Need for Speed: Undercover was developed by EA Black Box and was released on November 18, 2008. The game had a significantly longer development cycle than previous games, taking 16 months to develop.[120] EA Games president Frank Gibeau stated that due to the fact that the sales of ProStreet didn't live up to EA's hopes for the game, the franchise will go back to its "roots" with a number of features, including open-world racing and a new highway battle mode. The game was met with average responses, mostly in the 65% to 70% range, but the responses were higher than ProStreet (one response was higher than 70%, three of them were below a 65%).[121]

The game focuses on, like Need for Speed: Most Wanted, tuning and cop chases. The game features over 50 cars. The game takes place in a fictional city, in a Tri-city Bay area. The player's role is an undercover cop, trying to stop the racers. The game contains live-action cutscenes which feature the actress Maggie Q. The game also features a damage system and now parts can break off after a crash. However, the player doesn't need to pay for the damage and the car is repaired automatically after each race, unlike 2007's Need for Speed: Pro Street.

The Collector's Edition for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 adds another 5 new cars, and twelve new circuit, sprint and checkpoint track configurations. Also included are specially tuned versions of ten existing cars, which are available in quick race and online modes, plus 35 exclusive vinyls for adding a unique visual style to any of your cars.