Best way I can describe Undercover is this is the "Sonic 06" of the NFS Franchise. Both games are bad and put their franchises in limbo but they do have good elements that tries to make the game fun.
@@Nottheoutline420 At least one good thing about the SD version of the games is that their Bloom isn't burning your eyeballs, allowing you to play the game.
Hell sonic 06 was one of the worst sonic games but was considered as the worst sonic game even though ahem sonic and the secret rings and sonic boom rise off the lyrics and sonic 4 were worse.
@@RonaldMcVale Secret Rings aged like milk, but people praised the game at the time. However, in the case of Rise of Lyric and Sonic 4 Ep.1 despite them being worse, they didn't do significant damage like 06 did.
@@MastermindAtWork It's because the fans don't give a damn about a worse sonic game then 06 and just use one if the worst as a worst one. Sonic fabs tend to be really stupid.
The ambient music included in the garage is stellar. Hell even the whole games ost and soundtrack was amazing. The music had depth and layers of tones and were very abstract. It almost encompasses you with a wave of emotions in which I cannot describe. And don't even get me started with the drums played during takedowns and highway battles. The intensity of these events are turned up a notch with the beats of the drums. I'd kill for a remaster
Honestly I feel Undercover deserves a remake more than Most Wanted. Almost every Need for Speed is pretty much the same, you play as a street racer, start from the bottom and work your way up. I feel playing as a cop going undercover as a street racer would make for a more interesting story just to shake things up a little, but that's just my opinion.
I don't think the police actually just give up on losing sight but it's attributed to the cost to state you do. Each heat level has a certain amount of CTS you can do before they call it off as too dangerous.
Glad this was suggested to me. A really well put together video which finally talks about a topic that has made me angry for years. Undercover is a bad game, but there are worse entries out there, and it is just another case of online mob behaviour. Keep up the great Work!
23:04 funnily enough, thats how the PSP version played it out, but only for the minor racers working for the gangs. In the main take out Missions you still drive your car of choice
@@mathrockmaniac7643 I mean they might know there’s an undercover officer, and if they scan the plates they might realize that the name returning may be the undercover officer
@@2ndRAK25 realistically tho they would still have to arrest you as you still committed tens of thousands of property damage and probably murdered cops and even if that didn't happen they would still arrest you because I suppose realism or making you a more believable street racers
I got this game as a Christmas gift back in 2008 in addition to a PlayStation 3 when I was 11. The only other NFS games I played at the time were Underground 1 & 2 on the PC and my grandfather had Porsche Unleached on an old Windows 98 PC he had years earlier. I actually loved Undercover, maybe it was the sensation of the shiny new PS3 I just got and it was a new game after a few years of playing through Underground 2 on almost a daily basis, but I thought it was aamzing. I never noticed the bugs and to my 11-12 year old mind it was awesome. I probably put about 200 or so hours into this game on the PS3 alone. I even remember a friend in school had the PS2 version of the game and complaining about how it sucked, and when I showed him the PS3 version he was amazed by it. Years later when I opened my Steam account I got Undercover as a gag gift from a friend since we used to buy each other stupid shit for birthdays and Christmas as jokes, I was about 16 or 17 then and knew how bad Undercover was at this point, but I played it through then and still had some fun with it. That was about 10 years ago now and I haven't touched it since. Maybe I'll give it another shot someday. If EA hadn't pulled a complete EA on Black Box, this game could have had the potential to be truly great.
I know this is a small gripe, but Rockport is not based on Detroit. Rockport is NYC, Newark, Philly, Delaware and Baltimore. The only NFS games that took in place in the Midwest were Hot Pursuit 1 & 2, No Limits and Unbound. Also Cross' actor is Dean McKenzie, not Chris Williams.
13:00 Also about censoring: In a song "Never wanted to dance" by Mindless Self Indulgence there is a verse: "Never wanted to dance with nobody but you wouldn't take no for an answer, you fu**ing b**ch!" They censored the F word and not the B word. If EA wants to censor songs, they need to do it right or not censor the songs at all. For example in NFS Most Wanted soundtrack in a song "Tilted" by Lupe Fiasco they censored "Game Boy Advance" for no reason.
10:41 THIS. Undercover was my first NFS game and this one piece of the soundtrack stuck with me all this time. Probably the only thing that stuck with me more are the brutal AF busted cutscenes.
6:20 i had NO idea that there were car lots in this game lmao. I know this game had a rough development, but they couldn't even put icons on the minimap or open world? 8:32 a problem i had with the vinyl editor is that skewing stretching and moving have to be selected individually through a sub menu, which is just too slow for my liking and i never felt that there was something i could do in Undercover that I couldn't in Pro Street (except for maybe the new decals, but then again pro street had decals that weren't in undercover iirc), at least form what i remember.
