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Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (PSP) Review
Its been a few months since the release of the PSP and so far there really hasn't been a game that could be labeled "amazing". Its not exactly a surprise, as most platform launches are complemented with a less than stellar first year. The pace seems to be picking up though because Rockstar's Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition seems to be the first step in the right direction.
First things first. Midnight Club 3 for the PSP is basically a console port. The gameplay and audio aspects of the game are fully intact from the console versions with the only noticeable change being the graphics. Even from that aspect the game looks pretty much the same. More of a technical feat than a gameplay one, Midnight Club 3 achieves some pretty impressive visuals for the PSP and the game controls as well as any racer should.
For those of you expecting something like Gran Turismo, you can pretty much turn your head and look elsewhere. Midnight Club doesn't strive for realism anymore than a game like Burnout (which in case you didn't know, is very little). The game is all about speed and customization. You pick a car, tune it up and set it out to tear up the streets. The game's controls are handled excellently with the analog nub being used for steering and the right shoulder button used for breaking. This leaves the main buttons being used for acceleration and that typically overused "nitro" feature. Along with the general controls MCIII allows you to tilt your car on two wheels to get through tricky traffic situations. Its a nice feature in theory, but on the PSP, its button placement on the left shoulder leaves room for some pretty nasty crashes.
What sets Midnight Club apart from most other racing franchises is that instead of using closed in tracks and often predetermined courses, the game places you in a large city and when in a race, checkpoints appear to direct you around the seemingly "invisible" course. Players maintain their placing in each race by either driving through or near the checkpoints. The ability to move away from the other racers and go through shortcuts is where the game gains a lot of its appeal, granted that you reach the next checkpoint in time. The game features three massive cities that are filled with racing events and challenges. The variety of events is impressive as the game features other modes that break away from conventional racing games, namely capture the flag. In capture the flag, the entire city is open to you as you race any way you can to grab the flag and bring it to the goal. How you actually get there doesn't matter at all, but there will be plenty of other opponents trying their hardest to get to it first. Paint is another interesting mode that has racers cruising the city trying to color the most checkpoints. Not as fun as CTF, but fun nonetheless.
During some of the races you will have the opportunity to collect powerups that initiate different effects. They can range from gaining nitro to completely stopping another racer's engines as you breeze past them. Speaking of breezing, the game takes the typically tacked on nitro ability and adds another element to its usage. During a race, as you tail another car your boost meter will rise as you catch the air that passes behind the opponents car. When the meter reaches its height you can initiate a boost and blast off like a rocket for a short time. Its a useful feature, especially when you find yourself falling too far behind. The career mode ends up being the bulk of the game as you will use the money you gain in events to buy and customize cars.
Customization will be the game's key draw for racing enthusiasts. Pretty much anything you can think of can be customized and with the right money you can truly put together an intimidating monster. With over 60 licensed cars and hundreds of different things to tweak such as paint jobs, rims, performance tuning and suspension, the game will keep most perfectionists busy for quite a while.
One of the best features of the console Midnight Clubs was its online features. Playing CTF with other gamers online is an experience that rarely tires. Unfortunately the infrastructure online features of the PSP are still in their infancy and for whatever reason, Rockstar only included wireless ad-hoc play for up to 5 other players. If you have the friends to play with, the multiplayer can be a blast. That is if of course, they love load times.
At first glance, Midnight Club 3 is a visual feast for the PSP. It looks very similar to its console counterparts with the only differences seeming to be with the lack of civilians, less detailed textures and more simple car models. The streets still shine, the lights still shimmer and the cars still look impressive. Most of all the expansive environments truly show what the PSP is capable of. If only the load times weren't so horrendous. Load times can be in excess of a minute most of the time and it even occurs during the simplest transitions like accessing the tuning shop. When switching between cars in the shop it takes a good ten seconds for the cars to actually load on the screen. It often becomes frustrating especially during career mode when challenges are in close proximity. Having to load up a race, load the city back up and then load another race five feet away is extremely frustrating. Another issue, which is more of a system issue than a game one is the often disorienting ghosting that occurs due to the large amounts of dark colors present (It is "Midnight" you know?). Top this off with a pretty stagnant framerate during races and you have the result of bringing over a console title to a handheld in such an ambitious project. Always playable, but often annoying, the visual side of this racer is ultimately flawed.
As far as handheld adaptations of console games go, Midnight Club 3 is definitely an achievement. It handled the gameplay and audio aspects excellently. While I'm not a fan of most of the included music, most people will find something to like in a library of largely recognizable performers. The sound effects are limited but its not so much of a problem as the game's framerate and loading times were. Pretty to look at, but a chore to deal with, Midnight Club 3 ends up like most relationships, something to work on.
Written by Joseph Bennett. Posted year 2005.
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Released on
June 26, 2005
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