Pros: Great graphics, soundtrack, great customization, addictive racing!
Cons: The damage effects could be a little more eye catching.
The Bottom Line: If you don't have a million dollars to spend on a car and accessories should play this game to satisfy the crave. It's Midnight Club at it's finest.
nkretz's Full Review: Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition for PlayStation 2
Well now we've seen a fare share of street racing games hit the market. Mostly the spotlight has been on the Need for Speed Underground Series. Particularly Underground 2. Well now there's a new showstopper in town and it's Rockstar's Midnight Club 3. This time however the game won't be left out to rot because it put on one heck of a show. Racing the streets of various cities has never been so pimped or sweet.
Dub Edition starts you out with a couple of modes to choose from like arcade and a couple of mini Tony hawk style games like paint and tag. Don't get me wrong these little games are great to play with a friend but are kind of dull when you’re by your lonesome. What the player must check out is the career mode obviously. You get 22,000 dollars to start with and you can buy one of six cars. Ranging from brand new models to old 70's models. Also in this game are choppers and speed bikes, which are customizable as well. It doesn't really matter though because no matter what car you pick at the start the races won't be that challenging.
The selection of rides in Midnight is great this time around because all of the cars and parts are licensed. This was a must have to compare with NFSU2. After you choose your car you pick the color and other various visual aspects then your ready to hit the road. The starting city is San Diego and don't get me wrong because although there are only three cities in the game they are enormous. Surprisingly with a lot of detail. The lights and the many cars that litter the area give off that city night feeling. The huge cities include tons of highways, urban roads, alleys, and even trademark landmarks to the city. For example Comerica Park in Detroit. There is even snow that falls in Detroit and it will have a realistic effect on the way your car drives. The third and final huge city is Atlanta. I thought these cities were kind of odd choices besides the motor city of Detroit but you won't really care when all the scenery is just whizzing by.
Dub Edition includes over 60 licensed cars in all. Ranging from Dodge, Cadillac, Mazda, Ford, Louts, and many more. The variety of cars is a wide range of brand new super cars to the old school rides like Monte Carlo or Diablo’s. Of course all of these cars are basically fully customizable and very user-friendly upgrade and tuning system. The actual performance parts for the cars are bought via an upgrade system. The game will show what level part you have and all you have to do is purchase the next level once you have it unlocked. There are tons of authentic parts and accessories. The actual customization to your liking on the outside is also very deep but easy to use. You can alter the color to a very specific shade and have two tones even. The vinyls like flames and rips can even be customized. The color of rims, window tinting, and even the speedometer can be changed. Then further more you can add decals and even choose what type and the size of your rims. There's much more but too much to list it all in the review. Don't forget nitrous oxide cause there's plenty of it. You can get up to three bursts in career mode and if your unfamiliar with it then just know that this rocket like fuel will propel you to blinding speeds in an instant. The color of the bursts is even customizable, how cool is that?
Once you take your car to the streets you'll get the feel of the racing, which is pretty forgiving and very unrealistic, but in a good way. The car physics are really true to life and feel nothing like Gran Turismo. The car or bike can take very sharp turns at very high speeds and although this isn't true to life having real physics wouldn't make this game as fun as it is. Racing in Midnight Club is pure genius. It's fast furious and ridiculously destructive. The other innocent by standers on the road will be constantly tortured by your car colliding with them going 150 miles per hour. The sense of speed is presented very well. Everything whizzing by you really puts on the pressure to make sure you don't knick a wall or scrap another car. In this game you can use an opponents jet stream to overtake them. It's similar to a burst of nitrous and a bar will fill up when you have enough to get the boost. But be careful because other cars can use your jet stream too. Luckily with the help of the comical two wheel driving this can be avoided but driving on two wheels isn't as easy as using all four. One thing I found annoying is the typical jagged edged building that seems to jut out and just nail your car bringing it to an immediate stop. Sure that ticked me off but you feel more like it was your fault than the games because usually the courses are fairly forgiving with the turns and stuff.
The real reason to buy Midnight Club 3 is basically the career mode which is where you will pimp your ride take it to the road and then earn major dinero. This is where the challenge lays boys and girls. At first the races in career are pretty much a walk in the park but as you get up around the 30% mark you'll find yourself cursing more and more after coming in a second late. The only better challenge than career would be a real person or the online component which is fairly basic but still the best on the Xbox with Live. Anyway career can truly test your skills in the racing and perfecting the knowledge of a course comes in real handy to win. You won't find that winning on the first try is easy. There are time trials and then normal racing which consist of passing by a yellow arrow checkpoint all the way to the end. Midnight Club has always used this less linear approach to the races and personally I found it much more satisfying than Need for Speed since I could choose my own route to the next checkpoint. Although the path is usually straightforward it's very possible to find a shortcut or something. The open city style of finding a race is cool too. Much like NFS2 of course with slight variations. The races in the city are marked by either red or yellow smoke. Yellow is either a tournament or a race against a clan of some kind. The tournaments can be time trials or just 3 or 4 races and whoever with the most points at the end wins. Red races are just single races that can win you a few grand. The final way of finding races are by little blue arrows that are certain special racers who usually yield big money and unlock cars or performance parts when beaten. Another cool thing is that every once in a while you get a cut scene with a tuner guy from the city your in. Sometimes they give you tips and hints on how to use powers and other random stuff. There are times when doing the races over and over can be slightly repetitive but racing is so fun that it takes a long time to become irritated. The non-linear racing makes this possible.
As for the computer controlled racers I have to say they are impressive opponents. They use the road knowledgeably and will jump at the opportunity to overtake you. Sometimes they can be annoying when they make miraculous comebacks and of course they know the track better than you do giving them an instant advantage. Luckily these opponents are satisfying to beat and without the challenge this game wouldn't be what it is.
The final thing to be aware of in Midnight Club 3 is the uncanny powers you can obtain when racing. Agro gives you the ability to send cars bouncing off you like pinballs. This is a power for larger cars like SUV's. Roar is reserved for the muscle cars and choppers. It will clear the road with the roar of your engine. Finally the quick sport cars get the zone. Zone sends you into a matrix sort of slow motion that makes taking tight turns extremely easy. So far zone has got to be the most useful because catching a turn with a ridiculous angle can easily put you out in front. Although these powers are super crazy it adds to the awesome fun when racing.
The sounds of Midnight Club 3 are nothing to scoff at because with some great sound effects like the rumbling of the engines to the shattering of windshields this game has it all. The actual soundtrack is real good with a mix of rap and rock and the occasional slower song. From Trick Daddy to Twista and even Marilyn Manson there are a wide variety of tunes that has a little something for everyone. In my opinion Rockstar has come up with a great soundtrack.
The graphics of Midnight Club look best on the Xbox with the PS2 following close behind but it's not quite as crisp. The shine on the cars looks great and overall the cars show all the bling nicely and look very authentic. The cityscapes are pretty cool too with tons of eye candy. The damage effects aren't really what I expected but your car will show damage after a while. Mostly all you see is glass fly on a collision. The non-racing cars don't seem to take the hits quite like you do. But just like in the sound department DUB puts on a very good visual show.
Rockstar's Midnight Club franchise has never been so good. This game is so sweet for a car loving tuner junkie I can't see why this hasn't been done sooner. The fast and frenzied racing of MC3 is so awesome that I could play this game 4-5 hours at a time without boredom. The arcade-racing genre has been drastically changed with this game on the market and I highly recommend you pick up a copy or at least rent this awesome game.
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