A major factor in why the NFS Undercover story didn’t make sense was because half of it was cut. The original plan was for there to be a cop & racer choice system that would factor into the story. But due to the 1 year timeline it was cut so they used what they had already filmed which is why a lot of story points don’t seem to connect right
I've actually replayed this earlier this year (I fell off of it after 3 hours-ish originally). And in 2022 I felt like I enjoyed it more, so much so I finished it. These days it definitely felt like a game from a different era (in many ways like GRID Autosport) and I really liked how much they leaned into the elements from previous games like Most Wanted and Carbon. The sun-drenched too-much-bloom added to the feeling of having nowhere to run, stealing cars in broad daylight. While playing I wished it would cater the story towards two paths, like when you've infiltrated the car stealing ring, Maggie Q asks you to take down its drivers one by one, starting with your love interest. It would be interesting to kill or spare each driver and see those decisions have at least some small consequences at the end. The highway battles were a big highlight for me and felt like an evolution from the Carbon canyon runs that fit more with this game. Speaking of Prostreet while I didn't finish it, I still really like its approach to UI and aesthetics, very similar to SSX On Tour and Amped3. Hopefully the next NFS game will lean into that too. (It's also a bit wild how Prostreet is very much the grandaddy to what would become the Forza Horizon series in many ways).
Funnily enough the original plan for Undercover was to have multiple endings witch were decided by killing and sparing gangs. Sadly EA was EA and they couldnt do it due to time restraints.
I think that the first NFS Shift is worse than undercover: Graphics may be beautiful, but the tracks don't look that vibrant. They look abandoned. Also in Shift cars' handling is random. One time your car drives smoothly and the other time it keeps spinning for no reason or it doesn't want to turn. Did I also mention that cars in Shift can't drift well? Edit: Also my unpopular opinion is that I had a lot of fun while completing Undercover.
You gotta love how Black Box made the busted scenes in Undercover too brutal. I know that most people adored MW 2005 and Carbon's busted scenes, but for Undercover? You'd just end up getting tackled, punched, or kicked in the face by the TCBPD.
I enjoyed this game on the PS3. I don’t really blame you at all. I loved the highway battles. The soundtrack is nice and I don’t have a problem with the story.
Right so, you know that this mod exists for Undercover that technically fixes the whole game and makes it really good called Project Reformed? How Undercover shoulda been.
The ps2 version is were things truly get interesting. It’s a perfect case of ‘so bad it’s good’. It’s a completely different game except for the cutscenes, and is full of so much weird content that its always intriguing.
@@jackleviril6902 the fact, by the info i was given, that the pc version ran the same as the ps2, instead of the ps3 tells me it was indeed the lower spec
So this game has the same story as the heat? It's about stolen cars, and the final bad character is a female cop, who turns on you in the end? The one trying to convince you that the villain in this story is the person she's secretly working with?
I know I am late and all but I just wanted to clarify that the "T-Mobile Sidekick" which you later corrected it to a "palm-pocket ASUS PC" is actually a Sony VAIO UX Micro PC Other than that, I really enjoyed this video.
Hot Pursuit 2 was my favorite. Played Undercover quite a bit after my dad brought it home from his work PC (some coworker had ISO copy). Barely knew english then and I don't understand why I could'n make money even after doing races or most stuff was locked, probably was a demo, but I still liked it. Was the only game I played for a while.
Absolutely loved this game as a kid! And I completely forgot about how ridiculous some of the arrest scenes are, the one at 16:03 had me cackling with joy :D
need for speed sucks which is a fair assessment to make in 2008 and now it has no competition which isn’t good. Its just not being paired enough from the other game’s to need for speed up.
Car Jacking missions would have a severely different connotation if the main character was an Autophile. I mean, the steering has been a little stiff ever since you last drove it... anything to admit, Paty?
I played it when it came out. It had so much potential. The bugs plagued the game and the constant sliding when turning did take some fun away. But I still beat the game. And had fun.
100% agree. Got Undercover for Xmas 2008 on my PS3 and loved it. Buggy, glitchy, not as good as Most Wanted or Carbon, plus you could beat it in 3 hours, but... it was a really fun game. I enjoyed the races, cop chases, story, and soundtrack, so it was a classic fun Need For Speed experience for me :)
When you do play NFS Pro Street and make a review out of it I hope you enjoy it, it's my favorite one from the franchise. To me Pro Street was just a game ahead of it's time, where they wanted cops and etc, but I feel like if Pro Street came out when Horizon games came out it would receive alot of positives for it's vibe and atmosphere. (also pro street tip, on some cars, tune the tires and return them to stock tires. The tune will still be equipped and the handling will be more responsive similar to carbon)
Pro street was actually really fun I grew up franchise being my favorite now I just don’t find anything special stage on you play overwatch for Fortnite and if I want a bit of nostalgia I’ll play some of the NFS franchise that was the first time I ever played with actual tuning for drag racing I spent hours tuning by charger and a couple other cars just to get milliseconds of the time that was fun
glad to see someone is appreciating this game, carbon was my fav game back then but this game was something, idk how youtube suggest me correctly, thanks for the video
I also enjoyed Undercover despite its major shortcomings. I got extremely close dominating all the races so that tells you I was pretty committed and entertained. I loved the Highway Battles and the music that played along with it was like a version of music that belonged in Carbon. That’s all I remember so I’ll keep that good memory from it.
I will never understand why people are so obsessed with playing "legitimate" copies of games that aren't being solid anymore, especially when we're talking about games this old. It's not like the developers or even the publisher are seeing any of that money if you buy some used copy on the internet. There's absolutely no distinction between buying a used copy of a game and piracy, except that one of them involves paying way more than a product is actually worth to someone who didn't make it.
Most ppl who rag on this game never actually played it. That being said, I was young enough to essentially ignore the car falling through the floor whenever I’d get out of the garage when playing Undercover on my PS3. Had a ton of fun though!
