Vroom, vroom... Gentlemen, start your engines! There are not many games where the sound is superior to the game's graphics, but in my opinion Need for Speed Undercover is one of those few rare cases.

There are sounds in Need for Speed Undercover that can not be changed. For example, the sound of sirens sounds the same in real life as it does in the game. Crashes, although not as realistic as the siren sounds are about what one can expect from a racing game. I'm almost certain that the PS3 and the Xbox360 versions of the game sound better compared to what the PSP has to offer, but for a hand-held system, the crashes in this game are not bad. The true power of the game's sound is described in the paragraph below.

When it comes to sound, EA's new racing title has four things going in its favor. First, the movie files and the voice acting is done really well. Second, the engine sounds are outstanding. Third, the game incorporated a great soundtrack; the kind of soundtrack that just makes you want to go fast. And the 4th thing, and probably the most important quality to sound in a game is blending. What I mean by blending is how the programmers blended all the game's sounds into the final product. In Rockstar's Midnight Club - L.A. Remix it was really hard to tell the difference between the techno soundtrack and the engine sounds at times but in Need for Speed Undercover the sound is crystal clear most of the time.

While the cars in the game were rendered exceptionally well, overall, I was rather disappointed with the game's graphics. I'm really glad that I played Midnight Club - L.A. Remix first because otherwise I would have been shouting how great this game looks, but after seeing what Rockstar was able to do I fail to be impressed by EA's performance. Before I do my dissecting of the game's graphics I want to point out that after about 9 hours of gameplay I'm only 50% done with the game, but after all those hours of staring at the tiny PSP screen the game got extremely boring and the main reason for that was a combination of the graphics and the gameplay. The game takes place only in daytime. Not only that, but there is no weather factors either. No snow, no rain and not even a cloudy day alter the game's looks. On top of that, there are 3 different cities to race in and besides the street layouts I can't tell the difference between any of them. And if that's not bad enough, customizing your car, while possible from both a visual and a performance level, while the performance upgrades are standard for racing games, the visual customizations leave you wanting more. Unlike Midnight Club - L.A. Remix where individual parts can be altered and changed (front bumpers, rear bumpers, lights, side panels, etc.) in Need for Speed Undercover changing the car's looks is rather limited. You have some very basic body upgrades and some basic designs to paint and decorate your car, but that's about it. So now you have two boring things in just the graphics section: the maps and the car customization and I haven't even gotten to the gameplay and controls yet.