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preview :: midnight club: los angeles
Midnight Club: Los Angeles
Reviewed on: Xbox 360Available on: Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Yug visits Rockstar HQ for a preview of the upcoming Midnight Club game for the next generation.
Players: 1 - unkown Players
Genre:
Release: 2008-04-01
Genre:
Release: 2008-04-01
Developer: Rockstar San Diego
Distributor: Rockstar Games
Distributor: Rockstar Games
I really like previewing games.
You have to understand that although most of our final game reviews are a mixture of entertainment and opinions, we still have to play a game in its entirety, and ultimately pass judgement on it.
The cool thing about previewing games is that you only need to play enough of it to get an ‘idea’ of what it’s like, and any negative features to the game can be attributed to the fact that the game is not ‘complete’ yet. Previews give the game developers the benefit of the doubt.
It was with this understanding that I was graciously taken in by Rockstar Games in Sydney to preview their upcoming game Midnight Club Los Angeles, waaaaaaaaay back in September last year (AustralianGamer – we’re lazy so you don’t have to be!). The game doesn’t come out until April this year.
So how surprised was I by how, graphical glitches aside, polished and fun the game actually was.
Ooooooo, I'm easily distracted by shiny objects
Now it’s time for a history lesson, especially for those of you (like me) tend to get your street racing franchises mixed up.
The first Midnight Club: Street Racing game was released as a launch title for the Playstation 2. I played it, and to be honest it never really grabbed me as I wasn’t really interested in the illegal street racing concept and was more interested in Midtown Madness at the time.
Midnight Club 2 was different however, even though the box art featured a random asian woman, a bald Wesley snipes look-alike, and what I’m convinced is the fat slug thing from the first Blade movie. For some reason I bought it on the PC, and although I never toyed with the much praised multiplayer components, I really enjoyed just cruising round the streets and picking races. Don’t forget, this game was around way before Need for Speed were even thinking about going ‘Underground’. Featuring crazy jumps and an awesome sense of speed, it managed to successfully sell me on the franchise.
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, I’m pleased to say, was even better. This game rocked. The DUB refers to some partnership with DUB Magazine, but as I’ve stated, I know hardly anything about the REAL car modification industry so I wasn’t fussed. I wasn’t able to play nearly as much as this game as I would have liked, though by this time all the other major franchises had started to theme themselves as illegal street racers too.
So here we are, with the next gen easily now classed as the current gen, and the latest Midnight Club game is soon upon us, set entirely in Los Angeles. The city itself is said to be the size of all three cities from the previous games combined.
In another 5 seconds this car will transform into Bumblebee
First off, it does look very pretty. Running on the RAGE engine – the same engine behind GTA IV – the first thing you notice is how the camera positions itself in the most cinematic positions when you’re driving around. It seems all the cool kids are using the Gears of War effect these days, but here it feels like the effect was meant to be on a car racing game.
The version I played at Rockstar HQ was still an early build, but even at such an early stage it ran smoothly and looked very detailed. One of the coolest features was when you go to view the city map, it zooms out to it in an entirely seamless transition – very cool.
There is a full night and day cycle, and one interesting by product of that is the traffic in the game will change depending on the time of day. Best not to try and race during the early morning peak traffic, better to do it after midnight, unless you particularly feel like smashing your car.
Which, to be honest, you very well might, considering how spectacular the crash sequences can be. One demonstration of a race sequence ended up a huge crash as the player was sideswiped by oncoming traffic after driving through a semi-busy intersection. The camera in this sequence helps of course, creating a cinematic crash sequence to rival hollywood movies.
Taking actual races and just driving around flow between each other fluidly as well, with no separate race or options screens to take you out of the experience. The enemy A.I. seems to be quite aggressive, although that could just be because I wasn’t any good when I played it ... let’s go with aggressive A.I.
There are plenty of other features that I didn't get a chance to see that will be included in the final game - most notably motorbikes - but I'm content in the fact that I was impressed with what I saw, and anything more than that can't be bad.
Land of movie stars, fast cars and broken dreams
I’ve never really been into the Car simulations – Forza, Gran Turismo, PRG – they just don’t really do it for me. So with the Juiced series canned, Need for Speed going pro, and Burnout now surprisingly being the only real competition, I find myself wanting to play the next Midnight Club more than any other driving game.