4:02 I'll recommend to just pirate the game, the console version is buggy, and it won't matter if u pirate it, it is not available to buy in any online store and the game is 15 years old. 14:11 Car sounds in undercover are from prostreet but toned down a little. To me nfs undercover is so bad, it becomes good.
Also really glad this was recommended to me, I never hated undercover as much as a lot of the community, I just thought it was very meh but relatively enjoyable nonetheless. By the way, you definitely deserve so much more recognition! This video is really high quality and you definitely spent a lot of time working on it.
Good video, man. Undercover is so underrated and it kills me that it doesn't get a lot of attention. Keep it up, dude. You're gonna blow up. Can't wait for more.
Undercover had so much potential. I only played the Blackbox-Era games on 6th-gen, so I have no frame of reference and won't speak on the PS3/PC versions, but, Undercover was the only Black-Box era game that I played, that I never beat. I never played UG or UG2, I beat Most Wanted, I beat Carbon, I even beat Pro-Street, but my squirrel-brain (I was born in '01) could never get past the 3 hour mark of Undercover and I never understood why until looking back at it as an adult. This game had so much potential, with the map, and the story, and the gamemodes, but there are some big things holding it back, especially on 6th-gen, as it was the last NFS to be released for 6th-gen and the PS2 port really feels like an afterthought. So, only speaking on the 6th-gen version, the game looks terrible. I mean utterly terrible. Not just the graphics, but the user interface is a joke. It hurts your eyes. The overall presentation of this game is just disgusting. All it would've taken was just slightly more polishing. If they just spent like an extra week or two overhauling the UI and smoothing out some textures it'd be fantastic. Also, if they made it a night-time game it would even just be passable with a shit ton of lighting and reflections. I loved the darker story. I know some people say it was corny, but seriously, like Most Wanted wasn't? I think the only reason people are so critical of the story in this game is because of how PRESENT it is. It seems like every other race is a cutscene. The game is extremely story intensive, for better and for worse. Most Wanted was extremely corny, but there was little to no story or cutscenes, whereas it felt like Undercover predominantly story based. This game had amazing potential, but just fell short.
still a better game than F&F Crossroads that is, especially the fact that you have this ex-SMS CEO Ian Bell f-head gushing over that his F&F game is gonna beat what NFS is doing for the next 6 years
I'd check out the PS2 version of this game. It's what I played and I enjoyed it so much more than the PC version. The world looks better, there are safe house, handling is basically ripped from Most Wanted, and there is music in free roam, which turned me off hard on the PC version. Would love to hear what you think of that 6th Gen version vs the PC/PS3/360 versions
This game is in my top 5 in the franchise just because of how fun it is. Most Wanted, Carbon, and ProStreet are my top 3, in no particular order because it just depends on how I feel that day. Underground 2 is 4, and Undercover is 5.
Pro street, specially on pc wit some quality of life mods (finding a pirated download is the easiest shit ever) is super worth it. Imo best nfs game, though the hardest one by far even with assists. If u don’t go easy u understeer into every wall.
I remember playing this game as a kid on the Ps2, and I genuinely believed it was the best racing game ever. But after growing up, I decided to revisit it, and bought a copy for my ps3, which I had fun with, but it wasn't as glamorous as I remembered, and it fell off the mark... After a few years however I found a few videos detailing all the cut content, the original concept, and seeing how in-depth the original concept was supposed to be, the issues made sense. Branching story paths with meaningful choices (hence the "You're not good or bad" and the "you can only trust the gas" tagines) I would love to see the concept brought to life today.
This was my first actual need for speed game I played and from my point of view, it was quite fun from what I can remember, never had issues with it despite everyone hating it.
NFS Pro Street for the 360 was fantastic. I loved playing it... until my save files became corrupted, and new files would not save any progress. Good times. May not be the right place to ask, but if anyone knows how to fix that please let me know.
so i just replayed undercover the past 2 days...and i was done playing the game until the end within 2 days and no i didnt speed run the game, i could have easily finished it within a day if i tried. The game is very short ! The story feels like it was cut off, even after the last mission, chase says that what we did will have very big consequences, but we never get to know what the device she wanted to take did and what consequences she was talking about...Almost like the story was meant to go on and have another plot twist or reveal what all this was about. Game had so much great potential, if it got another year for development it would have been a banger...
i played this game again i think last month and i didnt think it was awfully bad. might be the nostalgia but hey at least the soundtrack is still a banger
i agree with every thing you said it's good is overshadowed by the bad but i would never ever say that it is the worst game in the series it is for me an above average game. it had it's own fun moments and was good in some aspects as stated in the video Rating the different aspects of Undercover i would be giving it 7 or 6.5/10. For all its weirdness and bad aspects , it has easily overshadowed many of Ghost Games. For me this game is better then 2015, Payback, Rivals and MW 2012. It was a complete game in the sense that you had a good story, customization , huge map and police. MW 2012 had no story or customization and same goes for Rivals and Hot Pursuit 2010 I don't like Payback and 2015 because you have to spend real money to get your upgrades. This game will forever be in my heart along side other Black Box games because I finished these without any help from my elder brother and father. RIP Black Box : Gone but not Forgotten
Awesome video about this game sad black box was under pressure a lot to release any game for every year was really a pain in ass but why EA forced the studios to release the games just for every 1 year i think ea need to apologize to those studios who make the them to work with forced and pressure
I always love when games give police absurd car choices Only a matter of time before we see police driving Huayras haha And bless this man for throwing in a random Kitty0706 clip!
