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EA bring their long awaited racer to the table. So is it the ace up their sleeve, or a joker in the pack?
As the name suggests you play as a cop who must infiltrate the criminal underworld through the use of your skilful driving abilities. On starting the game you are presented with a full film like cutscene featuring real actors (Maggie Q). This introduces you to the characters, sets the scene and puts you in your first mission behind the wheel. Here you must impress the street racing underworld and work your way through 24 racing missions to uncover a smuggling crime ring. During that time you’ll get to drive/unlock a variety of cars from the Mazda hot-hatch, Honda NSX and Porsche Carrera GT up to the ultimate - Stig favourite - supercar… the Pagini Zonda.
A pimped out Mazda from the beginning of the game
A pimped out Mazda from the beginning of the game
The good
The best thing about the game is the presentation throughout, unfortunately it is at the expense of the gameplay, but I’ll get to that later. The first thing that grabbed my attention was the car models, which are easily the best looking of any racing game thus far. They really look great, especially in the showroom style menu where you can spin them to your hearts content, and pimp them out with a re-spray, body art, and body kits, which are unlockable through cash received from successfully beating race missions.
The courses look good too with some great texture work and a variety of buildings, fencing and other objects lining the streets, giving a great sense of speed as you rush past. However, with all of the races limited to one route, who knows what lurks behind the building facades… not a lot I’d imagine! The roads have a pleasant sheen to them, and while not replicating true reflections; the effect does a good job.
There are a good mix of race types such as 3 on 1 racing, and 1 on 1 battles (takedown style), but my favourite are the car jacking style missions where you must deliver a car as unscathed as possible, all the while avoiding being caught by a bevy of cops.
Aurally the game sounds pretty good, the music might not be to your liking, and unfortunately can’t be switched off, but it fits well with the tone of the game, as do the fender bending sound effects and cop sirens.
The bad
I was expecting more of a fleshed-out experience. While the game does deliver in the presentation stakes, the gameplay is not so hot. It’s fun to be sure, but something about it feels like you are more of an observer than actually in the hot seat. Not having control over acceleration is a big factor in this I think. I’ve never been a fan of this idea, and it seems like a gimmick to appeal to the casual iPhone users out there. There is a Nitro boost to get you out of scrapes with the law and catapult you to the front of the pack… but when I race, I want full control! The steering could also do with a little more customisation, it feels a bit stiff and it’s pretty hard to pull off a decent drift, resulting in you slowing to what feels like a crawl when taking tighter corners.
The story, while well presented is a little unoriginal, I won’t go into plot details but basically it’s a rip off of the The Fast and the Furious movie. With you playing the undercover Paul Walker role. Some of the actors selected for the roles are over the top in their delivery, like they’ve all graduated from the Steven Seagal School of acting. Especially the testosterone O.D’ing gang members, that seem to have more than one chip on their square shoulders.
The bottom line
If you are looking for an adrenalin style arcade racer then this is the game for you. The story, while not to my personal taste, is B-movie chic, and combined with the top-notch presentation you can’t argue that EA hasn’t put some effort in, which is good to see. While all these visual and aural bells and whistles demand it’s higher price of $9.99, I’m not sure as an overall experience it’s worth that price when there’s more fully featured racers out there for less.
Having said that it’s incredibly fun, and those happy for a less cerebral racer will have a blas
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