The production quality of this game has certainly gone up since its predecessor, with one new and interconnected story to play through, unlike the short and disconnected story arcs of CT2. When you start off with the story in this game, it may seem like you are taking on separate story arcs at first, such as going undercover as a car thief or a tuner club member, but as the story progresses, you slowly find out the truth behind them and how they are all somehow connected to each other, leading to the finale that you see when you first start the game, before the 7-day flashback to the actual start of the game. A neat idea.
Regarding the missions themselves, they are now structured into days, with 8 in total plus a bonus 9th day in the end. Unlike in CT2, they are no longer confusing to start, with all of them accessible through the Missions menu, though you might miss one or two missions because the game may prioritize starting some missions over others. Some of them might still be rather basic or tedious like what we used to have in CT2, but this time, basically all of the mission have some important or interesting dialogue before, during and/or after them which helps them not be boring most of the time. Now you will really get hooked onto the story and will just want to keep playing until the end.
The missions themselves are still the typical Crash Time missions where you just do some driving to some location and doing whatever, though the ramp platforming missions are basically nonexistent now compared to how abundant they were in the previous game. However, as stated earlier, their presentation has improved significantly, not just through dialogue but also through gameplay, with a more interesting world to drive through, more engaging mission goals and limits, and the newly introduced gun available in some missions, making for more intense action than simply ramming into and stopping opponents all the time. Looking back after having played CT5 Undercover, I personally think this game's story is the best in the series. I just love the buildup of excitement to the last few missions of the story and how everything connects together.
About the cars... Driving physics are basically the same as CT2's, though with more sensitive and loose steering. The cars still like to oversteer in a fun way, even more so (or even excessively on some cars) with the more sensitive controls. While some cars did not return from CT2, some of those that did received facelifts, and/or new variants, such as the Semir and Ben Sport and DCTW or the Pickup T2 monster truck. However, many new vehicles were introduced, such as some new supercars and muscle cars for instance. Oh, and a three-wheeler called the "Pacemaker", and it even has a turbo version! The weird stuff from the last game didn't go away, with the go-kart, "excavator" forklift thing and... the APC, which, according to Semir, "...is getting real boring. This is the third game in the series, and the third time the Synetic guys make me drive a tank..." Ahhh, I love how the wacky dialogue was not only kept, but even improved upon as well!
Gone are the excessively bright visuals of CT2 and in is... a piss filter... for some reason... Certainly a stylistic change, but one that draws mixed reception... Day and night cycle is great though, it really helps the game look more interesting. Regarding the maps though, I really like the new city map, it has a bunch of new modern architecture found in certain districts, and even a few skyscrapers as well, which give it a fresh look. The classical and industrial buildings can still be found in other areas though, which helps give it variety. The autobahn map though, let's just say I'm not so impressed by it, since while it may be interesting to drive around the docks, the residential area and the racetrack, I don't really like the rest of the map and its lack of much elevation, especially compared to the previous game's autobahn map. That isn't really much of an issue for me though, it's still an alright map... Model quality remains basically the same as the previous game, which is to say the cars hold up well while the maps are generally alright but are low-poly and have low texture quality in some areas, though this is not as obvious as in CT2.
With all of that being said, PLEASE try out this game for yourself. It has always been cheap and will continue to stay so, even more so during sales when it goes for a dollar or less. The Crash Time series has always been a hidden gem...
(tldr: much of the same as ct2 but story and gameplay is improved, cars are still fun to drive and satisfying to crash, graphics still hold up well, price is very cheap so go get it pls... p.s... if you want to play through the game again but with improved graphics and physics, i recommend you try out the crash time 3 remastered mod for crash time 5 undercover)