I've recently finished the Windows Mobile (same as IOS) version of Undercover on my phone, and despite being insanely short, having content from the PSP version (specifically the map/event select in the main menu, and the cars), and having a REAAAAAAALLY bad handling model (it feels like those old 2.5d racing games where you're moving the car side to side on a set path), it has ONE specific thing that probably makes it closer to the concept art than the other ports, and its rain/puddles/moody sky, whereas the other versions have sunny skies and maybe sunset, the WM/iOS version. On a side note, i Wanna see how the DS version is, as i'm still early on in that game
i completed it thrice (yes rookie numbers) and the stuff you said about the AI (both racer and cops) i've never experienced, the only thing i had a problem with rubber banding (but that may also have been my fault to certain point) and minor framerate issues thats all i have bought the steam version at the right time (missed out on run and shift :') ) also what contained in that phone, from what i think was sensitive data regarding government or other stuff (its possible)
I played UC not a year ago. It had really good moments. Though the repetitiveness of the events really killed my interest that I literally had to force myself to finish it. I want to try that mod Project Reformed. Everyone seems pretty positive about it and I think it may be the answer to "What Undercover Could've been?"
If underground didn’t exist. Undercover would be legendary. Handling with pads was much better then most wanted. It combined all of the previous titles. Maybe I’m wrong but this game was great. Still own it
At first I hated this game but then I loved it after I learned how to abuse the physics and take every turn at 250 MPH. The game became fun and easy at that point.
If you're gonna play ProStreet I'd strongly suggest getting it on PC. I know you probably won't be able to find a legit copy easily, but having played the game both on PC and PS3 I strongly suggest PC.
I played the crap of nfs undercover when I was a adolescent in my crappy PC and I loved, never understand the hate until I played again this year... The bugs, the IA, the driving it's horrible but the nostalgia is there, but the one thing that I love more in this game is the soundtrack, it was one of the best in the NFS franchise in my humble opinion an playing it again was a rush for my ears, ty sir for the video 🙏
You’re in luck. There’s a mod project that seeks to fix all of the gameplay problems. I’ve been playing it recently and it’s a blast to play. It’s called Project Reformed.
I loved NFS Undercover. Played it for hours
@Gasolina I had 8,000 on my PS3
@@NFSBeast2365 remember the day the patched the trophies in?
I just re-downloaded it and restarted it and finished it in a day 😂😂
You should try the reformed mod, it’s by a team of modders trying to fix everything they can fix
i played this game on the wii but it looked nothing like this and i never had any of the issues mentioned in this video
Best way I can describe Undercover is this is the "Sonic 06" of the NFS Franchise. Both games are bad and put their franchises in limbo but they do have good elements that tries to make the game fun.
Why did I say this in my head like a few hours ago after researching the PS2/Wii Version
@@Nottheoutline420 At least one good thing about the SD version of the games is that their Bloom isn't burning your eyeballs, allowing you to play the game.
Hell sonic 06 was one of the worst sonic games but was considered as the worst sonic game even though ahem sonic and the secret rings and sonic boom rise off the lyrics and sonic 4 were worse.
@@RonaldMcVale Secret Rings aged like milk, but people praised the game at the time. However, in the case of Rise of Lyric and Sonic 4 Ep.1 despite them being worse, they didn't do significant damage like 06 did.
@@MastermindAtWork It's because the fans don't give a damn about a worse sonic game then 06 and just use one if the worst as a worst one. Sonic fabs tend to be really stupid.
The ambient music included in the garage is stellar. Hell even the whole games ost and soundtrack was amazing. The music had depth and layers of tones and were very abstract. It almost encompasses you with a wave of emotions in which I cannot describe. And don't even get me started with the drums played during takedowns and highway battles. The intensity of these events are turned up a notch with the beats of the drums. I'd kill for a remaster
The garage music is simply unmatched
Incorporated so much of the garage music into my regular playlist
@@Brooksey1992same. Anything Paul Haslinger
Honestly I feel Undercover deserves a remake more than Most Wanted. Almost every Need for Speed is pretty much the same, you play as a street racer, start from the bottom and work your way up. I feel playing as a cop going undercover as a street racer would make for a more interesting story just to shake things up a little, but that's just my opinion.
I don't think the police actually just give up on losing sight but it's attributed to the cost to state you do. Each heat level has a certain amount of CTS you can do before they call it off as too dangerous.
Glad this was suggested to me. A really well put together video which finally talks about a topic that has made me angry for years. Undercover is a bad game, but there are worse entries out there, and it is just another case of online mob behaviour. Keep up the great Work!
Thank you! Appreciate the comment!
ITS NOT LIKE OMFG.
Game still better than almost every modern entry
@@PandyTimBR For sure dude
I don't really see how it can get any worse then this. Unless you're counting hot pursuit wii/3ds or shift psp
Mustaneros
Custangs
Camustangers
GTAV car names
23:04 funnily enough, thats how the PSP version played it out, but only for the minor racers working for the gangs. In the main take out Missions you still drive your car of choice
What if the cops give up because they eventually realize you're an undercover officer?
