Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Review from Yug, Yug and Yug - Monday, 17 November 2008 @ 8:32pm

I have a curious relationship with driving games.

I think it probably started with a game called 'stunts' on the PC, a game that should really be categorises as a driving puzzle game - try and get your head around that genre. Play Trackmania, you'll understand.

Anyway, I was addicted to that game for the longest time, a combination of building crazy levels and racing around them, attempting to launch my car as high into the air as humanly possible.

From then on, it was hit and miss. I've never really been enough of a car enthusiast to really care about how accurately the tires wear away when driving around the same track 50 times. I heard horror stories of a game from Melbourne game developer Atari Melbourne House and how their Le Mans game had a 24 hour real time race. Hell no.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm not Samo, but I'm not Matt either. I had moments with Project Gotham that got me hooked, but could never really get into Gran Turismo - as much as I tried.

I loved the Burnout 3, but wasn't a fan of Burnout Paradise.

I loved the first Need for Speed Underground game, but for some unexplainable reason couldn't stand the sequels.

And I played Midnight Club 2 on the Pc year ago and loved it. Which brings me to Midnight club: Los Angeles, effectively the 4th game in the franchise, and the latest of many games in the racing genre where I cannot nail down a reason as to why I specifically prefer this title over almost any of the other current racing games on the market at the moment.

the YUGSTAR mobile

For a history of the Midnight Club franchise I suggest having a read of my preview many months ago - for the rest of you, all you need to know is that this is an open world illegal street racing game based in a very accurate blueprint of Los Angeles.

What could be a deal breaker for many people is the single player story - there kinda isn't one. Or I guess there is, but honestly - what kind of complex story can you expect from an illegal street racing game. When Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are the benchmark of the genre, you know what to expect - and it isn't much.

Grand Theft Auto IV it ain't, but personally I find that to be a good thing. I personally didn't want to be part of another ghetto underground street smart crowd of gangsta wannabes. So don't look to me to write favourably about the story - I skipped as much of it as possible.

Which brings me to the meat of the game, and the element that had me hooked almost a year ago when I played it - the gameplay. The racing. The unique handling of the cars and the absolutely awesome level design.

Oh, and yes, this game uses the same game engine as GTA IV, but after driving around in MC:LA for a few hours, it's apparently how completely different the mechanics are between each other - to the point where driving around in GTA IV again felt slow, clunky, and LESS fun. Even though I can't carjack in Midnight Club.

So the aim of the game is to drive around and compete in various races littered around the streets of Los Angeles - some clearly marked, some you discover - to earn you reputation points in order to progress through the game and access better cars and parts, as well as earning money to BUY said cars and parts.

Sure, you start off with a shitty 240SX, but by the end of the game you could be cruising around in a soft top Lamborghini. Not just any Lamborghini, but a bright pink sparkly one with rainbows on each side and bright purple dashboards.

Keep reading, it makes sense. Perhaps the greatest surprise I had was how in depth and amazingly full on the car customisation system is. Maybe it was my inner designer coming to the fore, but I think I spent almost an equal amount of time painting, modifying and decorating my car to actually driving it around.

It's sad, but true. You can target specific parts of the car, as well as copy/paste/cut designs and images on any section, have metallic/gloss/matt/sparkle paint options with faded colours in any direction. It allows you to let your imagination run wild ...

It's funny cause it's true

Suddenly I discovered myself doing something else I had never even considered doing in a racing game - pausing to take snapshots of my ride in motion. I became attached to my highly decorated rides, to the point where I wouldn't participate in Pink Slip races for fear of losing my highly customised machine.

Oh, time to voice a major complaint here actually. The reply system. It's shit. Like, really shit. There is no way to rewind or fast-forward your reply. I am simply stunned that a feature like this hasn't been included. After being spoilt with the fantastic quality of the reply system in Racedriver GRiD, it was just simply not worth even using.

Alright then, enough waffling about playing dress up's with my cars. The game is of course primarily about racing, and as you progress up to the higher end vehicles (they include Tuners, Muscle, Luxury, Exotics, and Bikes) and start to appreciate the sense of speed and timing required to master the game. Especially the bikes - which are much tougher than bikes have any right to be.

Just like the song!

Races are generally standard fare - race towards the flares in an ordered race, against multiple or single opponents. There are variations - such as racing to a landmark without specific directions, finding and smashing other vehicles to cause a certain level of damage, time trials, and beach runs. The game has a very cinematic look and feel to it with the multiple camera options, however I always found myself switching to the 'classic' view that didn't swing around so much, otherwise I found myself making too many mistakes.

Perhaps that's the real reason this game grabbed me - it isn't easy. In fact, I would say the A.I. is fairly brutal, but by no means impossible. I imagine the game employs a very subtle but effective catch up and slow down system on the part of the A.I. - since you can do a flawless race yet only 'just' edge out your opponents one race, while the next you have 3 major crashes only to catch up at the last moment and snatch 1st place out from under them.

Usually I'm not a fan of these kind of tactics, but here for some reason it actually works. It also could be due to the really well designed levels that have some of the most well placed shortcuts I've ever seen in a racing game. Once you get familiar with the city of Los Angeles, you find yourself just 'assuming' a shortcut will be in a certain spot, and sure enough it will be there.

I have to question EXACTLY how accurate the game is to a map of Los Angeles. Sure, all the famous landmarks are there, but do these back alley shortcuts actually exist? All the freeways simply led me back into Los Angeles, which I imagine would be frustrating for locals looking to take a drive out of the city.

That said, Los Angeles is a great city to have as a location for a game. From the Hollywood Hills and Mulholland Drive, to cruising along Santa Monica Boulevard, to driving along the beach. The day/night rain/sunshine cycles help as well, but I couldn't help but shake the repetitiveness of some of the race tracks after about 10 hours of play.

Maybe I would have appreciated it more if I was from Los Angeles, but as it stands, until they make Midnight Club: Brisbane I don't think I can. At least the soundtrack was constantly entertaining - yay for the Presents.

Is it a good or bad thing you can't drive over people in this game? I can't decide

One other thing I have to mention is the graphical glitches I discovered in the game. Usually I would ignore this sort of thing, but it happened frequently - and affected the gameplay in some situations.

The last thing I wanted to talk about - and this might stem from the fact I have a much higher appreciation of User Interface Design since working as one - is the menu system. It's flawless. Seriously, I've never seen a menu / map / multiplayer setup so slick.

First of all, to see the map and your potential race options, you hit the back button and the entire world zooms out to a 3d top down map of the entire area. You can then zoom in and out depending on what you are looking for. I used this feature many times when attempting to navigate the best way to a designated goal. Technically and graphically, it's one of the most impressive things I've seen in a long time.

The menus themselves appear next to your car when you pause, and joining a multiplayer game is as simple and painless as any of the other menu screens. Within SECONDS I found myself in a multiplayer free play game, with 4 other players driving around the same level - my car had not moved from where it was in the level - that is where I spawned, the only thing that changed was the weather to reflect the multiplayer map that had been chosen.

Multiplayer is what it is, I never got into it to a huge degree, but that's more a reflection of my attitude towards online gaming rather than a flaw with the game itself.

Pros

Top graphics, great sense of speed, the A.I. is satisfying while being brutal at the same time, level design works a treat, cinematic, custom car creation is a winner, bikes, one of the best menu/map/multiplayer setups ever.

Cons

Replay system sucks ass, you can't copy and invert before you paste from one side of your car to the other (small issue, but I found it!), the game IS hard, Los Angeles gets a bit same ol after awhile, some weird graphical glitches.