Need for Speed: Undercover

Need for Speed: Undercover from 2008 brought the series back to illegal street racing and a story inspired by action chase movies – playing as an undercover agent, the player infiltrates a criminal car-smuggling organization and gradually climbs the hierarchy of illegal races to bring the gang's leader to justice. The game featured live-action cutscenes starring actress Maggie Q, and the open-world city served as the setting for both free roaming and police chases, which were once again more action-packed than in Most Wanted, with more intense police unit behavior. The career was divided into several tiers based on race type and the player's underworld rank; the Autolog system for comparing results with friends didn't return to the series until later entries – it was still missing here, and the player relied on classic online leaderboards instead. Between races, the player could freely roam the open city, complete side missions, and collect money to buy and upgrade additional cars from the vehicle roster.

The PlayStation 3 version was, alongside PC and Xbox 360, one of the game's main platforms and released on the same day as them. The content was identical – the same open city, story sequences with Maggie Q, and vehicle roster, with controls handled by the DualShock 3 gamepad supporting select racing wheels. Online features and leaderboards worked the same as on competing platforms, and the player could compare results across the various career ranks just like on PC or Xbox 360. Controlling the game with the DualShock 3 gamepad was the default choice for the vast majority of players of this version.

None of the versions offered exclusive content, so choosing PlayStation 3 in 2008 meant the same experience as on competing platforms, just with controls and a user interface adapted to the console. The requirements for progressing through the story were also the same – on PS3 as elsewhere, the player had to complete the same missions and reach the same ranks to get to the final races.

Why play: The same experience as on competing platforms, just with controls adapted to PlayStation 3 - the choice is purely a matter of which hardware you own.