I can see why Black Box lost their studio after the release of this game...
Story: 2/5
The game starts off as the player evades the police in a Nissan Z34, then later the game shows a cutscene of a guy talking to Maggie Q (mmmmm....) and then telling the player (Who seems to be a policeman), that it is the players job take down a syndicate of street racers who are dealing drugs or something... The game also has bad acting. The actors are acting like as if they are forced to act, sometimes the actors (Other than Maggie Q) exaggerate at some times. The player is given a Nissan 180SX and from there on, the story gets repetitive and boring until the end where it gets interesting. But I won't go into that; You'll have to play the game to find out :D
Gameplay: 3/5
With boring story, comes with boring gameplay. Need for Speed: Undercover's driving physics are okay (As long as the player is using a gamepad), but if the player is using a keyboard, their index, middle and fourth finger will hurt like hell. After a few races, they all start to feel the same and get repetitively boring. The police are back but they're much worse than they were in Most Wanted and Carbon. There are a few jobs the player will have to do for the criminals, like stealing cars that go as fast as 170km/h while evading the Heat 5 police (with no nitrous and a damage gauge). The player is also given almost impossible time attacks from time to time, and annoying takedown events where the player has to take the criminal down by ramming them like you're mashing potatoes for breakfast.
Graphics: 2/5
For a game that was made around 2008, the graphics are THAT bad. There are occasional frame rate problems (Even if played on a custom-built gaming PC), and the wheels of the car turn blue whenever the player accesses the pause menu. Shadows flicker, building and traffic models are badly textured and there is too much lighting. I'm sorry, but look at Forza Motorsport 2: That game was made at around 2007, for a console that can only use "High" instead of "Extra" textures. The graphics for Need for Speed: Undercover looks very 2005, very Most Wanted-ish. But aren't we tired of seeing that in 2008?
Sound: 3/5
The game has a good set and a bad set of racing music. Some of them are fitting towards the environment and provide adrenaline rush (despite the repetitiveness). With some electro music, to rock and lame unfitting Spanish music (No offence to anyone). The car sounds are sort of okay... But they're not exactly good as well.
Overall: 6.5/10
It seems that Black Box never learnt from ProStreet. Let's hope that the release of The Run this year will redeem Black Box.
Buyers Tip: This game is now sold cheap because of how mediocre it is. Despite the repetitiveness of this game, its still somehow nice to play.