Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix

"A completely solid street racing game without any true downfalls"

The Midnight Club series has been around since the early days of the PS2, and it was probably one of the first games to capitalize on the street racing phenomenon in the wake of The Fast and the Furious. In this latest iteration, Rockstar has finally given the fans what they've wanted for so long; real cars and the ability to customize those cars. In so doing, they've attempted to prove that this, not Need For Speed, is the ultimate street racer series.

GRAPHICS
The graphics in this game have to be broken down in two ways. First, when you are sitting still and second, when you are moving at top speed. When the car is not in motion, it is easy to admire the perfectly rendered cars and the shining rain-slicked roads. However the rest of the environments are a little bland. Buildings don't possess much texture, but since the game wasn't designed to be played while driving slowly, this isn't much of an issue.

While moving at high rates of speed, graphics become another matter entirely. As you speed up, the camera pulls further behind your car, and buildings begin to blur. Eventually this does become a problem, especially if you aren't playing on a very large screen. Because of the extreme motion blur, I've often found myself squinting, trying to spot oncoming traffic or the next turn.

SOUND
There is an amazing amount of music in this game, most of it rap and techno. There is also a small selection of rock, drum and bass and dance hall. Many top names are represented, such as Lady Sovereign, Sean Paul, T.I. and even Marilyn Manson. Some new stuff was also included in the Remix edition to show some of the other names to come into the spotlight since the original Dub Edition was released. My only gripe with the soundtrack is because of the techno. To me it sounds like that horrible crap they play in cheap nightclubs everyone thinks about when someone mentions techno.

GAMEPLAY
The game is broken up into four cities, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit and added just for Remix; Tokyo. While the second two must be unlocked through progression, Tokyo is available from the get-go and gives you the opportunity to get some nice rewards, provided you have the cars required for the championships.

Races are based around car class. Each car class, tuner for instance, has its own series of races. Winning these races unlocks parts for that car class. Completion of the series is rewarded with a new car. In addition to the series races, there are championship races as well as the opportunity to challenge other racers within the city.

The racing itself is unbelievably arcade-like, with gigantic SUV's reaching speeds of one hundred fifty miles an hour in seconds flat. Other fantastic feats include hitting a ramp and flying over an entire shopping mall or freeway. Usually, with a game like this, car control is as unpredictable as the racing itself, but is pulled off flawlessly. Getting a car moving two hundred miles an hour to rocket down an alleyway without banging into the walls is fairly easy, and hitting the e-brake doesn't cause the car to spin out of control. In fact, it just puts you into an easily manageable powerslide that can be used to take a turn without losing much speed. In addition to these things you can utilize some handy skills such as turbo draft and driving on two wheels.

While not a new addition to the series, motorcycles received an overhaul for this game. In Midnight Club 2, they were nearly impossible to control. Although the handling has been significantly improved, they still aren't easy to manipulate. In addition to steering with the left thumbstick, you'll be requiring to press it up to get your rider to lean forward, in order to cut down on drag. To make matters even more complicated, you'll have to hold another button to shift the rider's weight in order to take sharp turns. This gets overwhelming and frustrating in a hurry, which is a shame because there is a large variety of bikes to drive in the game. Unfortunately, the intricacies of a motorcycle aren't easily adapted to a controller.

All in all, the game is less frustrating than its predecessors, but that's not to say it's a walk in the park. At times it can be downright infuriating. This mostly because of the trial and error nature of the racing. The mini-map only shows the next two checkpoints and there are a lot of ways to get to them, so you'll have to experiment until you nail every last turn.

CARS
There is a wide range of cars represented in the game, comprising the car classes of Tuner, Muscle, Exotic, Luxury, Truck and SUV as well as Motorcycles. Standouts are the Nissan Skyline R34, Chrysler 300C, vintage '69 Camaro, and Saleen S7. There are also a multitude of new cars in the Remix edition, such as the production Charger, Cadillac XLR, Infiniti G35 as well as two Porsche's and a Ferrari in the guise of Gemballa.

CUSTOMIZATION
In addition to the regular modifications, such as body kits, spoilers, hoods, wheels, there are also a number of other things to add to your cars. For instance, muscle cars have louvers and mudflaps and you can shop the top off luxury cars. All in all, there's enough to satisfy most tuning urges. Unfortunately, for the tuner class, the body kits are all pretty much the same, so that does cut down on what you can do.

THE VERDICT
The original Midnight Club 3 was an impressive game and nobody would have complained if this one never came out. However, since so much extra content was added and the game only costs twenty dollars, it makes for a worthy re-purchase even if you've played the original to death.

HIGHS
- Large assortment of cars
- Great music, and custom soundtracks
- New Tokyo level

LOWS
- Trial and error racing
- Sometimes too over the top
- Motorcycles still handle badly
- Excessive motion blur

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/01/07, Updated 05/04/09

Game Release: Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix (US, 03/13/06)