Need Speed? Come Get Some.

Need for Speed Undercover Xbox 360 Review



Having been a big Need for Speed fan since Road Challenge on the Playstation, i've always been fascinated by games which focussed on the illegal street racing world and in Need for Speed Underground 2 i found a near-perfect blend of excellent soundtrack, decent graphics, a seamless open free-roam world and finely-tuned gameplay. This was arguably the best street racing game on the last-gen.

Most Wanted was a big hit for EA when it launched on various consoles in 2005, including the PS2 which i had at the time (and still do). The game was fantastically put together, merging high speed police chases, refined gameplay, slow-motion features allowing the player to get away from tight situations, and the open world was back for real.

Following two disappointing titles in Carbon and ProStreet, EA returned to its roots with Undercover, focussing yet again on open world underground street racing (ProStreet was not open world, and Carbon attempted to focus on semi-legitimate racing) game, once again, implementing police chases, car customisation and a return to the grimey world of illegal street racing. Only this time, the roles were changed; you were an undercover cop working with the criminals themselves in a bid to hunt down the men at the very top.

Admittedly - in hindsight - the storyline in Undercover is pretty laughable; you're an unknown cop who appears to have several appearances (rear view mirror and cutscenes show two very different characters), who is led into the underground world of illegal street racing, and whose sole aim is to bring down a Chinese street thief who has apparently stolen a very valuable piece of high-end technology (though we never find out what this item is or what it does, we simply see a GPS-like gadget).

Maggie Q (no, i've never heard of her) and Christina Milian both appear, the former plays a detective (who, it turns out, was working with the bad guys all along), the latter helps the character throughout the game and eventually saves his ass in the finale.

Whilst the core gameplay and design of Need for Speed has always been the same and acknowledged as such, the repetitive nature of recent entries in the series has been severely criticised and although the game does very little wrong, it also does nothing new. The new 'Highway Battle' mode is terrible; small accidents can cost a player a race in seconds and traffic will always find a way of messing things up at the last moment ie moving lanes with very little thought or road-awareness.

All other normal race modes are back though some are naturally harder than others. Police are notoriously hard to outfox on some occasions, though at other times they will blatantly drive past you with little care or attention. Most races are fairly standard in that, with the right upgrades you can beat the opponents easily, only mistakes by the player will cost them the pole finish or the odd obstacle in the form of a mis-guided random vehicle will ruin any chances of success.

Gameplay is as excellent as in any other NFS game. The basic controls feel fine and whilst i never used the slow-mo controls, they are always welcome. Whilst NFS has clearly never prided itself on realism, being able to control a Lamborghini Gallardo at 221 mph around a sharp corner still feels very strange, though of course this sort of control wins races so who am i to complain?

The graphics are for the most part very polished. Some details look very last-gen but on the whole, there are no complaints. Frame-rate is solid 95% of the time, though obviously where there are huge pile-ups (later on in the game this is more common), the game does slow down a lot.

Aside from the odd annoying sticking-out ramp, idiotic van driver pulling out at the most inopportune moment, or superman-like opponents managing to catch up to you within seconds of a devastating crash, the game has few truly frustrating moments (one or two races towards the end left me with huge relief upon completion due to ridiculously good AI).

Quite why this game has been slated by so many reviewers both in magazines and on the web i have no idea. I personally found it to be hughly enjoyable and arguably the best Need for Speed game on the current generation of consoles. I just hope the next entry (already confirmed) is as good.

Summary: Despite the odd technical issue and the annoying enemy AI, Need for Speed Undercover offers a fantastic choice of high speed chases, races and spectacular thrills.

Score: 9/10

Grissom and Cox: The Downward Spiral?

CSI and Scrubs are arguably some of the best shows on television, and are among my favourite shows ever, CSI being my favourite.

The two shows have a lot in common; they're on long runs, they're both cult hits and they both feature stalwarts; namely Gil Grissom and Perry Cox.

Gil Grissom is a wise, aged criminologist and crime scene investigator whos main purpose in the show is to offer guidance to his troubled proteges, Perry Cox is a veteran doctor who seemingly knows everything there is to know and whilst he provides the backbone to his medical staff he also has the opportunity to make wisecracks at his attendings because Scrubs is a comedy whereas CSI is a drama.

The two notable observations i've made having seen every episode of Scrubs and everyone except 3 episodes of CSI Vegas is that both 'gurus' experience moments of significance whereby they question their very existence and whether their heart is in the job. Perry's comes towards the end of Season 5 where his best friend dies and he feels he is partly to blame as he failed to spot a diseased transplant organ. For me, this was the perfect time to end the show (now into its seventh season and frankly, now terrible) because it showed that even the most cold-hearted of characters (Cox showed little remorse for his actions and never showed emotion til this episode) could be undone and unlocked by any tragedy. One of the main storylines in the show floated around the idea that Cox couldn't ever feel a connection to another human being and his relationship with JD in this particular episode was excellently executed, really showing how close they were and how much Cox needed JD despite the latter being the protege. The show needed to end at that point because there was nothing else left to prove.

In CSI, i feel it is more of a bad decision on the writers' part that brought about Grissom's 'moment'. His feelings for Sara were evident throughout the show, and in Season 7 they finally clicked, showing raw emotions towards each other and constant references were made insinuating a physical and emotional relationship and i personally felt this weakened the show for the idea of Grissom's character was for him to be someone who would always offer emotional support and guidance but would never openly admit to needing someone himself. His personal life is rarely delved into and this was the great thing about his character, we knew so little and imagined so much. It should have stayed that way.

When Sara leaves in Season 7, it clearly has an effect on Grissom who kisses her before she walks out of the lab. This, in my mind, showed weakness of Grissoms behalf. His character was damaged by the open awareness of how much he supposedly needed her and couldn't hide his feelings from the rest of his crew of colleagues.

In Season 9 we again see this relationship reignited when Sara returns following Warrick's death. Whilst it was nice to see them together again, the ensuing scenes are unwarranted. We see Grissom yet again questioning his future at the Crime Lab and he is yet again exposed as showing emotions. His speech at Warrick's funeral is one of the best scenes in CSI but only because he has lost his closest member and one who he loved as if he were his own, something which is reciprocated by Warrick himself in the same episode. This relationship is typical of the sort of character Grissom is, holding each member of his staff in the highest regard and looking out for them. But when intimate love is brought into the equation in the form of his relationship with Sara, i feel the show loses credibility and frankly gains cheesiness which is avoided for seven seasons.

CSI is still probably the best drama show on television, i just feel Grissom's character needs closure and to focus on the future ahead.