Midnight Club: Los Angeles

It's been over 3 years since Rockstar San Diego's Midnight Club has had it's last, major outing.  Some gave up hope on there ever being a fourth (or fifth, if you include DUB Edition Remix) iteration in this underrated arcade street racing franchise.  But in 2007, Midnight Club: Los Angeles was announced.  Now it has released and I can safely say that...  Midnight Club: Los Angeles is one of the best arcade racers ever made, and my #1 favorite game of all time.

The first you'll notice (or at least I did...) is the graphics of this game.  It's using the RAGE engine which was used in Grand Theft Auto IV and Rockstar Presents Table Tennis (Xbox 360 version).  Given the fact that Midnight Club: Los Angeles' city is mildly-large and therefore the graphics would suffer because of this; the graphics are absolutely astonishing.  They are on-par with other races that are set in closed tracks.  The car details are amazing, even if the polygon count is around half the amount of the cars in Gran Turismo 5.  The city is exactly the same way, even though it isn't geographically accurate, you can definitely tell it is L.A.  A lot of time was spared into the incredible detail in the cities, and vehicles.  All of this is seen at a consistent 30 frames per second, with it rarely ever dipping.  The only technical problem is where textures don't load fast enough (therefore leaving the city looking like a blur and some traffic vehicles invisible).  Unless you're extremely impatient; this should not be a problem.  When it happens, just pause the game and wait for it to load, which will take 5-15 seconds.

All this detail put into the graphics didn't stop them from making it filled to the brim with content.  There are a ton of game modes in MC:LA, from the single-player career which includes all your basic racing game modes and 20 hours of play time (if you just run through the career, but you'll always have objectives in your mission log).  To arcade and multiplayer, where you can partake in exclusive game modes only for those sections of the game.  The customization is better than ever.  From momo racing wheels to scissor doors; this game practically has it all.  You can even change every single color of the interior of your car to make some rather crazy creations.  The car list is the only thing that might be lacking, there are around 45 vehicles in total, with only 3 bikes to choose from and 2 luxury cars.  But the selection is definitely enough; you won't be forced to pick one or two rides every time you need to purchase a superior vehicle.  And even though 45 vehicles may be lacking for this generation; it will be a very long time before all of them get old, as they all handle at least a little differently.

The gameplay is where this game is going to get the most complaints.  Not because it isn't enjoyable, no, definitely not; but because it may be too difficult for some.  Each race has a colored circle around it, representing it's difficulty (green is easy, yellow is medium, orange is hard, and red is very hard).  But the AI rarely ever makes a mistake, even on easy.  The "rubberband effect" helps this, as even if they are far ahead you can still catch up; but it works both ways, so if you're far ahead, seconds later they'll be right at your rear bumper.  Most people don't like this, but it helps balance it out without giving the player a major advantage.  MC:LA makes you step up your game, it's not an easy ride.  But if you can overcome the difficulty (especially at the beginning), you're in for some extremely satisfying racing.

Now to the gameplay itself (physics, etc.).  It is still definitely an arcade racer, but Rockstar San Diego definitely added a little bit more realism to this one.  It's for the better though, as if they kept it the same it would have been criticized for being the same 'ol same 'ol.  At least for me; it makes it more enjoyable.  As you can still do ridiculous things while having semi-realistic car behavior.  You can over-rev your engine, spin out after a burnout, etc.  Even the crashes are improved.  They're definitely not up to the caliber of Burnout Paradise or GRID, but they are definitely improved.  With a new damage system to top it off, where you have a "quick fix" option every time your start a race or wreck your vehicle.  Quick fix adds junkyard parts to your vehicle and just repairs your performance stuff.  Where you can have a full fix in either the garage, or stopping at a gas station (which also refills nitrious if you run straight through it, not hitting the gas tanks of course).  It's a neat feature and doesn't hurt the gameplay at all.

I have probably missed a couple of things (but have been covered in other reviews before me).  But all in all, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is an incredible racer that's absolutely worth the full price.  It makes you step up your game, but once you do that; you're in for one heck of a ride.  I give this game a 5/5, because it's one of the best racers I have ever seen (I have seen and played hundreds) and should not be missed by anyone with the slightest interest in the genre.  This is my #1 favorite game of all time, and boy does it deserve it!

Thank you all for reading this review.  I hope it helped you make a decision upon whether purchasing this game or not.