Need for Speed: Undercover

Need for Speed: Undercover from 2008 brought the series back to illegal street racing and a story inspired by action movies with car chases – as an undercover agent, the player infiltrates a criminal car-smuggling organization and gradually climbs the hierarchy of illegal races in order to bring the gang's boss to justice. The game was accompanied by live-action cutscenes starring actress Maggie Q, and the open city served as the setting for both free roaming and police chases, which were once again more intense than in Most Wanted, with more aggressive police behavior. The career was divided into several tiers based on race type and the player's rank in the underworld; 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. Between individual races, the player could freely roam the open city, complete side missions, and collect money to buy and upgrade more cars from the roster.

The Xbox 360 version was released alongside the PC and PlayStation 3 versions and offered identical content – the same open city, story sequences with live-action actress Maggie Q, and the same car roster. Controls were handled via a standard gamepad, the game also supported select compatible racing wheels, and online multiplayer via Xbox Live had the same content as on the other platforms, including comparing ranks and results between players. The user interface and multiplayer game offerings matched the standards of other titles on this console at the time.

The differences from the other platforms were minimal and concerned practically only the controls and the console's graphical interface – in terms of content, it was exactly the same game as on PC or PlayStation 3, with no exclusive content whatsoever. Here too, the player had to go through the same missions and reach the same ranks in the underworld to get to the final confrontation and unlock access to the most powerful cars in the game.

Why play it: For a game identical in content to PC or PlayStation 3, with no exclusive content but with the same missions and underworld ranks leading up to the most powerful cars, the Xbox 360 version is an equally valid choice.