I've heard that the vinyl system is a downgrade from ProStreet. Do you know if vinyl autosculpting is back from Carbon and ProStreet?

Sorry for asking you even more questions. Really, great and informative article.

[Bojan]

No, all the outruns are actually missions/races. There are no opponents driving around in freeroam.

We tried tuning a bit, I think it's pretty similar to Carbon's system. Push the accel/top speed slider all the way to the left and car will have better accel.

The vinyl system is pretty much the same: you can do all the things to vinyls that you could do in prostreet. Except for the mirror button that I didn't see anywhere...

About the questions you guys posted; I'm still trying to find out what the differences between wii/ps2 & pc/ps3/360 versions are.

[driverx15]

GREAT article.
as prince said, sorry for another question/questions, but will you be able to turn catch up on and off?
thanks.

[Bojan]

No, I'm pretty sure that won't be possible.

[Stingray24]

Sweet review, anticipating the game even more now!

[krazyammo]

No mentions of SecuRom? Now this is starting to concern me.

Edit: But great article, very informative.

[elie8]

mmm, great article and a very useful one indeed !! BOJAN : is there a rear view mirror or a look behind mode like in U2 and Most Wanted ? also, one more question : is there many camera modes ? thanks a lot

[Bojan]

No, there is no rear view mirror.
4 camera modes: close behind, far behind, bumper cam and hood cam (which is pretty annoying with broken hood taking up half your view).

[elie8]

Too bad there isn't rear view mirror mode in Undercover coz i liked looking at the cops chasing my tail !! thanks a lot bojan, i really appreciate it !!

[Cross]

Great stuff, finally it seems to be a proper racing game. It looks to me like much improved MW with a touch of Burnout. Was hopping for separated parts though, especialy visual since in MW only one kit per car looked usable, so I hope they got new designers on those kits. Two questions though, does it appear that the fastest cars are so beyond others like GT and M3 in MW which means that in online racing you will see only those cars, and, I also noticed that many parts of the road seem to be wet, is by any chance traction any different on those parts?

[Hydro_PT]

Great article Bojan!

I'm just pissed off that EA cut on the tuning again. Now really, 3 bodykits per car, no separate bumpers and side skirts? WTF??

The hell with the painting system, NFS is the best game so far for tuning, but with PS and Undercover, it just looks like EA is not caring about the tuning. Oh good old times of U2 where we had tons of pieces!

This really pisses me off... please tell me at least there are more spoilers and hoods than the ones we had in PS...

[Hydro_PT]

Sorry for the double post but...

PORSCHE CARRERA GT is ON! Hell yeah, my favourite car ever, this machine is on Undercover! So damn nice! Thanks at least for this EA!

[Zonda_Z]

This game is a racing masterpiece...
Anyways the Carrera GT is out...

[kimd41]

Great article. But game is not worth buying. I mean, come one 55 cars? Thats close to MC:LA and that game includes interiors and all. EA half screwed it again.

[prince1142003]

MC:LA is also on a console, and EA designs games that are cross-compatible with PCs. Good luck trying to get EA to give that up.

[Dunko]

Frankly, I'm glad tuning and customizaion aren't such a big chunk of gameplay. I was never one to just sit there and worry how much air I wanted in my tires. I buy a racing game so I can race.

That said, it bugs me how people say EA should make another game like MW, but now that they have, they are already saying they don't like it. Between this and Prostreet, which would you take? (Incidentally, I didn't think Prostreet was as bad as everyone said, once you got past the physics.)

[Zotic+]

No, there is no rear view mirror.
4 camera modes: close behind, far behind, bumper cam and hood cam (which is pretty annoying with broken hood taking up half your view).

i thought so when i saw the hoods damaged in vids

[BNR34]

Hey Bojan.

What happen with the rain affect, and the skies effects?

PD.
I love the rain and sunsets from most wanted. I hope in this NFS the rain and the sun will be wonderful.

Just Look This greats screenshots from MW. I hope something like this:

http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1129 ... 378146.jpg

http://media.teamxbox.com/games/ss/1129 ... 277226.jpg

[BNR34]

Another question:

What is your score for this new NFS? (Need For Speed Undercover)
What is your score for the Need For Speed Most Wanted?

Please tell us the true.

Because i want to play NFS this year, but i don't know what to do:

Wait for the new need for speed and play it on PS3 or buy a XBOX 360 and play NFS Most Wanted.

[x]

Hi Bojan
You mentioned nothing about the graphic, lightning and the technic of the game.
Please tell me your impressions about the graphic as the graphic is crucial to me. What about the technic ? Did the latest build run smoothly ? Is there any kind of stuttering or something like that ?
Best regards
x

[Danyutz]

Nobody said anything about LAN eh?

Thanks for a wonderful review Bojan.

[Johnnnyboy15nl]

Very Nice Preview, and you say 55 cars? Mmm , i think there is coming a Boosterpack for NFS Undercover.. Later this year.

[the_lonely_lion]

cont wate to try the out run and highway battle

[SchuMito]

the games, as racing is concerned seems to be pulling off niceley. The problem with EA is their Kits!! 3 kits for every car... ok we know that we will end up with grotesque kits. Why doesn't EA licence kits from Veilside and Bomex, West Wings and so on. We have wheels from different manufacturers, why cannot we have kits as well? However, I will still be buying Undercover, it looks to be a great game.

Bojan, could you please give us your feedback on the Body Kits... are they huge and ugly or quite linear with the cars?

Thanks for the review!!!!!!