Can't be really undercover if the cops know about it, atleast the Patrol officers😆
@@mathrockmaniac7643 I mean they might know there’s an undercover officer, and if they scan the plates they might realize that the name returning may be the undercover officer
@@2ndRAK25 realistically tho they would still have to arrest you as you still committed tens of thousands of property damage and probably murdered cops and even if that didn't happen they would still arrest you because I suppose realism or making you a more believable street racers
No matter how bad it actually is, I can't hate or even dislike Undercover. It was my childhood Need for Speed, and it always will be.
And that's totally fair. If it was your childhood game that's totally understandable.
If you have a decent pc you could try the reformed mod, it’s by a team of modders trying to fix everything they can fix
I don't consider it a bad game. I had more fun with Undercover than Carbon which was decent too. My only gripe were the frame rate drops(PS3 version).
No, you don't.
25:14 Nope, it's not an Asus. It's a Sony Vaio UX series UMPC. I recognized it because I've been drooling over one for years
I got this game as a Christmas gift back in 2008 in addition to a PlayStation 3 when I was 11. The only other NFS games I played at the time were Underground 1 & 2 on the PC and my grandfather had Porsche Unleached on an old Windows 98 PC he had years earlier. I actually loved Undercover, maybe it was the sensation of the shiny new PS3 I just got and it was a new game after a few years of playing through Underground 2 on almost a daily basis, but I thought it was aamzing. I never noticed the bugs and to my 11-12 year old mind it was awesome. I probably put about 200 or so hours into this game on the PS3 alone. I even remember a friend in school had the PS2 version of the game and complaining about how it sucked, and when I showed him the PS3 version he was amazed by it.
Years later when I opened my Steam account I got Undercover as a gag gift from a friend since we used to buy each other stupid shit for birthdays and Christmas as jokes, I was about 16 or 17 then and knew how bad Undercover was at this point, but I played it through then and still had some fun with it. That was about 10 years ago now and I haven't touched it since. Maybe I'll give it another shot someday. If EA hadn't pulled a complete EA on Black Box, this game could have had the potential to be truly great.
I know this is a small gripe, but Rockport is not based on Detroit. Rockport is NYC, Newark, Philly, Delaware and Baltimore.
The only NFS games that took in place in the Midwest were Hot Pursuit 1 & 2, No Limits and Unbound.
Also Cross' actor is Dean McKenzie, not Chris Williams.
13:00 Also about censoring: In a song "Never wanted to dance" by Mindless Self Indulgence there is a verse:
"Never wanted to dance with nobody but you wouldn't take no for an answer, you fu**ing b**ch!" They censored the F word and not the B word. If EA wants to censor songs, they need to do it right or not censor the songs at all. For example in NFS Most Wanted soundtrack in a song "Tilted" by Lupe Fiasco they censored "Game Boy Advance" for no reason.
No reason ? Laughs in agressive Nintendo attorneys
"Undercover is a bad game"
*laughs in Big Rigs*
1 bad game does not make another bad game good
10:41 THIS. Undercover was my first NFS game and this one piece of the soundtrack stuck with me all this time. Probably the only thing that stuck with me more are the brutal AF busted cutscenes.
6:20 i had NO idea that there were car lots in this game lmao. I know this game had a rough development, but they couldn't even put icons on the minimap or open world?
8:32 a problem i had with the vinyl editor is that skewing stretching and moving have to be selected individually through a sub menu, which is just too slow for my liking and i never felt that there was something i could do in Undercover that I couldn't in Pro Street (except for maybe the new decals, but then again pro street had decals that weren't in undercover iirc), at least form what i remember.
15:54
It looks weird how all of the swat guys unarmed, it’s not like they’re afraid of showing them since they do in the live action cutscenes
the problem with Undercover's handling is the input lag, there's a mod that fixes that
A major factor in why the NFS Undercover story didn’t make sense was because half of it was cut.
The original plan was for there to be a cop & racer choice system that would factor into the story.
But due to the 1 year timeline it was cut so they used what they had already filmed which is why a lot of story points don’t seem to connect right
I've actually replayed this earlier this year (I fell off of it after 3 hours-ish originally). And in 2022 I felt like I enjoyed it more, so much so I finished it. These days it definitely felt like a game from a different era (in many ways like GRID Autosport) and I really liked how much they leaned into the elements from previous games like Most Wanted and Carbon. The sun-drenched too-much-bloom added to the feeling of having nowhere to run, stealing cars in broad daylight.
While playing I wished it would cater the story towards two paths, like when you've infiltrated the car stealing ring, Maggie Q asks you to take down its drivers one by one, starting with your love interest. It would be interesting to kill or spare each driver and see those decisions have at least some small consequences at the end.
The highway battles were a big highlight for me and felt like an evolution from the Carbon canyon runs that fit more with this game.
Speaking of Prostreet while I didn't finish it, I still really like its approach to UI and aesthetics, very similar to SSX On Tour and Amped3. Hopefully the next NFS game will lean into that too. (It's also a bit wild how Prostreet is very much the grandaddy to what would become the Forza Horizon series in many ways).
Funnily enough the original plan for Undercover was to have multiple endings witch were decided by killing and sparing gangs. Sadly EA was EA and they couldnt do it due to time restraints.
