Posted by SpaghettiOh on Monday, November 10th, 2008 in
Reviews
The Midnight Club series has always been a favorite of mine in the racing genre. Los Angeles definitely does the franchise justice. The game is as fast-paced and thrilling as ever, and even tends to bring the borders of reality and simulation even closer; except when it comes to winnings and spending those winnings to upgrade your car. Underground racing games have always left this area far too exaggerated in my opinion, giving you way more than you’d ever expect to win in a real street race and getting to spend it at a parts store where the owner is apparently your bitch.
Since I don’t live in LA I couldn’t tell you as others might that significant landmarks are as easy or as hard to find in the game as they are in real life. From what I can tell, though, it definitely hits the spot when aiming to make the player feel like they are in a real city. Streets and buildings resemble everyday stores and stops, and the navigation screen is something of an eye-opener, bringing a Google Maps-like effect to the player after calling up the map. The traffic on the other hand…not so real. I often found myself easily keeping a steady pace over a buck-fifty on the highways and main streets. Hell, even the back alleys were a bit of a chuckle. Nothing, not even a dumpster, can withstand the sheer rage and madness of a Skyline roaring it’s way.
I’ve read/heard many complaints about the difficulty of the game, and I have to say… QUIT YOUR BITCHING! Rants range from checkpoints becoming difficult to find to the AI having some strange ability to rubber-band back to your general position. Seriously folks? Are we that spoiled with the difficulty curve on video games these days? Go back and play a few rounds of Contra would ya?
For me, this is where Midnight Zen comes to play.
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