Review by Jonathan Nicklen.
Every once in a while, there comes a new Need for Speed title: some are good and some could be better. This year’s entry, Need for Speed Undercover, falls into the latter. The DS version of the game shows the most promise. Unlike the Wii counterpart, dodgy bugs and an awkward sense of a distant objects do not plague it. In fact, it plays pretty solidly.
The basic premise of Undercover is to race yourself to the top, whilst the unnecessary story states that you are an undercover agent. Unfortunately, this is not apparent while you are playing until a rather poor cut scene advises the player of the events that are happening whilst the competition for the top spot is occurring. The cut scenes are quite literally a few images and some text -- the story is poorly written and lacks depth, going straight to the “drive a car really fast” storyline.
The gameplay is better than the completely forgettable storyline. There is not a plethora of different control schemes in Undercover; it’s just one setting with adjustable button mapping. This scheme works very well, and it is incredibly easy to just start playing with no real need to configure anything. The actual gameplay is smooth and responsive just as required.
The soundtrack in this game is incredibly limited, and it does not take long for songs to start repeating – often the same song in a row. This becomes very repetitive and dull very quickly; however, it’s no wonder the songs repeat swiftly when the soundtrack is so painfully limited.
When it comes to visuals, Undercover is fairly solid. Plain, but solid. It will not wow you into a sense of awe, but neither it is an eyesore – just well done without being special. It’s clear that a lot of effort has been put into the staple of the game: the cars, which look almost superb on the small screen of the DS. Everything else seems rather fundamental though. The menus in the game are extremely dull and provide no inspiration. They give the impression that the game was a low budget title rather than a game made by one of the biggest video game manufacturers in the world.
Although the menus are uninspired, the menus are at least easy to navigate. It’s kept simple with no frustrating commands. Everything is easy to locate: all of the options and every challenge were painless to pinpoint and it was ludicrously trouble-free to start playing.
However, the game lacks difficulty settings and becomes very easy. The actual game consists of standard objectives, mainly “reach the finish-line first”, which lacks variety. Undercover’s AI leads you to believe that the other vehicles are being driven by complete dullards too. Continue playing and the difficulty will increase, though most people may get bored by then.
As racers go, this is pretty rudimentary – it’s as basic as it could get. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, it’s always done by this franchise, which can negate the need to buy a new version of previous titles. The Need for Speed franchise is neither improved nor hurt by this fundamentally forgettable title.
