Midtown Madness 3

"Midtown Madness is great online, and loaded with mediocrity offline"

Midtown Madness 3 is a game with 2 faces. There is the single player game, which is mediocre at its very best. Then there is the reason anyone with xbox live should own this game….the online play.

Graphics-7

The graphics are so so. Nothing great here, looks like standard PC fare. The textures are lacking, but the general feel that the developer (at least I think) was going for was achieved. The car models are decent, but nothing is really standout.
I have a couple of problems with the collision detection, like going into a median, and getting stuck in it. The same can be said of the wals, and trees which don’t stop you, but throw you flying into the air, but if you hit a stoop, you stop dead in your tracks. That coupled with the fact that sometimes your car may “disappear” underground momentarily, some of this could have used a touch more polish.
Still there are a lot of nice little things that bring the score back up. Such as the great lighting effects. Overall, it wont knock you off your feet, but it wont make you turn away.

Sound-7.5

The sounds of the city itself are somewhat generic. Not too many of the pedestrians will say things when you nearly cream them. But the voice acting that is in the game is done well, with a silly tone. Something that can be appreciated because it does stand out from games like MC2 that has a darker tone.
The engine sounds are VERY generic. It is basically the same sound, pumped to different volumes depending on how much muscle the car you’re driving has.
Again, theres nothing standout here, but it wont make you turn down your TV. A nice feature that isn’t very well implemented is the custom soundtrack feature. There is a glitch where 1 song will loop on a given track. And after 2 or 3 times in a row, it becomes a touch redundant. However the in game music offers a decent, lighthearted approach. I could swear that during one of the single player missions I heard the theme from Miami vice.

Controls-8

Standard fare from a racing game. Nothing special, but they wont hinder your experience with it either.

Game Play- (single player)-6 (LIVE)-10

Here’s where the discrepancy begins. If you are an xbox owner without live, this game is a rental. The single player campaign consists of some “undercover” missions, but theres no real reason as to why you do them, other than to unlock cars. There are also some races, and check point timed runs, nothing great. No two ways about it, this game does not warrant your 50 hard earned dollars.
HOWEVER….if you have live, stop reading, and go buy it! The experience on live with this game is incredible. A great selection of modes to chose from. There are your standard checkpoint races. But then…..WOW. there are several modes.
Capture the gold- Free for all or teams. Basically you go get the gold, and try to stash it. Sounds simple, and the idea of it is, but it is also insanely addictive, and a lot of fun.
Hunter- there is one cop at the beginning of the game, and his goal is to tag the preys cars, thereby tuning them into police. Winner is the last man standing. Again, sounds simple. Insanely fun.
Tag- it’s tag, and when the timer runs out, if you’re “it”, you’re out. Solid mode.
Stayaway (aka rabbit) (free for all or teams)- the goal this time is to be “it” for the longest amount of time. The game is over when someone reaches the target time of having the rabbit. The rabbit is stolen from another player by tagging their car,
Cruise- this is a mode that kind of lets you kick back and mingle a little with your fellow gamers. You can do pretty much anything you want to do. There have been games created while in cruise by players who make rules up to a game (there is no option of creating a game). And basically, what you can do while in cruise is limitless.

Replayability-(sp)-5 (live)-10

Buy or rent?

I said it earlier, if you have live, buy, buy now! If you don’t have live, either wait until you do, or rent it. Theres a lot of game here, just some of it warrents playing though.

Overall-8

Midtown Madness 3 is a very addictive game. There are a ton of goodies for those willing to go the extra mile and finish the single player mode. But most of the people who own this, im willing to bet, got it to play online. And that’s where this games juice is at. I tried to be fair with the score, considering I didn’t play it before I had live. I hope this review helps someone, and if it is within your means, get live, and this game. You will be set for a long while.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/03, Updated 07/15/03