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Need for Speed: Undercover is the twelfth installment of the popular racing video game series Need for Speed, developed by EA Black Box and published by Electronic Arts. It is set for release on all current generation consoles, the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows on 21 November 2008

The game will feature international movie star, Maggie Q , as one of the lead characters of the game. The live-action sequences from Carbon and Most Wanted will return in Undercover. Police chases from previous installments will also return, as well the new Highway Battle mode.

Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello has stated that the previous release in the series, ProStreet, was "an okay game... It's not good." and that Undercover will bring better innovations and gameplay. He has stated Undercover has a considerably longer development cycle than its predecessors since the Need for Speed development team is now split up into two teams, both of which will work on a 24 month development cycle with future titles, alternating releases between them. Riccitiello has stated he was "torturing" the development team with a tight development cycle in the past. When this change was implemented in mid-summer 2007, one team started working on Undercover (giving it only a 16.5 month development cycle), while the other team finished ProStreet and then started working on the next title. This title has not been revealed and will be released in 2009, after a full 24 months of development.
Riccitiello also stated Undercover is taking inspiration from action films such as The Transporter, with a large embedded narrative.

Frank Gibeau (president of the EA Games label) has stated that due to the fact that the sales of ProStreet didn't live up to EA's hopes for the game, the Need for Speed franchise will go back to its roots with a number of features, including open-world racing and a new highway battle mode.
John Doyle (developer at EA Black Box) has hinted Undercover will feature a brand new game mechanic and a "Most Wanted-ish" sandbox style of gameplay.

Plot

The game's story mode sets the player in the story as a police officer going undercover into the criminal underground of Tri-city, a fictional city where the game is set. The player's only contact to the police is Chase Linh, played by Maggie Q. The gameplay is supposed to allow the player to make Hollywood-style stunts and driving moves, making him 'feel like a hero'. Tri-city is a free-roam area, and the advancement in the story mode is mission-based.


Police

Little Information has been released about Undercover's police system, but it is confirmed by EA that Nissan GTRs and helicopters will be some of the police vehicles. As seen in the screenshots, Ford Mustang GTs and the Crown Victoria-based police car from Most Wanted will be included too.