Need for Speed: Undercover

Need for Speed: Undercover
North American cover art featuring a Porsche 911 GT2 in a police pursuit, with Chase Linh (Maggie Q) appearing on the background.
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Electronic Arts
Director(s)Oliver Marriott[3]
Composer(s)
SeriesNeed for Speed
Platform(s)
Release
  • NA: November 18, 2008
  • AU: November 20, 2008
  • EU: November 21, 2008
[1][2]
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Need for Speed: Undercover is a 2008 racing video game, and is the twelfth installment in the Need for Speed series following Need for Speed: ProStreet (2007). Developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts, it was released on November 18, 2008, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS,[4] and then on a number of mobile phone platforms in 2009.[5][6][7]

The game sees players conducting illegal street races within the fictional Tri-City Area, with the main mode's story focused on the player operating as an undercover police officer to investigate links between a criminal syndicate, stolen cars, and street racers. Gameplay operates on the same manner as previous entries such as Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Need for Speed: Carbon, now including a larger selection of licensed real-world cars, and RPG-styled system in the game's main story mode.

Upon its release, the game received mixed reviews, many of which criticized the game's difficulty, story, setting, and repetitive elements, with some editions receiving lower scores due to severe issues. As of 2021, Undercover is no longer available for purchase digitally in any online stores.[8] Undercover was succeeded by Need for Speed: Shift (2009), the Nintendo-exclusive Need for Speed: Nitro (2009), and the Need for Speed: World (2010) MMO.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference NFS: UInfo-Kotaku was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "IGN: Need For speed Undercover". IGN. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2008.
  3. ^ "GameSpot: Need for Speed Undercover Tech Info". GameSpot. Archived from the original on January 7, 2010. Retrieved January 20, 2009.
  4. ^ "The faces of innovation gather at annual Nokia Games Summit". Nokia. Archived from the original on November 1, 2008. Retrieved October 29, 2008.
  5. ^ Ellie Gibson (June 18, 2008). "New Need for Speed game unveiled". Eurogamer. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  6. ^ Mark Androvich (June 18, 2008). "Riccitiello: We were torturing Vancouver studio". Gamesindustry.biz. Archived from the original on December 4, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2008.
  7. ^ Avinash Bali (March 8, 2008). "New NFS and Skate Announcements Soon?". Tech2.com India. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2008.
  8. ^ Max_Joker (May 31, 2021). "Sun is setting on some older NFS titles - it's not you, it's us". r/needforspeed. Archived from the original on June 21, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2021.