Visually the paint job is glossy, but there are a few runs and drips that make this game not quite showroom worthy. The city is vast and once again someone has taken Test Drive Unlimited's GPS system and tried to copy it, but have created something far less impressive. You don't come across any real threats in the city such as weather effects or too many obstacles in the way, so racing should be a quick jump to excitement. The "should be's" turn in to not so much once you put the pedal to the medal. The frame rate is incredibly inconsistent as you will see the game run at a smooth 60fps one minute and then drop to 20 or so like your engine is flooded, and sometimes it does it for no good reason without major city clutter or traffic on the road. It got so bad one time I had to stop in mid game as I actually felt a bit of motion sickness because it was so jerky. The car models are detailed and polished and even have some nice damage physics, but there still seems to be too many jaggies for a game built off of 3 year technology. As for presentation goes, let's talk about the incredibly dull and cheesy FMV cut scenes that "try" to tell a story…on second thought…let's not.

The audio is standard fare with plenty of diverse engine noises, crash effects, cop car sirens, and an eclectic mix of butt rock and hip hop. For a bit of a chuckle, if you can stomach the cut scenes, you have some 'great' voice acting to follow up the 'well written' dialog.

Game play is the biggest question mark of NFS: Undercover, as I have to wonder that if the game actually ran smoothly, would the controls be better? As is, the frame rate really throws off your timing and perspective making the game feel loose and gliding. It's weird to have to continually center a car from a slippery spot on dry pavement, but you do…often. What's under the hood will take you roughly 10 hours to beat depending on how good you are at the wheel, but my experience with the game I found that the A.I. was less than challenging and if I were to finish any less than first it was by bad judgment of terrain on my part, or the fact the controls went wonky for no reason what so ever. If you can bear with the game's glaring issue, you can do some online racing, even if the lobbies and options are bare bones. Oh and that's not lag…it's probably the game.

In the end, EA really needs to take a year off and build a better racing game. This port of Most Wanted that was a port of Carbon, which in itself wasn't good in the first place, is unforgivable from a team as financially stable as EA. Heck, Burnout Paradise, while not a great "Burnout-style" game, was a fantastic racing game, so how about counting your losses and just releasing one racing title and put all your money and focus on it. You will make yourself, your fans, and many gamers very happy. As for this incarnation of Need for Speed, you can just blame it on engine failure.