If your looking for a racing game with realistic physics, graphics, and
gameplay then I suggest you make a search for Gran Turismo. If your
looking for a racing game that provides a fast and furious pace that
defies the law’s of physics but still has good graphics and great
gameplay then continue reading. Before I begin with the review though I
want to tell you why I’m writing it in the first place. Its for the
purely selfish reason that I want you buy this game so Microsoft will
green-light another. If even one of you buys this game because of this
review I will have made my contribution to the Midtown Madness
franchise.
Following its predecessors this Midtown Madness also takes place in two
cities: Paris, and Washington D.C. The maps are pretty well to scale
with their respective landmarks where they should be. Objects along the
streets such as street lamps, benches, bus stops, traffic cones and the
like can be run over with the suitable sound attached. There is also
pedestrians which all escape being run over miraculously at the last
second to retain the “E“ for everyone rating, traffic, and cops that
chase you if you make any traffic violations which is almost impossible
not to do. In all, the cities feel, and look like real ones.
The physics of the game are unbelievably unrealistic. A Mini-Cooper for
instance can knock over a vehicle three times its size if its traveling
fast enough. You’ll also have no problem whipping around corners, and
almost never have to break at any time. Still if you knock into cars or
crash into buildings your vehicle will soon show signs of damage, and
eventually damage out completely only to be replaced by a new one
within seconds. Overall the physics, and handling of the game is
overwhelmingly on the side of arcade-like fun over simulation.
The graphics of the game aren’t the greatest, but their solid in
rendering city streets and auto racing. The details on the buildings
aren’t very high, but you rarely notice them while burning through the
city at 150 mph. The landmarks are detailed, and life-like. So to there
is a good sense of speed in the game with a steady frame rate. There is
also seasons, and even precipitation in the form of rain and snow
represented. For an arcade game like this you can’t ask for much more.
In the sound department you’ll hear what you’d expect to hear from a
game of this nature: a lot of tire screeching, and engine sounds all
done to good effect. The voice-overs aren’t that bad, and can actually
be hilarious in parts. As for the soundtrack it gets old pretty quickly
but thankfully you have the option to make a custom soundtrack.
The single-player aspect of the game can become mind numbingly boring.
In “Work Undercover” your involved in a rather flimsy crime caper. You
drive limo’s, pizza delivery cars, armored-cars, and so-on. The
missions largely consist of driving from point A to point B within a
set limit while an AI controlled vehicle tries to beat you to the
checkpoints. For the most part you can breeze through them all in about
2-3 hours. The other parts of the single-player mode consists of
cruising the two cities aimlessly, checkpoint racing against the AI,
and blitz racing which is races against the clock. As you progress
through these single-player modes you can unlock new cars, and paint
jobs. All these single-player modes can be entertaining for a few
hours, but soon grows tiresome. Thankfully though it’s the online
portion that saves this game from being called Midtown Mediocrity.
If MM3 wasn’t Xbox Live enabled this game would be a decent rental at
best, but with Xbox Live it overflows with pure
edge-of-your-seat-heart-pounding gaming nirvana. All the cars are
unlocked even if you haven’t unlocked them in the single-player modes,
and you can join a game already in progress. This cuts down a lot on
the wait time noticeable in other XBL enabled games. Also to cut down
on lag there is no pedestrians, traffic, or AI-controlled cops. There’s
five online modes: cruise, checkpoint, capture the gold, tag, hunter,
and stayaway.
Cruise
Here you can simply cruise either city, and play anyway you want. You
can come up with your own games with other players, or try to discover
glitches in the game to help you in the other online modes. Don’t think
you’ll make any friends that way though; no ones like a cheater.
Checkpoint
Same as the single-player mode, but here your racing against real
people who are usually a lot quicker, and smarter then AI. Well,
usually.
Capture the Gold
Here a pile of gold spawns randomly in the city, and it’s up to you to
grab it before everyone else and get it to your hideout before the
others can catch you. If you get touched that player will steal the
gold. While a fun game, this one tends to rely more on luck then skill.
It can also be played in teams.
Tag
One player is “it”, and must tag someone else within a set period of
time to lose the “it” flag or face being tossed out of the game to the
sidelines. Last one who isn’t tagged wins. A great team game as well.
Hunter
A personal favorite of mine, one player is designated as the Hunter and
the others are Prey. If the Hunter tags a Prey it becomes a Hunter.
Last one tagged wins. Its not so fun if you play when the city is
completely open with the Prey having the top tier cars (cop cars simply
can‘t keep up), but if the play area is restricted it will get your
heart pounding.
Stayaway
The exact opposite of Tag where at the beginning of the game a player
is assigned the “rabbit”. Here you have to avoid being tagged by others
so they don’t get the rabbit. The player or team who holds the rabbit
the longest (usually 5 minutes) wins. This one is an absolute blast in
teams.
Closing Thoughts
Like another DICE developed game, Battlefield 1942, it’s the online
portion of this game which is completely stellar while the
single-player seems to be added as an after thought. It’s a strange
game development philosophy which is usually vice versa with other
developers, but somehow tends to work with DICE. In a virtually
lag-free environment you can experience some great online arcade racing
which is simply unmatched anywhere else, and for that fact alone I
whole heartedly recommend all XBL subscribers to buy this game
immediately. If you don’t have XBL, make it a rental, it at least
deserves that.
