 One of the best racers for PS3 so far! |
| Review Date: October 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Eric Griffith, Olympia, Washington |
I just got Midnight Club Los Angeles Complete Edition the other day. I played the first Midnight Club for the PS One and wasn't a big fan. I didn't much care for the PSP Midnight Club either. But Los Angeles is a completely different story! I have to go to work early and I've been losing sleep because I can't put the controller down - it's that much fun!
I think Need for Speed games have a lot going for them, but my big gripe has been vehicle physics and controls which are too loose, floaty, and unpredictable. Midnight Club LA is an arcade game and the physics are far from realistic, but they got the controls right! Dodging oncoming traffic at 150pmh is possible - if you don't blink - and long drifts around corners are easily controlable. Acceleration from a stop is a little cheesy (makes for more drama off the line when starting a race), but once up to speed the handling is smooth and responsive.
I used to live near LA so I see familiar sights when cruising or racing, which is cool. The sharp detail and high resolution world just waiting to be explored is gorgeous! What's really amazing is that, once you get into the game, there are almost no load times at all! With a high resolution, 3D world like this, that's amazing! The developers are really showcasing what the PS3 is capable of here.
This is not the first racing game to feature reputation points, but the way building reputation unlocks cooler cars and upgrades is neat and motivates you to keep racing. You don't earn large amounts of money from early races, but there are a lot of different types of races which keeps things interesting. You hit paydirt when you come across the chance to win your opponent's car, which can be sold for a lot more than you'd make from a series of races. The game seems to be structured around picking a few favorites from the available vehicles and upgrading them, rather than collecting all the cars. There is a good mix of car classes and the car models are beautiful and nicely rendered.
The upgrade system is not as in-depth as some Need for Speed games or Gran Turismo but that's fine for a game like this where fine-tuning suspension settings wouldn't produce a noticeable difference. The fact that they are there, unlockable, and make your car go faster and turn better is enough. I'm not a big fan of the vinyls but I do like the paint and wheel options, which are easy to use for giving your vehicles a unique and customized look.
The best thing about this game is the nicely detailed graphics of the open world, and outrageously challenging and fun gameplay. I lost quite a few races from slamming into traffic or just plain going too fast to avoid obstacles on the last lap of a race, but I don't mind because it's so much fun! Cutting through a corner gas station doing an 85mph drift, then blasting through the fence on the other side of the street into an ally way shortcut with your opponents reving right behind you... Now that's fun! It's like they took the best parts of Burnout: Paradise and Need for Speed and put them in one game! |
Great, fun, arcade racing experience for PS3. Amazing soundtrack
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| Review Date: November 3, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Headphone buyer, United States |
First off, if you are not familiar with this series. It is pure arcade racer. There is no technical driving skill to learn like in Forza, Gran Turismo, or even a "semi-simulation" like Dirt 2. In this game very little impedes your ability to go fast. Trees don't slow you down. Cars in your own lane don't slow you down. Parked cars barely slow you down. About the only objects that can slow you down are oncoming traffic, concrete walls, and buildings. But then even some of the buildings have glass windows ;) The main competition for this game on PS3 seems to be Burnout Paradise. If you are a fan of burnout Paradise and want more simple/fun open world arcade racing action, you will probably love this.
If you wish to read more detailed breakdown of the game, here are my opinions:
Graphics: 8/10 - It is not state of the art for PS3. But it is really nice. Among the most popular current racers for the PS3 (as of 2009) only Dirt 2 and Gran Turismo are CLEARLY going to have better graphics. It is about on par with Burnout Paradise. I do like the LA environment better in this game than the Burnout surroundings. But admittedly the car models themselves are not quite up to par as some of the others (nothing terrible to look at, just not as detailed as you would expect on PS3 or XBOX360)
Gameplay: 8/10 - Like I said. It's extremely simple. Hold the petal to the metal. Most of the time in story mode you will be racing series or individual races of 4+ drivers or head to head against one AI driver. In other cases you must do time trials. Some of the games "missions" do add a twist where you have to deliver cars without any damage to a destination, essentially a time trail where you cannot take any car damage Most of the races through about the midway point are pretty easy to win, many with just one attempt. One cool gameplay element is if you get in trouble and are about to be passed, you can let out an EMP charge to slow down the overtaking cars. There are other "special attacks" in the game you can use, it adds a little twist to the otherwise shallow gameplay. The highest difficulty races are more frustrating and you must know the shortcuts to win. It really isn't so much technical driving skill as it is knowing the map, and luck of the draw whether you get by with a clean race or not.
Sound: 10/10. The sound effects don't really stand out. They are good, but nothing memorable. About on par with the racers mentioned previously. The voice acting is also well done. The music soundtrack is where this game really shines, as has come to be expected from Rockstar games. A terrific ecclectic mix of music that I actually wish I could put on my MP3 player.
Fun Factor: 10/10. This game is unbelievable addicting. It is simple to pick up. Easy in the beginning, incredibly difficult to 100% complete.
Replayability: 7/10. Online play adds some life to it. It's simplicity means it could be the type of game you want to pick up and play out of the blue. There is also an element to find the collectibles, Buy all the cars, customise your cars, etc. The Greatest Hits version adds a whole new set of lowriders and police cars to drive as well.
Overall: 9/10 (4.5 stars). While it's not as technical or deep as I expect Gran Turismo to be. I am thrilled to have this game in the meantime for some good cheap fun. As a greatest hits package it's a great deal. There was no patch to download in this version. It is the first time I've purchased a PS3 greatest hit, I guess it should be expected to be a fully patched/updated version right on the disc. |
Great! Just Perfect!
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| Review Date: January 17, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mike Brolin, Boston |
Midnight Club: LA Complete Edition Greatest Hits Is My 2nd Favorite Ps3 game i own. First off I am a HUGE fan of the Midnight Club series...(I own All Games in the series on PS2, PSP and PS3) And this is by far the latest and the greatest! It wowed me with its MASSIVE Car Inventory, Its Real to Life Graphics and Exciting Game Play. Now i will Give you my Pro/Con List.
Pros:
-Alot of Cars!
-Realistic Graphics
-Car Customizing
-Large Map
-I bought it for $20!
Cons:
-Unlike the other Games in the series, you cannot access other cities (On MC:2 Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles) You are Basically Stuck in L.A
-Lack Of Cheat Codes: In order to access cheats you need to find Collectable Barrels that are scattered across the city |
Christmas Gift
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| Review Date: January 7, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Jessica, |
| This was a christmas gift for my boyfriend. We BOTH love this game. I dont really play it too much - just cause I'm not good but I enjoy watching it and sometimes helping him out while he is racing. The best part is tricking out the cars! |
Best street racing game for sure
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| Review Date: February 1, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Mat Fox, |
| I have always loved the midnight club series and this game is great. It improves by having one large city to roam while being able to race non stop. Need for speed will never be better than midnight club in my opinion. This game is a must if you like arcade racers and anyone that says this game is too hard like I've been hearin can't drive. |
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