Midnight Club: Los Angeles Preview
By Gaetano Prestia
The Midnight Club franchise first appeared as a launch title on the Playstation 2 back at the start of the decade. Its call to fame was that it was the first illegal street racing video game that took full advantage of the popular and infamous style of racing. Some of the world’s biggest and most memorable cities have been included in the series, including Paris, London, Los Angeles and New York.
Now for the first time, the series heads to the 360 and PS3 with Midnight Club: Los Angeles. Rockstar San Diego have been given an opportunity to create an extraordinary, open-city racing title that incorporates everything that made the previous series’ installments so special, as well as incorporating enhanced graphics, sound and gameplay. From what we saw of the preview code it’s easy to say that this title looks to be faster and better looking than other installments in the franchise; the title blew us away even though the game is still in its development stages.
Midnight Club’s debut onto the next-generation gaming scene has given it a number of cool enhancements. Firstly, the city of Los Angeles is a streaming, load-free town that loads once on start-up and that’s it. The opportunity to pick out particular places on the map won’t require loading and you’ll automatically be transported directly to your choice of the city. Secondly, menus are minimal. Rockstar San Diego has aimed to create as realistic a city as possible. They have improved on many of the negative aspects of Midnight Club; they have dismissed the long load times and tedious menus, so as to get the gamer straight into the action without having to wade through pages of gaming options. The city loads as you race or cruise around town and it works in a similar way to the Grand Theft Auto titles, where the city constantly streams as you play.
The map system is quite impressive and goes beyond the simplistic map that we’ve all become accustomed to in GTA and the previous Midnight Club titles. Instead, you can now view a detailed 3D-style map and can accurately choose where you want to go in the city. What makes this style of mapping so cool and impressive is the ability to easily pinpoint particular landmarks and areas in downtown Los Angeles, the result is a small model-city that looks absolutely stunning. These features highlight the lengths that the development team has gone to in order to make this racing experience as realistic as possible and it is a further example of San Diego using next-generation hardware to its full potential.
With minimal menus you’ll have the ability to play at a laid back and free-flowing pace without having to go in-between menus and screens after you finish a race. Instead, you’ll be shown how many points and dollars you’ve been awarded and before you know it you’re back into the action (without even really leaving it).
When you spot a car that you want to race, you can flash your lights in their direction, which then results in a race to the starting line. This is an example of the game's different approach in reference to its older brothers and this inclusion adds a bit of realism and extra fun. While this aspect of the race has no actual implications on your finances or reputation points, it gives you a sense of relationship between your car, its driver and your opponent, as you make your way to the starting line.
With the inclusion of a new reputation system, you’ll be able to progress no matter how much you suck behind the wheel. Unlike previous Midnight Club titles, where you would be stuck if you couldn’t place high enough in a race, participating is enough to get your points and therefore you’ll always be able to progress. Points will also dictate what cars you have available and the particular races you can take part in; the harder the race the more reputation points that are available, depending on where you place.
After races you’ll notice that your car will have taken on quite a bit of damage and it’s wise to get it spruced up ASAP to avoid forfeiting in another race. By simply rolling into a service station and choosing a new “Quick Fix” option, your car will be back to full strength, minus the perfect paint job. A further example of exceptional realism is that if you choose the "Quick Fix" option, you won’t get the full service you would normally get if you head to your garage and get a "Full Fix". Instead, your car will be left looking brand-new but a little less appealing on the presentation front. If you want your car looking its best you’ll have to head home for the full-blown treatment.
The city of Los Angeles is a bustling, beautiful, buzzing town that has been recreated almost perfectly in this title. While not an exact replica of the city, the map contains all of the famous and well-known landmarks that everyone will no doubt recognise such as Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood. The map is also an impressive size, matching that of three cities in Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, so beyond its realistic display it is also one hell of a large racing track.
Another aspect of Los Angeles that wasn’t present in previous installments is the ability to race at different times of the day. Instead of being restricted to nighttime, there is now a full time-cycle, spanning through night, into morning, afternoon and evening. The time of day will also have an effect on traffic behaviour, with night time driving not as hectic compared with driving in the early morning or afternoon.
Onto the graphical and presentation side of things, this title looks amazing. The car detailing is superb and the racing camera angels seem to have been improved from previous versions. The in-car camera view shows off the amazing amount of detail, from the shiny dashboard to the hands on the steering wheel.
Three cars were on display for us to check out; a Mitsubishi 300GT, a 1969 Mustang 302 Boss and finally a 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo Roadster. The cars, like the city, both take full advantage of Rockstar’s advanced RAGE engine, which was previously used in Table Tennis on 360 and in the upcoming Table Tennis on Wii and a lesser-known title by the name of Grand Theft Auto IV.
Online Multiplayer will also make an appearance in the game, though no thorough details were given at this early stage.
Overall, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is shaping up to be one of the must have titles of 2008. It looks and sounds great and the new gameplay features and free-flowing style seem to put this title in a league of its own, even this early in its development.
The game is on target for an early-mid 2008 release.
26/09/2007
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