Need For Speed Undercover
Electronic Arts
Xbox 360
Three stars (out of five)
It felt like Need For Speed: Most Wanted had just spun for the last time on my Xbox 360 when Undercover, a much promoted addition to the series, landed late last year.
I'd seen, read and heard plenty about the game on various websites and entertainment shows and knew it featured more of the same petrol-powered police-dodging mayhem of previous instalments, and also video segments starring Maggie Q, who I had never heard of but learned was a part-Vietnamese American model turned actress.
It was with a little weariness that I played NFS Undercover for the first time, not only because there are just so many driving games on the market but because I feared the formula of racing tuner cars while being pursued by the boys in blue had grown a little tired.
There certainly is nothing drastically new about Undercover, which takes place in a fictional setting called the Tri-City region.
You still get to unlock, buy and modify plenty of tasty rides, using a progression system that once was ground-breaking and now occasionally seems ho-hum.
You still get to drive fast on, beside and over roads, and you still invariably end up with wailing sirens and tailgating police officers in your rearview mirror.
Which is not to say Undercover isn't a good game.It is.
I'd just like to have seen the series shaken up a little bit to appeal to my jaded thumbs.
There's a convoluted plot, which has you working as, wait for it . . . an undercover agent . . . but you really don't need to worry about making sense of the story.
Just jump in and drive.
Need For Speed always brings with it plenty of customising, and the usual options allow you to juice up your ride.
There are in-depth options for the real mechanics and simple one-button jobs for us car dunces.
Racing is intensive, full-tilt action, and unlike some of the other games in the series, there are races on demand all over the place.
On its own, NFS Undercover is a good-looking and accomplished driving jaunt.
But it doesn't quite convince me that it's an essential addition to the gaming library.