I think that the first NFS Shift is worse than undercover: Graphics may be beautiful, but the tracks don't look that vibrant. They look abandoned. Also in Shift cars' handling is random. One time your car drives smoothly and the other time it keeps spinning for no reason or it doesn't want to turn. Did I also mention that cars in Shift can't drift well?
Edit: Also my unpopular opinion is that I had a lot of fun while completing Undercover.
You gotta love how Black Box made the busted scenes in Undercover too brutal. I know that most people adored MW 2005 and Carbon's busted scenes, but for Undercover? You'd just end up getting tackled, punched, or kicked in the face by the TCBPD.
I never got caught so I didn’t know how fckn HARD the cops come at you like that 😆🤣
...nah I much prefer it being a T-Mobile Sidekick. writing off the entire game as an ad for a forgotten phone nobody bought is quite funny.
Undercover will always have a special place in my gaming heart
Interestingly enough, in the cursed PS2 version, you DO drive a police car to take out the gangs.
I enjoyed this game on the PS3. I don’t really blame you at all. I loved the highway battles. The soundtrack is nice and I don’t have a problem with the story.
Right so, you know that this mod exists for Undercover that technically fixes the whole game and makes it really good called Project Reformed? How Undercover shoulda been.
The ps2 version is were things truly get interesting. It’s a perfect case of ‘so bad it’s good’. It’s a completely different game except for the cutscenes, and is full of so much weird content that its always intriguing.
Yes the ps2/3 games were COMPLETELY different. The map. Some cars. Everything. It’s wild and idk why
@@mav3rick_gaming No, the PS3 version is the same as the PC version
@@jackleviril6902 didnt know that. Im not a pc gamer so i can only attest to the ps2/3 versions. Im surprised the pc would ship the lower spec version
@@mav3rick_gaming It is not the lower spec version
@@jackleviril6902 the fact, by the info i was given, that the pc version ran the same as the ps2, instead of the ps3 tells me it was indeed the lower spec
So this game has the same story as the heat? It's about stolen cars, and the final bad character is a female cop, who turns on you in the end? The one trying to convince you that the villain in this story is the person she's secretly working with?
Payback did it earlier. You are stealing Regera and then recover it from mob. Plus both games has woman who worked with you and then betray.
An extremely well made and informed video. Glad it was recommended. Loved undercover. Happy to see it’s getting some love. Keep up the great work!
I know I am late and all but I just wanted to clarify that the "T-Mobile Sidekick" which you later corrected it to a "palm-pocket ASUS PC" is actually a Sony VAIO UX Micro PC
Other than that, I really enjoyed this video.
Hot Pursuit 2 was my favorite. Played Undercover quite a bit after my dad brought it home from his work PC (some coworker had ISO copy). Barely knew english then and I don't understand why I could'n make money even after doing races or most stuff was locked, probably was a demo, but I still liked it. Was the only game I played for a while.
I played all NFS from UG1 to Unbound and I honestly enjoyed Undercover a lot
How do you only have 260 subs you deserve more
You just got a sub. I never thought I would watch a 30 minutes essay on a Need For Speed game but here I am hoping you'll do some other ones.
You know what's actually underappreciated? This video (and the Viva Pinata one). Excellent work on both, dude.
Absolutely loved this game as a kid! And I completely forgot about how ridiculous some of the arrest scenes are, the one at 16:03 had me cackling with joy :D
need for speed sucks which is a fair assessment to make in 2008 and now it has no competition which isn’t good. Its just not being paired enough from the other game’s to need for speed up.
from what video is the soundclip at 22:18? is that internet historian?
That is correct. It’s from his other channel Incognito Mode, the episode being “weapons.”
Car Jacking missions would have a severely different connotation if the main character was an Autophile. I mean, the steering has been a little stiff ever since you last drove it... anything to admit, Paty?
I like cars a little too much.
This was a great video! Kinda Raycevick vibes, keep it up. Incredible you haven't got like a million views
I played it when it came out. It had so much potential. The bugs plagued the game and the constant sliding when turning did take some fun away. But I still beat the game. And had fun.
Oh man the most wanted cutscenes
Cross: I want every single unit after this guy
Female cop: Everyone, sir?
Ronnie: Yeah.
100% agree. Got Undercover for Xmas 2008 on my PS3 and loved it. Buggy, glitchy, not as good as Most Wanted or Carbon, plus you could beat it in 3 hours, but... it was a really fun game. I enjoyed the races, cop chases, story, and soundtrack, so it was a classic fun Need For Speed experience for me :)
My personal hot take: I LOVED Undercover… for PS2. I genuinely think it’s more fun than the newer gen version. Not better. Just more fun.
When you do play NFS Pro Street and make a review out of it I hope you enjoy it, it's my favorite one from the franchise.
To me Pro Street was just a game ahead of it's time, where they wanted cops and etc, but I feel like if Pro Street came out when Horizon games came out it would receive alot of positives for it's vibe and atmosphere. (also pro street tip, on some cars, tune the tires and return them to stock tires. The tune will still be equipped and the handling will be more responsive similar to carbon)
Pro Street is ass.
the police chase music sounds so random that i straight up laughed when it came on
Good video, I dont fully hate it either. But its nice to see people like you give good outlooks on stuff and not only see bad like everyone else
Pro street was actually really fun I grew up franchise being my favorite now I just don’t find anything special stage on you play overwatch for Fortnite and if I want a bit of nostalgia I’ll play some of the NFS franchise that was the first time I ever played with actual tuning for drag racing I spent hours tuning by charger and a couple other cars just to get milliseconds of the time that was fun
I played pretty much all NFS games in 2019, and I have big soft spot for this one, it has a lot of character despite its flaws.
