There will be the return of many ways of racing in Need for Speed Undercover. Sprint, Circuit, Highway Battles (a new mode involving racing on a highway with heavy civilian and police traffic), missions (where the player performs specific missions usually involving the Tri-City Police Department)., the "Cops and Robbers" mode, and a new gameplay mode called "The Heist".
Map
Undercover will feature a new "open-world" map consisting of over a hundred miles of road and a large highway system making it the largest Need for Speed open world environment EA has ever created. The map is of a fictional city based on the American West Coast cities. The city is called Tri-City, and consists of four boroughs called Palm Harbor, Port Cresent, Gold Coast Mountains, and Sunset Hills.
Police
A considerable amount of information has been released about Undercover's police system, and it has been confirmed by EA that the police vehicles will include helicopters. The police vehicles will be drivable by the player namely in certain campaign missions. EA also confirmed that "there are some modes which give you access to the range of police cars. They're a lot of fun to drive and they have sirens." It has also been mentioned that, "The police are much tougher this time around, they will now perform PIT maneuvers".
One named police officer is Lt. Keller, and another is a federal marshal played by Maggie Q called Chase Linh who keeps in contact throughout the game.
Online
EA has confirmed that there will be a new online mode by the name "Cops and Robbers" where eight players are split into two teams of four. One team, the robbers will have to deliver a package to a drop point numerous times while another team, the cops will try to stop the transportation of that package. Each team will take it in turns to be both cops and robbers. There will also be regular racing online modes from previous NFS games such as sprint, circuit and point to point along with the brand new Highway Battle mode. Another new mode is called "Cost to state" which has players attempting to destroy as much property as possible.
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. Players will take on dangerous jobs and compete in races in order to infiltrate and take down a ruthless international crime smuggling syndicate of street racers and car thieves. The player's only contact to the police is federal handler Chase Linh, played by Maggie Q.
Recently EA revealed some new plot details of Undercover. A video shows the player evading capture from the Tri-City Police Department (TCPD). The player was aided by detective Chase Linh. As well, six criminal characters named Carmen, played by Christina Milian, Chau Wu, "G-Mac" (a defector from the TCPD), Hector Maio, "Nickel", and Zack Maio have been introduced. There are three other characters to note: Jonathon Cross is listed as an acquaintance to "G-Mac", yet not much is known about him at this time; and Isabel "Izzy" Diaz, one of the "Blacklist" members in Most Wanted, and Caleb Reece, the main antagonist in Underground 2, are listed as acquaintances to Hector Maio.