Prone to loading without any police presence whatsoever, this issue is compounded further due to the absence of a restart option present in nearly every other game setup. Cop takedown events are a good bit of fun when they work properly.

Most of Undercover’s otherwise enjoyable game modes are negatively impacted by significant technical faults or frustrating peripheral issues. Instead, she's left to become increasingly unnerved by the complete and systematic disappearance of all her pals, whilst never suspecting you were responsible for it all. Likely through a mix of contractual reasons and for the sake of storyline continuity, the law opts to turn a blind eye to her involvement. One of those friends is your confidante Carmen, played by Christina Milian in a sequence of video sequences and who, considering she’s limited to the murky shadows of a garage, does a pretty decent job. You’ll partake in dangerous, adrenaline-charged races whilst allegedly maintaining the moral high ground by shutting down crime and selling out your newfound friends. It’s the usual, somewhat contradictory dual role of an illegal street racer and an undercover cop.

The setup’s a recognisable one to anyone familiar with Need for Speed games post- Underground. Undercover delivers fast cars, a silly-but-fun storyline and some sturdy city racing, but its promise is completely buried under a catalogue of design flaws and bugs. Looking at it glass-half-full, however, it renders the developer’s excellent follow-up, The Run, all the more impressive for how complete an overhaul it would represent. Similarly to a number of early seventh generation titles and PlayStation 3 ports in particular, Black Box’s Need For Speed: Undercover was a bit of a mess.

Nfs undercover online