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 Midnight
Club: Los Angeles (Playstation 3)
Rockstar's latest underground street
racing title, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, brings some fairly interesting
technical achievements to the table while delivering the fast-paced action
players have come to expect from the series. Taking place in an expansive
and surprisingly realistic recreation of Los Angeles, the game allows
players to progress up the ranks of street racing underground, create an
impressive garage of customized vehicles and take on the police in
dramatic chases. Midnight Club isn't the most original game on the market,
but it delivers a slick experience with offers exciting, challenging
racing action highlighted by a surprisingly deep story mode and excellent
production values. |
Those who played previous titles in the
series will probably find a lot of familiar elements in Midnight Club: Los
Angeles. The game's street racing pedigree remains very much in evidence,
and some of its trademarks, such as the large flares that dot each racing
course have been carried though from previous installments. It's structure
and initial impressions are fairly interesting in how they diverge from
earlier games. You now have complete control in how the game unfolds and
can compete in races and challenge series in your own pace. It's open
ended structure immediately sets the game apart and gives you plenty of
options. Players can choose to compete almost immediately in arcade mode,
or go on a cruise to explore the city. However, racing other drivers and
competing in series is the only way to increase you cred, earn money and
take vehicles from opponents. You begin racing on the street and can use
your GPS to locate other racers and challenge them. Once located, you can
race to the starting line of the race or go there automatically. The races
themselves offer both point-to-point and lapped courses, along with
landmark races and more. When you're driving around, the level of each
racer's difficulty is indicated on your GPS, allowing you to choose how
difficult you want the race to become. There are single race events,
tournament and series modes available. You earn money for each race you
win, and can gain additional awards, unlock additional parts and win other
drivers' cars by challenging them one-on-one. This gives you plenty of
variety in terms of how you race, allowing you to build up your cash and
street reputation at your own pace.
 The
game's slick production values are impressive throughout. For example,
Midnight Club: LA's GPS interface is slickly designed and fits in with the
game's overall vibe perfectly. It's easy to use and allows you to locate
other drivers while you're cruising around the city. It seamlessly
transitions during the race and helps to indicate routes you need to take
during the race. Players can also use the GPS to find out where the cops
are lying in wait when they're on the run from a police chase. While the
game's pace is quite fast on the road, it's interface is also quite
immersive. Instead of watching a static load screen, the game zooms out to
an overview of Los Angeles and zooms back into the action, which makes for
a much more seamless experience. Once you get on the road, you can use the
vehicles' in-car GPS to find a route, which locates the next marker. It's
important to hit all of these sections, so you need to be alert and look
ahead. Some of the earlier races are fairly simple, but later on the
routes can become a bit more complicated. Once you begin to win races, you
can use your money to customize your vehicle in both performance and
visual aspects. You start with a low end vehicle that can win initial
stages, but you need to trade up to faster and more powerful cars if you
want to get anywhere. The game offers a wide selection of vehicle types
including production, sports, tuners and bikes, with actual vehicles from
manufacturers included, which gives Midnight Club an authentic feel. There
are dozens of vehicles and hundreds of parts, so you can create a
completely unique racing machine without much trouble.
Midnight Club's open-ended structure is
possible because of its impressive recreation of Los Angeles. Every major
section of the city from Long Beach to Hollywood and Beverly Hills has
been faithfully reproduced and exploring the city's roads, highways and
streets shows how richly detailed the environments are. There's realistic
lighting effects used for both day and night racing, with excellent
reflections on the vehicles' glossy finishes giving the game a slick look.
Special effects such as the blurring used when you implement your Nitrous
attacks give the game a hyper-realistic feel that creates a heightened
sense of intensity and drama. The game's excellent graphics engine never
slows down, and its consistent and fast frame rate creates an amazing
sense of speed and style that never lets go. Players can select from
either in-car or external viewpoints while they race, though the first
person views are the most effective. It looks especially fantastic in HD,
with the traffic lights and blurring streets popping off the screen. The
in-game racing sequences are complimented by extensive cut-scenes and
frequent updates on your cel-phone while you drive help to keep you
immersed in the storyline, and other drivers will goad and trash-talk you
as you drive, which gives you plenty of the Rockstar attitude and humor.
Midnight Club: LA's plot and storyline are decent enough with an
interesting storyline that unfolds as you win races, encounter other
drivers and meet up with the game's multitude of characters. As you'd
expect from Rockstar, the music offers an excellent mix of techno, hip-hop
and rock tracks which fits the vibe and feel of the game perfectly. These
parts work together to create an immersive and exciting street racing
experience that mixes believable characters with high-octane racing
sequences to make for an action packed racing title with plenty of action
and a surprising amount of depth.
 Even
though many of the elements on display in Midnight Club: LA have been seen
in other racing titles, its overall package remains impressive. It's
open-ended, expansive sandbox approach allows you a great deal of freedom
to explore the city while offering a seemingly endless number of racing
challenges. The surprisingly deep vehicle customization options and huge
selection of cars gives you plenty of variety. A slick GPS-style interface
is easy to use and helps to immerse you into the storyline, while the
production design helps to make the already minimal load times seem almost
nonexistent. It's the gameplay that matters most, and once you get behind
the wheel, you'll find an intense and challenging racer that tests your
skills to breaking point as you weave in and out of traffic at incredible
speeds. Midnight Club's responsive controls make driving a smooth
experience, and it doesn't suffer any slowdown, making for some incredibly
fast and intense gameplay. The addition of police chases only adds to the
intensity. Midnight Club's immersive storyline where you gradually work
your way to the top of the underground only enhances its depth, making
this an excellent experience if you enjoy the street racing genre.
- Michael Palisano
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