The Best EA Racing Game so far….

Undercover features a new open world map^[13] consisting of 100 miles (160 km) of road^[14] and a large highway system, making it the largest Need for Speed “world” EA has created so far.^[14] The game’s environment consists of four boroughs: Palm Harbor, Port Crescent, Gold Coast Mountains, and Sunset Hills.^[15] These four boroughs make up the city, Tri-City.^[16] The road system includes four water crossings, going clockwise: the Main Guy Causeway (Ocean Expressway connecting Sunset Hills to Port Crescent via man-made island), the Vale Causeway (Sunset Hills to Palm Harbor), the North T Causeway (Man-made island to Palm Harbor), and the Memorial Tunnel (Port Crescent to Palm Harbor).^[15] Undercover also features a new contiguous highway system.^[7] In previous installments, highways were relatively small circuits concentrated within separate boroughs.^[17] In Undercover, the main highway circles Tri-City, with each of the four boroughs sharing a piece of the larger circuit.^[15] The longer highway length gives a more realistic shape, with long straight areas, gentle curves, rest areas and large interchanges.^[15] Lastly, the entire map is open from the start of the game, unlike previous installments where boroughs had to be unlocked.^[15]

The police system is similar to Most Wanted and Carbon. It uses a similar bar graph at the bottom of the screen that moves between the blue “Evade” (shown as green on PS2 and Wii), on the right side, and the red “Busted”, on the left side, depending on the player’s speed and proximity to police.^[15] The “Cooldown” period after evading pursuing police units returns as well, along with heat levels, speedbreaker and pursuit breakers. Also similar to Most Wanted and Carbon, police vehicles range from generic city patrol cars to federal pursuit cars accompanied by police heavy SUVs and helicopters.^[15] Unlike previous games, the type of police that appear is not entirely dependent on heat levels (i.e. high level police can appear at low heat levels and vice versa) but more on the player’s wheelman level (i.e. progress through the game). At a high wheelman level, federal police will immediately join the pursuit, even if the player was at a low heat level.^[15][18] Common police tactics such as road blocks, rolling road blocks, spike strips, and PIT maneuvers are all featured, although some are only used by federal police. In addition, the player gets to drive a police vehicle in a mission in career mode, which consists of stealing a state police car.^[15]

The damage system returns to Undercover and is similar to Need for Speed: ProStreet. It differs from ProStreet in that the damage is only cosmetic and does not adversely affect performance.^[15] However, a car can still be “Totaled” in the new “Highway Battle” mode and in some missions in career mode.^[15] During these missions a car damage bar is displayed, which indicates the amount of damage done to the player’s vehicle.^[15] The primary goal of these missions is to deliver certain cars without totaling them.^[15] In general, damage is automatically repaired after every career race or police pursuit,^[15] unlike in ProStreet where it had to be repaired by the player at a cost (either money or a “repair marker”).^[19]

The customization of cars is similar to Need for Speed: ProStreet but has been enhanced on the level of graphics and detail.^[20][21] The new color palette and the “matte” paint were improved.^[21] The game also features aftermarket parts like Carbon did.^[22] As a bonus, EA added a vinyl similar to the vinyl of the BMW M3 GTR in Need For Speed: Most Wanted.^[23]

The player can gain reputation points as they progress through the game’s story by participating in side missions or performing flashy maneuvers in a police chase.^[15] In turn, this grants the player access to bonus missions, adding a small RPG-like element to gameplay.^[15]

A few days before Undercover’s release, EA revealed a few plot details. A video was uploaded that showed the player evading capture from the Tri-City Police Department (TCPD).^[2] Another source revealed that the player gets aided by detective Chase Linh and Lt. Jack Keller,^[2] whilst also making friends with a character named Carmen Mendez, played by singer and actress Christina Milian.^{[citation needed]} In addition, six criminal characters were revealed, who are: Chau Wu; Gregory “G-Mac” MacDonald (a former undercover police officer from the TCPD, who’s gone native, played by actor David Rees Snell from the television series “The Shield”); Rose Largo played by actress Heather Fox; Hector Maio played by actor Kurt Caceres (from the television series “Prison Break”); Freddy “Nickel” Rogers played by actor Lawrence B. Adisa; Zack Maio played by actor Joshua Alba (brother of the actress Jessica Alba).^{[citation needed]} There are three other characters to note: Jonathon Cross is listed as an acquaintance to “G-Mac”, whilst Isabel “Izzy” Diaz (one of the “Blacklist” members in Most Wanted) and Caleb Reece (the main antagonist in Underground 2) are listed as acquaintances to Hector Maio.^[24] Additionally, Rachel Teller from Underground 2 is listed as an acquaintance to Rose Largo.^{[citation needed]} However, these four characters don’t appear in the game, making them only a loose connection between Undercover and previous installments in the franchise. Ryan Cooper, the character in ProStreet, is briefly referred to in dialog heard on a police scanner.^{[citation needed]} During this sequence, a police officer says he has a man named, Ryan Cooper, in the back of his car who refuses to speak or remove his racing helmet (this is considered a reference to ProStreet because Ryan Cooper never spoke or was seen without his helmet).^{[citation needed]}

The player is set in the story as a police officer, who goes undercover into the criminal underground of Tri-City, a fictional city where the game is based.^[16] The player has to take on dangerous ‘jobs’ and compete in races in order to infiltrate and take down a ruthless international crime smuggling syndicate, consisting of illegal street racers and car thieves.^[15] The player’s only contacts to the police are federal handler Chase Linh, played by Maggie Q, and later Lt. Jack M. Keller played by Paul Pape.^[25] In time, the player begins to prove himself as an excellent racer and wheelman.^[15] As he goes deeper undercover, he ends up having to take out different criminal “friends” he meets but mistakenly frames Chau Wu, a ruthless leader of a crime syndicate.^[15] Chau Wu then calls the player and tells him that there is only one thing he can do to redeem himself.^[15] There is a car stolen from the dockyards with incriminating evidence in it.^[15] Chau Wu believes G-MAC stole it, and he wants it back.^[15] In reality, Hector and Zack Maio are the ones who stole it, not realizing who the car belonged to.^[15] Carmen, fearful that Chau Wu is coming after her, asks the player to take the BMW M6 (Porsche 911 GT2 on PS2 and Wii versions) from her, however, Chau Wu finds out that the player now has his car.^[15] He phones the player demanding the car back and will use Chase Linh as a hostage until the player does.^[15] As a result, the player takes the car to Chau Wu, hoping to save her but when he gets there, he discovers that Chase Linh has been working with Chau Wu all along.^[15] Chase Linh then murders Chau Wu and his henchman with a silenced pistol recovered from Chau Wu in order to frame the player with his death and escapes in the car, taking any of Chau Wu’s possessions that were in it with her.^[15] The police, thinking the player is the killer, come after him but Lt. Jack Keller tells him to lose them and go after Chase.^[15] Eventually, she is apprehended and charged.^[15] Later, Lt. Keller tells the player that Carmen testified in return for not being charged for any criminal offences and that the evidence used against Chase Linh was Chau Wu’s PDA, which contained information regarding the dockyard cars and other criminal activities.^[15] In the last scene, Carmen asks the player to drive her to the university because she is currently attending as a med student.^[15]

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