I love racing games and the Midnight Club series is one of the best. It not only pioneered the street racing phenomenon in video games, it built upon the “wide open city” concept that was introduced in Microsoft’s Midtown Madness (appropriately enough as the developers worked on that title before the company was purchased by Rockstar). Gamers race at breakneck speeds through various checkpoints, but the route you take to get there is determined by you, unlike typical racers where the driver is boxed into a predetermined route. Midnight Club 2 was totally great, especially with the driving scenes in Paris, where you could launch your car over the Louvre’s pyramid to get airborne.
The third iteration has a variety of improvements, mostly in car customization. You can buy name brand vehicles, upgrade them with performance parts, and detail them to your heart’s content (just like NFS: Underground). There are seemingly endless challenges, because you not only race import tuners, but also luxury cars, muscle cars, motorcycles, and SUVs. I got the Xbox version in April and I am still only 50% complete through the career mode after playing over 20 hours, an incredible value for any game. My only complaint about the game is the cities that were selected (San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit) are fairly flat and dull compared to MC2’s LA, Paris and Tokyo. There are still a number of secret ramps you will find to fly over buildings and get the jump on your competitors. The AI in the game is great, providing a variable challenge depending on your skill level.
When the PSP version came out, the reviews were unanimous: it was perhaps too great a port of the console! Slow load times killed my enthusiasm and I almost passed it up. I finally did get it on EBay for a good price and I am glad I did. The PSP version of MC3 is indeed almost an exact duplicate of the console versions. Gone are the days when portable games were a mere shadow of the original. The PSP’s hardware and screen quality are amazing when racing through the streets; you would swear this is the PS2 version. The load times are worth it (for me at least) to race through such beautiful levels. There are minor popups in the horizon here and there, but it doesn’t really bother me as the races are very exciting. The load times are 60-70 seconds when you load a new race, go to the garage, or go back to cruise mode through the city. One thing the reviewers didn’t mention is that you typically repeat most races 2-3 times (beyond the beginning levels) in the Midnight Club series, as you need to find the best route to win the race. So in my case, I’ll load a level, race it for 5-10 minutes, then go on to the next race. Cruise mode seems a waste and the developers should have eliminated it entirely: I only use it to find my next race or championship. The menus take a second or two to load in the garage, but all of the customization features are here, as are the movies where the mechanics talk to you and explain various game features. About the only thing I haven’t seen is the babes who walk in front of the cars and start the races. It is curious that they eliminated this but kept some of the other details.
The soundtrack from the console game is also present. I wish they had a feature where I could play this music outside of the game. Another feature that Rockstar should have implemented is some kind of relationship with the console version. It would have been great to upload my car from the console to the PSP and vice versa. One word of warning: the races in the MC series take place at night, and if you’re in a bright or outdoor location, you won’t be able to see them. I’ve typically been playing MC3 on a BART train in a strategic location to avoid sunlight.
No doubt we’ll have more racers coming in the next few months that will improve on PSP performance, such as Burnout: Legends and Need for Speed: Most Wanted. But if you’re a Midnight Clubber, you’ll probably love this portable version. Nuff said.
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