awoolcott's Full Review: Midnight Club: Los Angeles for PlayStation 3
Though Grand Theft Auto was definitely an influence on the movement towards open-world racing games, it's one of Rockstar's other marquee franchises that actually did it first; 2000's Midnight Club Street Racing, a launch PlayStation 2 title, offered the sort of sandbox racing that games like Need for Speed eventually took for their own. The checkpoint-based, point-to-point, white knuckle racing that game introduced to the young PS2 built into something outstanding, with the vastly improved Midnight Club II and the massive Midnight Club 3 DUB Edition. The first PlayStation 3 edition, Midnight Club: Los Angeles, continues this formula, presenting an even more intense racing game through the traffic-laden streets of the City of Angels, mixed in with some new concepts to freshen things up. The result is one of the best racing games on PS3, albeit one that comes from a series that has been critically acclaimed, but never quite escaped the shadow of bigger racing franchises, despite the pedigree of coming from Rockstar Games. Let it be our little secret then; though PS3 has a great edition of Burnout and three decent Need for Speed games...Midnight Club LA is actually the open-world racing game you need in your collection.
I'm going (going) back (back) to Cali (Cali)
Rather than usher Midnight Club into the high-definition gaming era with a brand new city, Rockstar San Diego has returned to Los Angeles (if the title of the game and/or the previous paragraph didn't explain it enough), which was the first area you could explore in Midnight Club II. However, while all past MC games contained multiple cities, MCLA contains just the City of Angels...though this might seem to be a step backwards, in reality the area covered is huge, and possibly larger than the three individual cities from Midnight Club 3 combined. Not only is it huge, covering Santa Monica, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, and Downtown for starters, the move to HD has created a facsimile of Los Angeles that's quite uncanny. Familiar landmarks like the Capitol Records building, famous locations like Hollywood & Vine, and a fully functional highway system that contains all the real freeway names and exits (at least the ones that keep you in the map of the game, you're not sneaking to Orange County or anything) makes it extremely easy to get around the city. Try going back to one of the PS2 Midnight Club games and you'll really come to appreciate the advances in technology the PS3 offers.
Midnight Club has always had some characters guiding you through the game, but Midnight Club LA actually tries to tie it all together in a story. It's not much of one, but whatever. In this case, you're a nameless guy from the East Coast new to LA, and your “friend” Booke sets you up in the current illegal racing scene, with of course the ultimate goal of becoming the top racer in the city. The structure of the game will be familiar to Midnight Club veterans: scattered through the city are numerous events, be it “hookmen” or racers who lead you to a series of races, or tournaments that actually progress the story. This Midnight Club offers a bunch of new stuff though, to increase the variety of racing – some forward the game, some are just for experience and money. Red-light races serve as “landmark” events, where you race a single opponent to a specific position with no checkpoints to guide your way like regular point-to-point and lap events. Freeway races function in mostly the same way, as you instantly lock horns on one of the highways to a set destination, though checkpoints exist to guide the way since many races go through interchanges. Time trials give you a certain car and track, which requires mastery of both to fully complete them.
It's hard being a racer
If you buy the game now, and have your PS3 connected to the Internet, you'll be prompted for a patch. Now this might seem par for the course, but this patch is interesting...its main purpose was to decrease the difficulty level, because there was an outcry over how brutally challenging MCLA was in its day one form. Now, while it's still a tough game, it's a lot more tolerable for those who perhaps don't have the skills needed to finish the game. In general, you'll never have to go above the “medium” level to get through all the story races, only the DUB Tournaments are set to “hard” and only random hookmen can have the infamous “very hard” designation. The difficulty levels aren't just based on AI tendencies, but also how races play out; on the easiest level (green) you have a ton of checkpoints to guide the way, giving a clear route to the finish. Move up to medium (yellow) and the checkpoints are still plentiful, but still less hand-holding than easy. Hard and up offer very little direction, requiring mastery of the city to reach the finish, relying on shortcuts, abusing the special moves, and in many cases, sheer luck when opponents crash into traffic and get so far behind even the rubberband AI will struggle catching up.
Yeah, catch-up AI is here, to be expected in an arcade style racer. It's not too bad really; if you're good enough and can handle the traffic and often tricky turns and make good use of shortcuts, they'll fall behind and it's still possible to win races in runaway fashion. Same goes for your own mistakes; hit too many cars, or spin out too often, and the game won't pull back on the rubberband, it'll just leave you far behind. The result is rather effective; if you have the skills, races are winnable; if you don't, practice some more. If I was going to find a point of contention with any of this, it would be in the AI of motorcycle riders, who have an almost psychic ability to not run into traffic and wipe out, despite how easy it is to slam into a car and wipe out. Because rival vehicles are keyed to what you are driving, I eventually went back to a lower class just to avoid racing them. The greasy handling of motorcycles is balanced by the much heavier feeling of the cars, especially the muscle cars, which can be very tough to contain compared to the much more balanced tuner and luxury cars. There's a larger feeling of realism this time around, compared to the more loose style of previous Midnight Club games.
Racing on the Information Superhighway
Midnight Club LA features a robust online presence, much of it user-driven. Many custom courses – created in the race editor – can lead to unique races with others, along with some FPS-driven ideas like a capture the flag mode. Even if you're not into playing online, you definitely should at least make sure your PlayStation Network ID is tied to your Rockstar Social Club account, as doing so nets you a potentially nice reward for completing tasks tied to both single and multiplayer achievement. Clearly Rockstar San Diego values the online community in one important way; the upcoming South Central expansion pack will deliver the core map for free, letting online players stick together transparently, though the rest of the expansion that comes with new cars, single-player races, and even music does cost money.
Speaking of music, MCLA features quite an eclectic soundtrack, ranging mostly in the hip-hop realm but crossing over into electronic and even very hard rock. It's possible to set your own play list and get around the stuff you don't like as well, though I don't think it supports custom soundtracks on PS3...it's not something I do, so I really can't say. The game features solid voice acting from a perspective of being cheesy racer stereotypes, though there's a bevy of good back-and-forth exchanges before, during, and after races. Indeed, it's always fun to be taunted when losing and harassed when winning, in the hope of making a mistake. The main character is full of amusing jokes and putdowns, making him a pretty likable character despite having no name or real personality compared to the more developed opponents. It's a bit weird talking about voice acting in a racing game, despite all those ridiculous Need for Speed stories. At least MCLA sticks it in the background and never tries to go beyond being a silly story of a guy looking to be top dog in a busy racing city.
The Closing
It certainly has its problems, but Midnight Club: Los Angeles is one of those games that can really get its hooks into you if you allow it. It took me a while to get into things, but once it did there was no letting up until everything was completed and the only thing left was to just cruise around LA and get into crazy chases with overmatched police. It looks great, plays well, and has a crazy sense of speed with no real problems to speak of, making it the kind of racer that really pushes the PS3 around and the system actually fights back. The fact that this game has been relatively ignored since its release is a real shame; the thought of the impossibly mediocre Need for Speed Undercover selling more copies is enough to make you want to go Niko Bellic on everyone. You though...if you want to be awesome, head out and find a copy of Midnight Club LA and get ready for a huge and challenging racer from the pioneers of open-world racing.
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