Need for Speed: Undercover, an overview of "Land of Games&quot

Alex Butrin
Source: Country Games № 23 2008	11.12.2008

For 14 years, flown from the output of the first part of Need For Speed, Electronic Arts has published more than 20 games under the brand NFS and run-in which a car gameplay concepts - from tuning up to the time dilation. The next fifteen years EA can easily spit at the ceiling, simply recombining previously used ideas in new, unexpected manner. Or, even easier to do - every three to four years' back to basics, doing a remake of one of the previous parts. That last recipe is made NFS: Undercover, similar to Most Wanted as identical twin sister. You're not good and not bad This phrase precedes each new race in Undercover, and after a couple of hours, it is in this spirit and you begin to think about the game itself. Serious shortcomings and outright blunders it does not, however, and gorgeous gameplay, too, finds no. Some glimpses of originality, bordering on schizophrenia, observed in the plot, but he mostly develops quite ordinary. With easy submission writers protagonist falls in Tri-City Bay, where the final unbelted local gang of street racers, hunted car theft and other dirty work. To display the scum to clean water, the FBI provides us with the task to infiltrate the gang and allocates federal bins popsovenky Nissan 240SX - best car in control, of course, there was no - the crisis in the yard, must understand! Enormously long highways Undercover easily accelerates to maximum speed and "wound" on the wheel a couple of tens of kilometers of virtual Driving around the rugged terrain, riders not only violate traffic rules, but also cause financial losses to the authorities of the state. Yeah, we are also puzzled Supervises the operation of the agent Lynn Chase (Chase Linh), whose role is to invite long-legged brown-haired Margaret Quigley, lit in the third Mission Impossible, and the fourth "Die Hard". On sexuality Maggie is not far behind from the previous NFS-girls, but the size of the bust yields even Emmanuel Vozhe of Carbon, not to mention big tits Josie Maran from Most Wanted.Trend, with ... Maggie Ku, that is, Chase Lin, of the frame showing rare and always in the shadows. Lures - no way! However, we return to our job. To attract the attention of the local street racing and wriggle into their confidence, the hero must be like to show their best side in the street racing and great annoy the local traffic police. You can do this already proven to Most Wanted ways (defile before the patrol car, then disappears during the chase, and local Armageddon, the destruction of government property). In addition, for the first time in the series allowed to steal someone else's car (hello, GTA!). Unfortunately, the hijackings - is only plot tasks, and stolen cars are strictly for the parts, so the idea of ​​pocket posh sports car for personal use would have to leave with him. Immediately after take us into a gang, the plot throws out the first queer caper, and the gameplay is updated with a new type of jobs - ram: Chase Lin orders the "butt" on the road, first leader of the minions, and then himself. The very idea of ​​self-duels can not deny the originality, but its implementation is lame on all four wheels. For examples look no further than necessary. Even in the first third of the game, rushed to help cute girl-mechanic Carmen, you will learn the hard way with the term "frustration" over and over again saving the hapless racers from two attacking her black sedans. Directors of the Video on the engine are well aware of the shortcomings of the latter, so close up car show just for a split second, that they failed to consider the close Interesting fact: destructible obstacles stopped only by police. Rival street racers are carried through the rubble, even in the race to the separation In addition to auto-carnage, Undercover offers two dissimilar types of tasks - the gap (to beat the opponent and hold leadership within a given time), and the battle on the highway, in which you want to go to White Castle at 300 meters, or again - to keep leadership before the expiration of a specified time. The main difference between the separation of the battle on the highway is the ability to choose the route and the game camera, which Undercover in road races with maniacal persistence switches on the front bumper. The question is - why? You'd think the players themselves are not sorted out with a camera more convenient for them to play. In parallel with the introduction of new types of races, went under the knife drag race and drift - you do remember starting arcade review of the recombination of gameplay elements? No, this is not the laser beams and special effects in a collision with a lorry The main advantage of Tri-City Bay - not in the mileage runs, and in their pretentiousness and Diversity You see everything and hear Tri-City - it's not three of the city, as one might think, as a metropolis. He divided the bay into three parts, interconnected long highways. This feature definitely comes in the game plus: Undercover - the first issue of NFS, which can not simply raskochegarit car to top speed, but the wound while on the odometer than a dozen miles. The second bold plus - a huge variety of routes and junctions, whimsical designs that often defies common sense and engineering practicality, but it adds interest in racing. A typical example - "snail" on the highway where it was possible to do the usual rotation. The city itself, judging by the feel, the more his sister from Carbon and Most Wanted, and still lovingly stuffed with building artifacts. Bundles of steel pipes and taps, with its hanging billboards easy to destroy, to disable police cars and get away from his pursuers. The police better not get him angry. Local traffic cops extorting fines are not engaged. Hardly that - twisted his arms and buttoned wristbands and strikes in the snout with his legs to prevent violations. Savages! Chase, by the way, the fascination, excitement and tension yield similar to Most Wanted: even a helicopter, which embodied a real nightmare street racing in the earlier parts of the game, now poses no threat, as punctually flies to refuel. But push a patrol car from the highway is now virtually impossible, as well as break away from it - as if we did not upgrade the chassis of our car, clutching "GIBDDshniki" manage to keep up. Therefore, all the police missions boil down to one scenario - the search for control points on the map with destructible obstacles that suddenly stopped arbitrarily large stack of patrol cars. Himself blind! But the interface is painting cars are so successful that it can be safely taken as a model for any racing game After a huge range of instruments tuning and styling cars that we observed in the first and second Underground, EA slid almost all the developments on this subject on the back burner, but