ThreeSpeech gets behind the wheel of Rockstar’s latest street racer, out on PS3 today.
Rockstar’s previous games in its street-racing series have provided enough thrills, spills and screeching handbrakes to match the likes of Need For Speed or Burnout, but from what we’ve seen the latest Midnight Club really is in a different place.
Los Angeles to be precise. An almost accurate, living, breathing representation of LA made possible by the RAGE engine that made Liberty City such a cool place to be in GTA IV.
Gameplay-wise, it’s a no-holds barred street racer. Controlling your vehicle is intuitive and fun, with the Sixaxis’s dual analogue sticks used to move the car, making driving feel more realistic than using buttons for accelerate/reverse. You’ve still got a handbrake button, of course – useful for those turns and drifts you’ll need to corner more effectively.
There are mission races that progress the game, but you can start races anywhere at any time, just by flashing your lights at likely lads in similarly pimped-out rides.
You race for money and reputation points, and the more you have of both, the better cars you can buy and the higher the stakes you can compete for.
It’s looking pretty amazing, with fast graphics and animation, stunning environmental and weather effects with a day/night cycle. There are also realistic traffic volumes dependent on the time of day. Rush hour is a blast, but then so too is racing in the wee small hours along emptier freeways. You have to be mindful of the police though, as they will try and nick you for your naughty racing antics.
You’ll recognise the city’s most famous spots, like the Santa Monica pier, LA River, Sunset and Mulholland Drive – all of which you can find using a nice little GPS that shows your location in 3D.
Camera angles and special effects play a big part in the game experience too, with motion blur, vapour trails, pretty tracers and the effect of pulling away from the camera when accelerating, plus a ‘nitrous camera’ that could make you feel car sick.
Vehicle-wise, because you start out with no cash and have to take what you’re given, ThreeSpeech spent most of its time thrashing a 1980 VW Golf around the city. But we’ve also seen Mitsubishis, Chevvys, a Mustang, 1979 Pontiac Firebird, Benzes, Lambos and an Aston Martin. Plus there’s a couple of bikes to race too, a Kawasaki and a Ducati. The handling of each different vehicle is as realistic as we’ve ever seen.
This could well be the best street racer yet. And absolutely nothing beats the thrill of speeding down the Los Angeles River in a Golf with Five-O on your tail.
What the heck is that R34 doing with four (tiny) tailpipes? It’s a straight six, people!
Comment by nemo — Oct 24, 2008 @ 5:34 pm
Does it support Logitech G25 wheel?
Comment by TheRealDeal — Oct 24, 2008 @ 5:52 pm
my copy got dispatched today, looks like they’ve nailed this game spot on. a ‘proper’ street racing game, unlike that ridiculous BurpUp: Paradise
anyone who thinks different should go back and play BurnOut: Revenge to see just how much fun BO:P isn’t in comparison.
article about MC: LA in PSM3 this month with a full car listing.
Comment by mobiletone — Oct 24, 2008 @ 6:15 pm
Looks great! Cant wait to have a drive, but still kinda busy with Gran turismo, I love the real driving simulator!
Comment by E-ROLE — Oct 24, 2008 @ 8:30 pm
The pictures are awesome!
Comment by reakt — Oct 24, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
loving the ThreeSpeech VW Golf there. top paint job guys!
about time we knew your PSN iD’s i say
Comment by mobiletone — Oct 24, 2008 @ 10:16 pm
You’ve probably already heard the news: this coming Monday, October 27th, there will be an update made available on the PlayStation Network to unlock the entire Trophy system for Grand Theft Auto IV on PLAYSTATION 3.
Comment by mobiletone — Oct 25, 2008 @ 9:36 am
I don’t get it. What did he say?
Comment by Liset Boulanger — Oct 25, 2008 @ 9:49 am
this is a sweet game rockstar is making great games this generation i got my copy 2 days ago and have been playing since its a mush have for everyone.
