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There are some fairly fun, challenging race environments
December 9, 2008
Undercover is supposed to be an open-world racing
game, but it really isn't. Missions can only be accessed by the GPS
map and prompts at the bottom of the screen. Very often, your mission
is to go to a specific part of the city and take out a thug. But rather
than making you drive there, you are asked to press down on D-pad
to start the mission right there. The GPS map, rather than serving
as a waypoint system, is more like an event selection screen. So it
really makes you wonder why Black Box went with the open-world setting
at all.
Then there's the lifeless city that Undercover is set it.
The architecture looks uninspired and, as a whole, the environment
seems soulless. To add to that there is excessive bloom and a bizarre
lighting system whereby everything looks yellow. There are no day
and night transitions; simply, what the devs think, looks like dusk.
And although on loading screens it will tell you the time of day,
whether its 7 am or 7 pm, it will all look the same. Poor architecture
and lighting aside, the city can throw up some fairly fun and challenging
race environments, from the tight, bending streets of the city centre,
to the narrow, grid-like suburban roads, to the vast, open highways.
To make the best use of the various city environments, there are
a variety of events on offer in Undercover. Circuit and
Sprint races pit you against seven other opponents, whereas
Checkpoint events are you against the clock as you aim to
pass a series of checkpoints before you run out of time. There are
also one-on-one events such as Outrun, where your aim is
stay in front of the opponent for a fixed amount of time, and Highway
Battle, set on a busy stretch of highway, where you are tasked
with putting a fixed amount of distance between you and your opponent.
Also see: Review: Pure is all about having fun
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