Midnight Club: Los Angeles Review

[MMChrisS]

A lot of street-racing games seem to be going the "open world" route lately. You have Test Drive Unlimited available, where you can tool around a realistic Hawaii location for hours on end. You have other titles like Burnout Paradise, where you can fly around an open city and lay waste to rush hour traffic. The "original" street racing game, Need For Speed, has seen numerous changes over the years, but Need for Speed Underground 2 is still one of my favorite racers.

Now, into this already crowded genre comes Midnight Club Los Angeles. The question is whether there’s enough here that’s different enough to keep you playing it. The answer will vary, depending on your tastes.

Read More: Midnight Club: Los Angeles Review

[asu666]

"You have basic groups and stages to upgrade, but no individual aftermarket parts like the Need For Speed games. "

Are you sure about this? I thought I remembered different parts makers on some of the categories.

Anyway, good review. Because of all the other games that just came out I'm only a couple of hours in, but so far it's an 8/10 imo. I would have liked to see less pop-in, the cops can be a little annoying when they come after you for minor violations, and a few of the races had turns that could have been marked a little more clearly. What I have played has been fun and I love the city, map feature, and method for altering my cars.

[TCrouch]

Yes, it has basic breakdowns for stage 1/2/3, but you can't choose from a bunch of individual carburetors or separate shock manufacturers, etc. You have one basic upgrade stage on each component to choose from, but I didn't notice if it had an official manufacturer tied to that upgrade stage. If it does, it certainly wasn't very evident to me

[Complex]

Solid review. 8.5/10 imo. This is an extremely attractive game but more cars could have been included like the DUB edition. And where are the trucks?

[Scott]

Solid review as stated above. I give it around a 8..It was nothing but a mere gamefly rental for me though.

[asu666]

"The game scales, it rubber bands, and sometimes it feels like it's flat-out cheating to artificially lengthen the series."

This is something I noticed too and wasn't sure what was going on. In a couple for races I was running smooth and fast, not wreaking or loosing too much speed in the corners. I'd be out in front for most of the race and then at the last second the pack would get close and one would sometimes rocket by me like I was standing still. I caulked it up to the CPU having a bunch of boost for the final sprint, but it felt cheap to lose like that.

[asu666]

Quote: Originally Posted by TCrouch

Yes, it has basic breakdowns for stage 1/2/3, but you can't choose from a bunch of individual carburetors or separate shock manufacturers, etc. You have one basic upgrade stage on each component to choose from, but I didn't notice if it had an official manufacturer tied to that upgrade stage. If it does, it certainly wasn't very evident to me

I'm sure you're right. I must have been thinking about the stages. I haven't played it for a couple of weeks now. Good job with the review.

[Steve_OS]

Vote for your reader score.

[Crash Davis]

Very Accurate Review, I love this game, but it has its flaws, and its true its kinda dumb that when you make your car better so does the AI, thats the main thing from stopping this game from being great. that fact ties into the races feeling rigged as well.

however theres alot more positives with this game I find but thats just me I love customizing cars I have a screenshots section on this new OS Arena that im going to fill up with every car I design its cool!!

[goh]

Hey look at that,I do agree with your review,not the score (more like a 4.5 with all that bulllll that goes on) but the review itself is correct.