Comment by Mezzo — Oct 26, 2008 @ 1:02 am
Got this today, takes a while to get used to but once your into it its addictive.
Lots of races and customisation which i like.
Can pick it up for £32 in HMV if your interested. This is hitting the spot after a personally underwhelming burnout: paradise experience.
Comment by Ricky — Oct 26, 2008 @ 1:27 am
ik think threespeech should stop waisting bandwith pushing games,which cannot live up to the hype..
Anybody who played the game knows the controles are utta Crap..
Even the PSP version of MCLA plays better the console version
especially the line ”
“The handling of each different vehicle is as realistic as we’ve ever seen”
http://static.politiek-digitaal.nl/uploads/images/359/irak_minister_informatie.jpg
next time play the game and give an honnest opinion instead of a paid one
Comment by t3rr0rt!me — Oct 26, 2008 @ 9:14 am
@ t3rr0r!me - you can customise the controls you know, i’ve got my go fast and stop controls rigged to my trigger buttons. this is a great racing game, and it’s being sold for around 30 notes everywhere, what is there to moan about??
plus you can have it linked to the rockstar social club, can upload your pics from in-game, rate others rides, build custom races, cruise and race online… jeez, it goes on.
the vehicles are sweet, the day/night city life cycles are pure class. there’s point to point racing and circuit racing, arcade modes.. to be honest, no other street racing game is as fully featured as this one.
http://socialclub.rockstargames.com/RockstarWebServices/mcla/common/getsakeimage.ashx?pid=50635932&fileid=1724275
Comment by mobiletone — Oct 26, 2008 @ 10:26 am
@mobiletone:
“The handling of each different vehicle is as realistic as we’ve ever seen”
you don’t have to see more than stevie wonder to agree with me that it is completely bullocks..
i’ts an arcade game not a sim!!
i’ve played it for over 20 hours now and today dropped it back @ the store for a full refund.
still waiting on The handling of each different vehicle is as realistic as we’ve ever seen.
ps while we”r at it:
SCEE why did’t LBP get delayed for 4 weeks alsmost in the EU,if you release an update 1.2 this week for it, causing the famous tracks to disappear.
meaning the world could have bought your lbipod already
Comment by t3rr0rt!me — Oct 26, 2008 @ 4:01 pm
I picked this up on Friday and have enjoyed it all weekend, the racing is tough but once you start to learn your way round Los Angeles the wins start to come and the customisation is top notch. Alot like MC3:Dub Edition but with that next gen sparkle. I like it alot and I’ve not advanced past the Golf gti yet..
Comment by marvzilla — Oct 27, 2008 @ 10:06 am
Umm where did those screen shots come from? Cos they are vastly superior to the actual game footage.
When I put this game in the ’station I thought I had accidentally bought PS2 version. Yes its that bad.
If you own Burnout Paradise don’t touch this game at all. Game controls are a joke. Camera view made me seasick after 2 hours of playing.
Wait for For Speed Undercover instead.
Comment by magik986 — Oct 27, 2008 @ 11:36 am
god knows what magik986 is goin on about??!!
the graphics are f*ing mint (nice zoom into the car as well)
and it runs in full 1080p!!!
i think you need your eyes sorted mate..
Comment by seedaripper1973 — Oct 27, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
@ seedaripper1973 : Is it NATIVE 1080p or scaled 1080p?
Comment by Savage( CartBlanche ) — Oct 27, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
@ t3rr0rt!me - ok, i’ll give you the handling, but it IS an arcade racer FFS. what do you expect?
*loves drifting the wide bends in my scirocco at 120mph*
Comment by MobileTone — Oct 27, 2008 @ 1:07 pm
I think I’ll hold out for Need for speed: Undercover next month….
Comment by Aragorn1001 — Oct 28, 2008 @ 11:47 am
Looks great, but is a borefest. Mine’s already gone back.
Comment by Cho — Oct 29, 2008 @ 12:05 am
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