Most other NFS have much less characters? Or even no story at all.
"When Undercover shines it.. really does shine!"
Yeah.. right in your eyes; blinding you and getting you boxed in while being pursued.
glad to see someone is appreciating this game, carbon was my fav game back then but this game was something, idk how youtube suggest me correctly, thanks for the video
I loved Undercover on PSP. Played online every day without fail. There was a really cool little community.
I also enjoyed Undercover despite its major shortcomings. I got extremely close dominating all the races so that tells you I was pretty committed and entertained. I loved the Highway Battles and the music that played along with it was like a version of music that belonged in Carbon. That’s all I remember so I’ll keep that good memory from it.
If the police have to chase you down, they're bringing an asswhoopin with them.
I will never understand why people are so obsessed with playing "legitimate" copies of games that aren't being solid anymore, especially when we're talking about games this old. It's not like the developers or even the publisher are seeing any of that money if you buy some used copy on the internet. There's absolutely no distinction between buying a used copy of a game and piracy, except that one of them involves paying way more than a product is actually worth to someone who didn't make it.
Most ppl who rag on this game never actually played it. That being said, I was young enough to essentially ignore the car falling through the floor whenever I’d get out of the garage when playing Undercover on my PS3. Had a ton of fun though!
4:02
I'll recommend to just pirate the game, the console version is buggy, and it won't matter if u pirate it, it is not available to buy in any online store and the game is 15 years old.
14:11
Car sounds in undercover are from prostreet but toned down a little.
To me nfs undercover is so bad, it becomes good.
It‘s called a 240SX, not a 240x
Also really glad this was recommended to me, I never hated undercover as much as a lot of the community, I just thought it was very meh but relatively enjoyable nonetheless. By the way, you definitely deserve so much more recognition! This video is really high quality and you definitely spent a lot of time working on it.
I honestly don't get the insane hatred for undercover. I loved it personally.
Good video, man. Undercover is so underrated and it kills me that it doesn't get a lot of attention.
Keep it up, dude. You're gonna blow up. Can't wait for more.
Respect to the starting “240x”
Undercover had so much potential. I only played the Blackbox-Era games on 6th-gen, so I have no frame of reference and won't speak on the PS3/PC versions, but, Undercover was the only Black-Box era game that I played, that I never beat. I never played UG or UG2, I beat Most Wanted, I beat Carbon, I even beat Pro-Street, but my squirrel-brain (I was born in '01) could never get past the 3 hour mark of Undercover and I never understood why until looking back at it as an adult. This game had so much potential, with the map, and the story, and the gamemodes, but there are some big things holding it back, especially on 6th-gen, as it was the last NFS to be released for 6th-gen and the PS2 port really feels like an afterthought. So, only speaking on the 6th-gen version, the game looks terrible. I mean utterly terrible. Not just the graphics, but the user interface is a joke. It hurts your eyes. The overall presentation of this game is just disgusting. All it would've taken was just slightly more polishing. If they just spent like an extra week or two overhauling the UI and smoothing out some textures it'd be fantastic. Also, if they made it a night-time game it would even just be passable with a shit ton of lighting and reflections. I loved the darker story. I know some people say it was corny, but seriously, like Most Wanted wasn't? I think the only reason people are so critical of the story in this game is because of how PRESENT it is. It seems like every other race is a cutscene. The game is extremely story intensive, for better and for worse. Most Wanted was extremely corny, but there was little to no story or cutscenes, whereas it felt like Undercover predominantly story based. This game had amazing potential, but just fell short.
Amazing video! I'm just poping here to say that I have amazing memories about Pro Street I think you should give it a go
NFS Undercover isn't an Eye candy...but it is a good game
And yes not at all boring like some individuals tend to call it
still a better game than F&F Crossroads that is, especially the fact that you have this ex-SMS CEO Ian Bell f-head gushing over that his F&F game is gonna beat what NFS is doing for the next 6 years
I can appreciate the story, even if the gameplay can feel off at times.
BlackBox had only 6 months to develop this game
So it's a miracle this game is even working from start to finish
On PC there are alot of visual settings you can turn down to make the game look alot less blurry or bloomy
It definitely was, me and my best friend always had this discussion as avid players of all the NFS franchises prior to it.
I'd check out the PS2 version of this game. It's what I played and I enjoyed it so much more than the PC version. The world looks better, there are safe house, handling is basically ripped from Most Wanted, and there is music in free roam, which turned me off hard on the PC version. Would love to hear what you think of that 6th Gen version vs the PC/PS3/360 versions
This game is in my top 5 in the franchise just because of how fun it is. Most Wanted, Carbon, and ProStreet are my top 3, in no particular order because it just depends on how I feel that day. Underground 2 is 4, and Undercover is 5.
Undercover on the PSP is so nostalgic for me and playing it on PC recently was pretty fun. I wish I had it on 360 back in the day.
Pro street, specially on pc wit some quality of life mods (finding a pirated download is the easiest shit ever) is super worth it. Imo best nfs game, though the hardest one by far even with assists. If u don’t go easy u understeer into every wall.
