Need For Speed Undercover - iPhone Review

EA just raised the bar in racing games, bringing the popular Need For Speed series to the iPhone platform; putting games like Fast and the Furios, Fastlane and others to shame with it’s stelar graphics,exciting and fresh gameplay, smoth controls and cut’s scenes featuring real movie stars like Cristina Milian.

Need For Speed Undercover is a fast paced arcade racer that is in close touch with its console heritage. The gameplay’s been adjusted for the casual nature of the iPhone platform, though. You simply tilt to steer, tilt more to drift, touch the screen to brake, and do nothing to accelerate (it’s automatic). Simple touch gestures handle nitro boost and “speedbreaker,” the game’s slow-motion mode.

The game has a storyline that involves the usual undercover cop stuff and has you infiltrating a street racing scene that has vague ties to smuggling or some such activity. Full-motion video comes up between races to move the story forward via mediocre acting, but they never quite explain why cops actually arrest you when you yourself are an undercover cop.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is complex and the missions offer a lot of variety, managing to keep the game fresh through out the levels.
You have:
- standard races: sprint, circuit, lap knock-out
- hot car: deliver a car without damaging it too much or getting caught by the police
- bounty: you have to cause as much havoc on the street until you reach a certain score
- chase down: where you have to take out an opponent as fast as you can, by ramming into him
- cop take-out: same as chase down but you have to take out several cop cars
- highway battle : you race against one opponent and win by leaving him a certain distance behind
- drift: is unlocked after completing story mode

The developers brought to the iPhone one of the best feature of the NFS Series : the ability to customize your car both visually and performance wise. To boost performance you can upgrade: top speed, acceleration, handling and NOS. Visually you can apply a body kit, change the paint job, choose between spoilers, tune suspension height, add vinyls and change the rims. As you progress through the game you can choose between 19 cars available. Unfortunately the best ones require both money and insane amount of style points to buy.

Controls:
There is no gas pedal, so when the race starts, the  car begins to constantly accelerate. Touching the screen activates the brakes and tilting the iPhone controls the steering. Swiping a single finger down the screen activates the Speed Breaker a sort of bullet time for precision maneuvers  that can get you out of tough spots and swiping up fires a nitrous boost for a quick burst of speed.

The controls are among the better of the iPhone racing sims, they are aimed more at the casual players because it doesn’t take long to become an excellent driver. The courses seem to be laid out with a pedal-to-the-metal driving style in mind allowing you to swoop through a course without even touching the brake.

FEATURES:
- HOT HANDLING: Corner and drift through fiery crashes at 150mph+ with precision-tuned tilt control steering.
- YOU’VE GOT THE POWER: Activate Nitrous Boost and Speedbreaker with the swipe of your finger for intense driving action.
- TRICK RIDES: Drive 20 of the world’s fastest and hottest cars like the Porsche Carrera GT, Nissan 370Z (Z34), Lamborghini Gallardo and the Pagani Zonda F—each boasting its own unique style and performance features: handling, steering, cornering and acceleration.
- EDGY ENVIRONMENT: Incredible 3D graphics enhance this exhilarating driving experience. Sweeping camera angles intensify your ride and yield a realistic look and feel—simply put, the best visuals iPhone and iPod have to offer.
- GO UNDERCOVER: Use the interactive Mission Map to guide you through 24 covert ventures that lead to intricate secret missions.
- RULE THE ROAD: Take on cops in raging street battles as you race through dramatic, animated crash scenes. Dominate 8 high-impact race modes including: Highway Battle, Sprint, and Cop Takeout.
- POWER ACHIEVER: Earn performance upgrades like Boost, Speed, Acceleration and Handling for even greater velocity.
- TEARIN’ IT UP: Gnarly impact-crash sound effects and ambient street noise surround and amplify driving. Cause unbelievable damage in bounty events and destroy 3D obstacles like roadside signs and other cars.
- YOUR PERSONAL HANDLER:Receive missions and updates via full motion cinematics from the sexy Miss Chase Linh, played by Maggie Q.
- OWN IT:Customize your vehicle with aftermarket spoilers, multiple wheel options, body kits and a variety of paint schemes.
- DRIVING TUNES: M3-quality music featuring popular artists like Airbourne keeps you pumped while you race. Activate your iTunes® music library and listen to your personal faves.

PRO’s:
- breathtaking graphics and movie like cut scenes
- ability to customize your vehicle both visually and performance wise
- complex gameplay that feels fresh throughout the levels

CON’s:
- repetitive music
- no multiplayer mode

Wish list:
- more car’s and races
- more options when customizing cars( you only have one body kit now so there isn’t realy a choice)
- ability to you add your own music to the game’s playlist
- LAN and online multiplayer

PRICE:
Need for Speed Undercover hase some of the best graphics and visual effects seen of the iPhone if you combine these with gripping music and outstanding movie cut scenes add some high octane challenging game play that doesn’t feel repetitive at all you get one of the best iPhone games in the App Store. So we consider that the 9.99$ price tag is well worth it.
It is available on the App Store

Cheat / Bug Video:



A small bug we discovered while playing , good for stacking up some cash.
The last race from the second island (Road Rage) is a Highway Battle in which you have to leave your opponent far behind. We found that in this mission the walls and objects on the highway don’t slow your car down if you hit them , so all you need to do is hit your NOS and your car will steer itself. It takes about 16 seconds to complete it and you will receive 6000$ every time , further more when you finish the game the cash reward will be increased to 25000$
Here is a short video of how easy it is :