When Need for Speed ProStreet debuted last year, longtime fans were taken aback by the series’ sudden desire to be “just another” racing simulator. Since 1994, Need for Speed has been all about the speed, with an emphasis on high-stakes police chases, causing millions of dollars of state damage, and hauling more ass than a Eeyore on a bender. With its critically panned off-season behind them, EA Black Box looks to take the series back to its roots with Need for Speed Undercover. We had a chance to see the game at a recent EA press event.

Those expecting the usual paper-thin car chase storyline found in most “fast and furious” car games will be pleasantly surprised, as EA Black Box’s Scott Nielsen noted that the first thing that the development team rethought for the game was how videogames “tell their stories.” Looking to bridge the gap between Hollywood and the videogame world, Black Box recruited action film starlet Maggie Q to be not only the “box girl” for Need for Speed Undercover, but also your only connection between the real world and the undercover criminal life your character leads.

The game tells the tale of three cities rife with corruption, crime, and catastrophe. As a newcomer to the TriCity area, you’re recruited by the questionable Lieutenant Keller to help eradicate the slimy criminal underbelly of the surrounding areas. As the title would suggest, it’s your job to go deep undercover and hone your mad driving skills to take the competing criminal organizations down from the inside. As you work your way up the chain and take over rival turf Grand Theft Auto-style, the stakes get bigger and bigger until it’s not only your car, but your life that’s on the line.

Undercover features three cities: Palm Harbor, Port Crescent, and Sunset Hills, and each brings a little something different to the table in terms of terrain, landscape, and scope. Palm Harbor, the first area shown at EA’s press event last Thursday, is your average bustling city complete with storefronts, waterways, and the usual amounts of inner-city crime. It stands as a stark contrast to the sparsely bucolic Sunset Hills, which feature off-road racing around windy, hilly terrain that left our muscle car slipping and sliding across the dirt roadways. Rounding out the trifecta is Port Crescent, your average port town where nefarious waterfront deeds are committed on the daily. Connecting each city is a large system of highways that take approximately 12-15 minutes to traverse in the most basic of ways; a “good sized, but not too huge” setting for the game that looked great flying by at over 100 MPH.

In my short bursts of time spent with the game, it was easy to see that Black Box has really done its homework when trying to figure out what makes the series work best. Gone is the minutia associated with the simulation scene, and back are the blazingly fast police chases that will leave your trigger fingers sore for weeks. Like many games nowadays, you progress through a series of mission-based events that change depending on the stakes and circumstances. New to the series are Highway Battles; a balls-to-the-wall two lane blast to the finish against other competitor or rivals. When compared to the usual “driver job” missions that have you escorting cargo from point A to B, the rush from going 150 MPH down a straightaway made the highway battles feel refreshingly simple and fun.