Midnight Club Los Angeles will be out in Australia in April this year on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Check www.Vurp.com for more accurate information closer to the release date.
You have to understand that although most of our final game reviews are a mixture of entertainment and opinions, we still have to play a game in its entirety, and ultimately pass judgement on it.
The cool thing about previewing games is that you only need to play enough of it to get an ‘idea’ of what it’s like, and any negative features to the game can be attributed to the fact that the game is not ‘complete’ yet. Previews give the game developers the benefit of the doubt.
It was with this understanding that I was graciously taken in by Rockstar Games in Sydney to preview their upcoming game Midnight Club Los Angeles, waaaaaaaaay back in September last year (AustralianGamer – we’re lazy so you don’t have to be!). The game doesn’t come out until April this year.
So how surprised was I by how, graphical glitches aside, polished and fun the game actually was.
Ooooooo, I'm easily distracted by shiny objects
Now it’s time for a history lesson, especially for those of you (like me) tend to get your street racing franchises mixed up.
The first Midnight Club: Street Racing game was released as a launch title for the Playstation 2. I played it, and to be honest it never really grabbed me as I wasn’t really interested in the illegal street racing concept and was more interested in Midtown Madness at the time.
Midnight Club 2 was different however, even though the box art featured a random asian woman, a bald Wesley snipes look-alike, and what I’m convinced is the fat slug thing from the first Blade movie. For some reason I bought it on the PC, and although I never toyed with the much praised multiplayer components, I really enjoyed just cruising round the streets and picking races. Don’t forget, this game was around way before Need for Speed were even thinking about going ‘Underground’. Featuring crazy jumps and an awesome sense of speed, it managed to successfully sell me on the franchise.
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, I’m pleased to say, was even better. This game rocked. The DUB refers to some partnership with DUB Magazine, but as I’ve stated, I know hardly anything about the REAL car modification industry so I wasn’t fussed. I wasn’t able to play nearly as much as this game as I would have liked, though by this time all the other major franchises had started to theme themselves as illegal street racers too.
So here we are, with the next gen easily now classed as the current gen, and the latest Midnight Club game is soon upon us, set entirely in Los Angeles. The city itself is said to be the size of all three cities from the previous games combined.
In another 5 seconds this car will transform into Bumblebee
First off, it does look very pretty. Running on the RAGE engine – the same engine behind GTA IV – the first thing you notice is how the camera positions itself in the most cinematic positions when you’re driving around. It seems all the cool kids are using the Gears of War effect these days, but here it feels like the effect was meant to be on a car racing game.
The version I played at Rockstar HQ was still an early build, but even at such an early stage it ran smoothly and looked very detailed. One of the coolest features was when you go to view the city map, it zooms out to it in an entirely seamless transition – very cool.
There is a full night and day cycle, and one interesting by product of that is the traffic in the game will change depending on the time of day. Best not to try and race during the early morning peak traffic, better to do it after midnight, unless you particularly feel like smashing your car.
Which, to be honest, you very well might, considering how spectacular the crash sequences can be. One demonstration of a race sequence ended up a huge crash as the player was sideswiped by oncoming traffic after driving through a semi-busy intersection. The camera in this sequence helps of course, creating a cinematic crash sequence to rival hollywood movies.
Taking actual races and just driving around flow between each other fluidly as well, with no separate race or options screens to take you out of the experience. The enemy A.I. seems to be quite aggressive, although that could just be because I wasn’t any good when I played it ... let’s go with aggressive A.I.
There are plenty of other features that I didn't get a chance to see that will be included in the final game - most notably motorbikes - but I'm content in the fact that I was impressed with what I saw, and anything more than that can't be bad.
Land of movie stars, fast cars and broken dreams
I’ve never really been into the Car simulations – Forza, Gran Turismo, PRG – they just don’t really do it for me. So with the Juiced series canned, Need for Speed going pro, and Burnout now surprisingly being the only real competition, I find myself wanting to play the next Midnight Club more than any other driving game.
Midnight Club Los Angeles will be out in Australia in April this year on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Check www.Vurp.com for more accurate information closer to the release date.