
Midnight Club 3
Hey all, I just got Midnight Club a few hours ago, so I'm just going to give more of a preview of the real game, not just speculation. Although I have never owned a console and therefore never played Midnight Club on any other system, I can tell from the PSP that the game's graphics and gameplay are phenomenal. Although there is choppiness at times, the racing is smooth. The music is extensive, and after searching through the tracks it looks like there's hours of music in game, all of it from real artists, not any noname people. People, we have "Freek-a-Leek", so I think that just goes to show you how serious they are about licensing music, which is as serious as they are about the cars. The customization is incredible; you can do anything you want to over 60 cars, although at the moment I'm working with the Dodge SRT4 that is one of the 6 cars available in the beginning. Anything you could do in NFSU on the PC, which is the only other game akin to this that I've played is there. So, on my list of awesome things about the game, the customization is right up there with the graphics and gameplay. The only gripe I have for the game is the ridiculous loading time, over 1 minute, so I'm thinking that unless something is wrong with my PSP we're just going to have to lug it. Oh, and regardless of whatever you may have heard, Midnight Club 3 requires an update to 1.50, NOT 1.52. So homebrew all the way! Also, there is no infrastructure mode, which would have kicked, but you take what you get. I know this is not a complete review by any means, but just as a basis the pluses to the game are everything about it other than the load times. So if you aren't in a hurry, Midnight Club is right at the top of the heap in terms of PSP games. As an owner of Wipeout Pure and Lumines I can say that Midnight Club is better than both in terms of gameplay and the like, but the load times hold it back. So, to do that rating scale you all love:
Graphics: 9
They could be a bit smoother on the edges, and the framerate could be higher, but this game is beautiful.
Sounds: 10
Untouchable soundtrack if you like Rap and some electronic stuff. Lil' Jon and all of that. Rockstar didn't skimp on the big names, it all depends on whether you like them.
Story: 9
It's a racing game, considering there is even a story is pretty surprising anyway, so this score is slightly inflated for that. But there's a Mexican tuner who takes you through the game directing you, and there is of course a huge career mode, which is basically a dedicated story mode that is very enjoyable at the moment.
Gameplay: 10
Although I haven't played all of them, the variety of contests is amazing, with plenty of replay value due to the plethora of different routes through each race. It's great.
Overall: 10
A few rough edges, and the load time can be a annoying, but this is a must buy for your PSP. I haven't played NFSU: Rivals, but Midnight Club seems pretty hard to beat. It's just beautiful guys (gals), beautiful.
Remember: This only upgrades to 1.50, I've seen posts that point to the contrary. And sadly there is no infrastructure mode, only Ad-hoc. |