 August 20, 2008 - After EA's Studio Showcase, the press received the red carpet treatment at a swank location in downtown San Francisco. Surrounded by glasses of Champaign and plush couches, EA unveiled Need for Speed Undercover by Black Box Studios.
The Need for Speed series is one of EA's biggest franchises, so it's surprising that there hasn't been any new info since the release of Carbon last year. It was all part of its strategy to go big with the announcement of the latest title. As you'll see in the coming months, presentation is a huge part of Undercover.
Watch the video trailer
The game feels immediately familiar and easy to get a hold of for anyone who has played Need for Speed before. The gameplay hasn't changed drastically; Black Box knows that its fans still want a title that straddles reality and an arcade racer. What was noticeably different was the tuning of the physics; making any maneuvers using the hand-brake feel very natural.
We hopped into a game as an undercover cop in the Tri City Bay Area. Having grown up in this declining metropolis, he has a personal stake in cleaning up the streets. His partner is Federal Agent Chase Lyn, played by the gorgeous Maggie Q, who was on hand for the event. She seemed genuinely excited about the production values of the cut scenes and she equated the project with working on a major Hollywood film.
 We sat down to play a couple of modes in Undercover, starting with everyone's favorite: a police chase. The match started with the Bay Area's finest in hot pursuit. A divided red and blue meter at the bottom of the screen indicated how close we were to being captured or how much farther we had to distance ourselves to reach freedom. To avoid incarceration you'll need to use all sorts of crafty maneuvers, like drifts, hand break-assisted 180s and 360s and environmental hazards. You can trigger these events in certain areas that are called out on the map. Once you get far enough from the police a second countdown is initiated and you must get your ride back to the chop shop.If you aren't quick enough, the police will expertly block off your vehicle. This triggers a stylish failure cinema where your character is filmed being roughly taken down by the law. The footage is presented COPS-style with a shaky camera and pixilated face.The other mode we played with was a straightforward race called Highway Battle. We went up against one opponent on a race towards a pre-designated finish line. We were struck by the amount of damage caused to our car as we jockeyed for position. A once-shiny vehicle was left looking like a crumpled mess after a few collisions with highway barriers.  Producer Scott Nielsen mentioned to us that the whole game is really about chasing, and being chased. He wants to recreate the high intensity moments you see in the big action movies through something the team calls the Heroic Driving Engine. In Hot Pursuit 2 and Underground there were about 4 different components in the driving engine -- now there are over 430 different components to play around with in each car to make them feel unique.
Need for Speed Undercover is looking like a very slick title and the developers were understandably excited for the press to get our hands on the game. The frame rate was a bit jumpy, which is understandable for a game so early in development, but even so it was obvious that the visuals in this title will sparkle like a newly-waxed sports car. We've got a new video for you so click below to see exactly what we're talking about.
Of particular note is the car-damage model, which delivers more realistic crumples, bends, holes, and accordion-ism than ever before. Granted, vehicular performance isn't affected by said damage, but perhaps that's a good thing in a game that practically begs you to solve many of your problems by conducting your own personal destruction derby.
 Yes, purposeful crashing is most definitely back in, as are oodles of threatening police cruisers. And let us not forget those rocket-equipped cop choppers. Only they're not so stupid this time, at least in our brief experience. Nor are they working on the opposite side of the law. You see, you're a good guy, too. You just happen to be -- as the title suggests -- undercover. And that can make for a lot of witting and unwitting enemies.
But arguably the game's most stylish component is what surrounds its central mode. Not only does Undercover mark the return of a truly playable -- though linear -- storyline, it also signals a move away from cheesy CGI and to big-budget, live-action video. Indeed, EA took the project direct to Hollywood, where it dropped a bundle on a state-of-the-art production that includes acting talents such as current "it" girls Maggie Q (Live Free or Die Hard, Mission: Impossible III) and Christina Milian.ll that aside, NFS nuts may ultimately remember Undercover for its physics model, confidently named the "Heroic Driving Engine." Incorporating no less 400 parameters and adapted from a similar but less sophisticated version found in ProStreet, Black Box's HDE can be tuned, in the development studio, to be as realistic or as fanciful as the design team wants it to be.
 In Undercover, the HDE is most definitely tuned for action rather than the substantially more sedate ProStreet. Still, it doesn't go so far as to be "arcade." Your car will have weight, feel like it contacts the road in all four corners, and generally shift about like the assemblage of parts that it is. Indeed, it's the complexity of the HDE that makes such necessary maneuvers as bootleg turns -- and other, even more extreme vehicular gymnastics -- so darn rewarding.
In some ways a big step forward but also a journey back to the tried-and-true formula of past series high points, Need for Speed: Undercover will certainly be more of a thrill ride than ProStreet. Given its whole-world approach and closely woven storyline, it'll also be more homogenous than its somewhat scattered predecessor. We'll see if it all comes together on November 18.
News Source: http://www.needforspeed.com/undercover
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