Need for Speed Undercover (Xbox 360)

Electronic Arts tries to sell you a lemon, and then keeps bugging you for money
12/1/2008 7:34 PM | 0 Comments | Page 3 of 3

But as you upgrade a car's performance, buy new cars, and unlock more visual customization, one of the ugly truths about Need for Speed Undercover emerges. This is a game built around the idea that you can either play through it or pay through it. Whenever you spend in-game money, EA is there to remind you that you can instead just spend real-world money as a shortcut to the necessary racing it takes to earn in-game money. Yes, real money: the stuff in your pocket that you already gave EA when you decided to bring home this half-baked excuse for a racing game. Of course, the cost is translated into Microsoft Points, which makes it look slightly less absurd than when it happens on the PlayStation Store. But I don't know what's more pathetic: that EA attempts this, or that someone might actually take them up on it. It would be only slightly less pathetic if Need for Speed Undercover were actually worth playing. Hey, EA, before you try to bilk us for more money, how about making a better game?

Multiplayer can be played online, but only by registering yourself for Electronic Arts' EA Nation. After all the fuss they've gone through with Xbox Live, they still insist on maintaining a separate service. While it might be tolerable with a better game such as one of the Battlefields, it's just adding insult to injury with a piece of junk like this. This is a racing game about the lowest common denominator, in terms of technology, gameplay, storytelling and money-grubbing publishers willing to do anything for a buck.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.