I remember playing this game as a kid on the Ps2, and I genuinely believed it was the best racing game ever. But after growing up, I decided to revisit it, and bought a copy for my ps3, which I had fun with, but it wasn't as glamorous as I remembered, and it fell off the mark...
After a few years however I found a few videos detailing all the cut content, the original concept, and seeing how in-depth the original concept was supposed to be, the issues made sense.
Branching story paths with meaningful choices (hence the "You're not good or bad" and the "you can only trust the gas" tagines)
I would love to see the concept brought to life today.
This was my first actual need for speed game I played and from my point of view, it was quite fun from what I can remember, never had issues with it despite everyone hating it.
NFS Pro Street for the 360 was fantastic. I loved playing it... until my save files became corrupted, and new files would not save any progress. Good times. May not be the right place to ask, but if anyone knows how to fix that please let me know.
This game made me fall in love with Highway pulls and battles
I think Undercover is alright, but it needs some work.
so i just replayed undercover the past 2 days...and i was done playing the game until the end within 2 days and no i didnt speed run the game, i could have easily finished it within a day if i tried. The game is very short ! The story feels like it was cut off, even after the last mission, chase says that what we did will have very big consequences, but we never get to know what the device she wanted to take did and what consequences she was talking about...Almost like the story was meant to go on and have another plot twist or reveal what all this was about. Game had so much great potential, if it got another year for development it would have been a banger...
i played this game again i think last month and i didnt think it was awfully bad. might be the nostalgia but hey at least the soundtrack is still a banger
Having played this game on both wii and later on managed to get a PC copy I feel like the wii Version somehow was better?
i agree with every thing you said
it's good is overshadowed by the bad
but i would never ever say that it is the worst game in the series
it is for me an above average game.
it had it's own fun moments and was good in some aspects as stated in the video
Rating the different aspects of Undercover i would be giving it 7 or 6.5/10.
For all its weirdness and bad aspects , it has easily overshadowed many of Ghost Games.
For me this game is better then 2015, Payback, Rivals and MW 2012.
It was a complete game in the sense that you had a good story, customization , huge map and police.
MW 2012 had no story or customization and same goes for Rivals and Hot Pursuit 2010
I don't like Payback and 2015 because you have to spend real money to get your upgrades.
This game will forever be in my heart along side other Black Box games because I finished these without any help from my elder brother and father.
RIP Black Box : Gone but not Forgotten
I love undercover for it's music selection, nfs always defined my music taste, and this one presented so much new
Awesome video about this game sad black box was under pressure a lot to release any game for every year was really a pain in ass but why EA forced the studios to release the games just for every 1 year i think ea need to apologize to those studios who make the them to work with forced and pressure
I always love when games give police absurd car choices
Only a matter of time before we see police driving Huayras haha
And bless this man for throwing in a random Kitty0706 clip!
I've recently finished the Windows Mobile (same as IOS) version of Undercover on my phone, and despite being insanely short, having content from the PSP version (specifically the map/event select in the main menu, and the cars), and having a REAAAAAAALLY bad handling model (it feels like those old 2.5d racing games where you're moving the car side to side on a set path), it has ONE specific thing that probably makes it closer to the concept art than the other ports, and its rain/puddles/moody sky, whereas the other versions have sunny skies and maybe sunset, the WM/iOS version. On a side note, i Wanna see how the DS version is, as i'm still early on in that game
I believe it was under appreciated because that game was really good and reminded me of most wanted and nfs carbon
i completed it thrice (yes rookie numbers) and the stuff you said about the AI (both racer and cops) i've never experienced, the only thing i had a problem with rubber banding (but that may also have been my fault to certain point) and minor framerate issues thats all
i have bought the steam version at the right time (missed out on run and shift :') )
also what contained in that phone, from what i think was sensitive data regarding government or other stuff (its possible)
3:17 Ahahahahahahahah ahahhahahaHAHAHAH it is enough slices!!!!!! - mico
Also police isnt based on heat but story progress weirdly enough.
idk maybe its nostalgia thats blinding me but i love this game even with the flaws.Most underrated soundtrack
The game, and the soundtrack are fire
I played UC not a year ago. It had really good moments. Though the repetitiveness of the events really killed my interest that I literally had to force myself to finish it.
I want to try that mod Project Reformed. Everyone seems pretty positive about it and I think it may be the answer to "What Undercover Could've been?"
If underground didn’t exist. Undercover would be legendary. Handling with pads was much better then most wanted. It combined all of the previous titles. Maybe I’m wrong but this game was great. Still own it
At first I hated this game but then I loved it after I learned how to abuse the physics and take every turn at 250 MPH. The game became fun and easy at that point.
If you're gonna play ProStreet I'd strongly suggest getting it on PC. I know you probably won't be able to find a legit copy easily, but having played the game both on PC and PS3 I strongly suggest PC.
I played the crap of nfs undercover when I was a adolescent in my crappy PC and I loved, never understand the hate until I played again this year... The bugs, the IA, the driving it's horrible but the nostalgia is there, but the one thing that I love more in this game is the soundtrack, it was one of the best in the NFS franchise in my humble opinion an playing it again was a rush for my ears, ty sir for the video 🙏
You’re in luck. There’s a mod project that seeks to fix all of the gameplay problems. I’ve been playing it recently and it’s a blast to play. It’s called Project Reformed.