After the less than lukewarm response to Need for Speed: Carbon and the unmitigated disaster that was Need for Speed: ProStreet, EA and Black Box were pretty sure that they finally had a winner in their hands in form of Need for Speed: Undercover. More so when you take into consideration how long time fans of the series have been clamouring for more of NFS dipped in the same goodness that made Most Wanted so enjoyable. So, having nothing better to do than to appease the moneybags fans and gain back some of the lost ground that the series had to concede to other stellar racing titles this year, Black Box decided to throw the cops into the mix again, introduce a new “Heroic Driving Engine” (HDE) and pray to every conceivable god and set fire to little effigies and hope that this is the winning formula that will get the gamers flocking back to them again.

Whether it actually manages to do that is a pretty difficult question to answer considering how easy it is to brush off the game as another one in the succession of disasters that have rolled out of the Need for Speed camp over the last few years. The NFS series, in its later years and newer avatars, has all but stereotyped the half-breed Simulation/Arcade racing genre, completely dominating the casual and pro race-game circuits across India. Mirroring what’s in style every particular year, NFS hit on the tuner culture with Underground and its sequel, re-inventing itself with flashy cars, night-time racing across neon lit stretches blurring past the windshield at 200+ mph and the adrenaline rush that kicked into our bloodstreams every time the car got a shot of nitrous. Taking a page out of The Fast and The Furious plus clones, Most Wanted went one step further with its open world, frantic police chases, cheesy yet entertaining cut-scenes, all gelling together to make for one of the most fun games in the franchise this side of Porsche Unleashed. Undercover, in typical EA / NFS fashion is a Frankenstein created by salvaging all the best elements from the previous successful iterations, which technically, should make it the best in the series.

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After being royally ignored countless number of times, Bangalore finally got its first and much deserved gaming expo in a long time. After wowing the gamers in Mumbai, the PlayStation Experience (PSE) in Mumbai, it moved down south to Bangalore, much to the delight of us gamers here. Held at the Kormangala Indoor Stadium, PSE boasted of an impressive set up that allowed the general public access to a lot of PS3, PS2 and PSP titles, some already out in the market and some just waiting to hit the shelves. The show floor was divided into different zones showcasing different genres of video games from the PS3’s roster.

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All you gamers in Delhi eager to check out Need For Speed Undercover at the Playstation Experience event coming your way next week, here is another chance to play the game before it hits the shelves.

EA India is inviting all Indian fans of Need For Speed series to try out the game at All Sports Bar, Connaught Place on 19th November, which is tomorrow. Be there by 12 p.m. if you don’t want to be stuck in a queue waiting for your turn.

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