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The street racing game used to be a bit of a niche, but after the success of Midnight Club and the Need for Speed games they’ve become near sure-fire hits. Despite us now being well into the new generation of consoles, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition hasn’t really been bettered in the car-tuning, street racing stakes, so the offer to see a private viewing of Rockstar San Diego’s next-gen Midnight Club Los Angeles was something I simply couldn’t refuse.
Built on Rockstar’s Rage engine (the engine that the San Diego studio built and what GTA IV is being built on) the game already looks great, and that’s with the better part of a year still to go on development. The biggest change from previous titles in the series is the introduction of daylight. While DUB Edition included some dusk lighting, LA features full on midday sun, as well as the expected shades of darkness that give the bright lights of the city a chance to shine.
Rather than the three cities found in DUB Edition, LA will be your only location, but this is said to be equal in size to the previous cities combined. It’s also worth noting that while effort has been made to recreate the city, complete with all the most iconic buildings and locations, it’s not a perfect replica. In order to make a better city to race around, a few changes have been made and from what I saw it’s unlikely anyone will be complaining.
Being an open-city racer, the goal has been to keep players away from menus and in the game for as much time as possible. The ever popular headlight flash has once again been used as a mechanic for initiating races, and our more than competent demonstrator was up for the challenge. After a quick flash, the drivers raced off to the starting line, before powering off for a high-speed battle through the city streets.
It’s when racing that you really start to see the next-gen polish come through, with the developers going to great lengths to increase the excitement of driving at high speed. Simply screaming along between traffic against aggressive racers is enough for most games, but here the camera swings around the car to emphasise turns, sharp braking and sudden increases in speed due to the use of nitro – the camera zoomed right in on the driver at one point, making for a rather hair-raising few moments.
A street racer wouldn’t be complete without reputation points, and Midnight Club LA doesn’t disappoint. Each race event offers cash and rep points, and these are used to unlock new vehicles – as with DUB Edition, you’ll get to drive bikes and cars. Your cash can also be used to customise your rides, and to carry out repairs. A damaged car won’t earn you as many rep points, so it’s important to carry out repairs when needed.
Switching cars to a 1969 Mustang Boss it was time to have a look at more of the city. Up came a fully 3D city map, like what was seen earlier this year in Treyarch’s Spider-Man 3. As well as looking really pretty, you can use this to mark locations, with an arrow then appearing on-screen to guide you to your destination.
Being a first look at the game details were thin on the ground, but a few things did seem significant during the demo. Firstly, your driver is very visible, which is something that’s new to the series. During the demo the driver was your typical muscular guy, sporting a shaved head and model-like looks, but his appearance suggests that you might get to customise your driver. Rockstar couldn’t confirm this to be true, but it would be in keeping with the direction the series has been going.
Online play is also something that’s expected, but nothing could be confirmed. How these options will compare to the rather excellent online features seen in EA’s upcoming Burnout Paradise remains to be seen, but based on previous games in the series it’s fair to expect some good things.
At this stage Midnight Club Los Angeles is looking like a thoroughly entertaining entry in the series and a worthy next-gen debut. The good news is that with months of development still to go, the game can only get better, with improvements to the visuals and plenty of gameplay features that we’re yet to see. Rockstar’s GTA IV is likely to get all the headlines next year, but with Midnight Club to follow the company could hardly ask for a better double whammy.