for the second year continues to stuff NFS «avtolepkoy. In Undercover can not be selected lights, tint, and the entire inner stuffing cars. Wheels are now lumped together without sorting by producers, and combined with vinyl decals in one section. The only thing that has undergone a marked improvement - the interface of painting cars. But insanely happy voice talks of police in the air, both in the English version, and in localized Russian. Enjoy a variety of dialogues can be infinite: - Received a message about the offender on the highway I-20. You can easily learn it - the car is badly damaged. - Manager, any more details? - Yes. A suspect in a red Mitsubishi. Moves to the south. Although there are - have turned to the southeast. - Yeah, I see it, connect to the prosecution. Manager, the violator does not stop there - we continue to code six. Repeat - code six. Can send reinforcements? - You understand. Hang on a little more now send to you additional machines from the reserve staff. Is not it shiny? Spoil the impression of merely editorial errors of translation: for example, the dispatcher calls the hard patrol cars crews. In text messages, unfortunately, also has a roughness: guess, for example, what is meant by "afterburner in reverse" and "grinding". The idea of ​​a pumped parameters racer is not bad, although it gives schizophrenia. Think of themselves - as the experience may depend on the duration of the Nitro Boosts? Judging from the behavior of vehicles on the road, programmers and game designers at EA Black Box with each other and never met."Drawn" performance slightly untrue Even more pleased with a flawless soundtrack, which absorbed nearly a dozen musical styles - from hard rock (Airbourne) and industrial (Nine Inch Nails), and ending with "meat" electronics (The Qemists, The Whip, Justice), rap ( Tyga, Xzibit) and even Boss New (The Pinker Tones). The most interesting thing is that all this motley variety is perceived as a whole and works perfectly to create a memorable gaming atmosphere. And do not trust anyone Despite the above advantages, the starting third game totally devoid of competitive spirit and drive. Race on the first "island" so simple that pass with his eyes closed under a constant accompaniment of yawning - you can lose only by chance. Additional relief: the streets Tri-City Bay until the destruction of the gang Hector's lifeless, like the explosion of the neutron bomb. And, unfortunately, difficulties with balance does not end there: the machine does not behave as expected of their class (from very weak 4-th to the elite 1) and stated specifications. For example, Lotus Elise, which is available free then after the first race scene with a gang of Hector, refers to the 4-th class and tripled yields Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX at maximum speed, not to mention the overclocking features. However, it is only in theory. In practice, even netyuningovannaya "Lisa" fuck briskly along the 230 km / h, while the "Lancer" strained zero to two hundred, even with the first tuning kit for the pumping power. The question is, where is the logic? While you think about the answer, we Podkin free hint: give preference to the most maneuverable machines - only they are able to fit into a 90-degree turn at all without slowing down. Who ordered the RPG? The idea of ​​incremental access to the new story missions, which appeared in Most Wanted, Undercover in developed further. Now, the availability of new missions affect the special parameter - the level of driving skill that grows with each new victory. In parallel with it "pumped" and other skill players - special modifiers that improve the performance of each car (brakes, engine, tires and so on) as well as giving bonuses earn fame and monetary rewards. In other words, even an experienced driver to Zaporozhets going faster, brakes better, but still shoveling money rowing. By the way, a sense of rapid movement, which had always been hallmark NFS, this time transferred to almost perfect. When you're in the middle of the game "topish" under 300 kilometers per hour on the freeway at tracks like Genesis or the First Warning, deftly maneuvering through traffic, on the back of pleasure begin to escape involuntarily shiver. During such moments Undercover want to forgive a lot. Stole, drank, in jail! Much, but, alas, not all. With an outdated graphics, for example, it is impossible to accept. But the novelty is painfully similar to Most Wanted, not only gameplay, but also visually, although the latter, we recall, got as much in 2005. And the same is not only unclear textures and rough models of cars, but the color palette - this season is back in vogue yellow-brown hues. The saddest thing is that despite the technological backwardness, Undercover manages to noticeably slow down in complex scenes, when the frame is a lot of cars, especially when running in parallel rendering system of particles (eg dust from the wheels). So, for example, when overtaking on the ground stations, the number of frames per second will always fall. No exceptions. And this despite the fact that the detailed models of cars, which has always boasted a series, in the position passed Undercover (run second Underground and check for yourself if you doubt). Even in the Midnight Club, which has always trailed in the wake of the NFS, looking brainchild of EA in the exhaust pipe and timidly borrowing fresh ideas, machines this year are detailed better. Since you're undercover, you - in itself ... Conclusions from such a controversial set of advantages and disadvantages of each can easily do yourself. Pessimists predictably accuse EA of greed and the desire to "cut down on gamers bubble." The optimists will praise the developers for a return to stritreyserskoy topics and to grind holes highways Tri-City Bay, the benefit of the total number of races in Undercover is that easy to eat for almost a week of time (this is if you play in the evenings and do not assume multiplayer). And only pragmatists will not be surprised to anything, because in fact no accident or shock the foundations did not happen. Planck-quality series is still kept at a very high level, and with the current development cycle, NFS will remain at that point more than one year. Sulky catch Online mode in NFS has never been a strong feature of the show - primarily because of the monotony. Undercover may well change the situation due to the new regime of Cops and Robbers, in which racers are divided into two teams - the cops and the violators. In addition to police dogonyalok Undercover multiplayer offers one more game for catching offenders - Criminal Scramble. Also moved in line sprints, Racing, Battle of the highway and a mission to destroy government property. In the latter case, players compete to see who has time for a given time "nachudit" in the Tri-City Bay for a large sum. That's right - walking, so walk!