A lot of the underground racers had quite deep customization options. L.A. Rush and Juiced has great customizing options, while SRS had some unique perks. Unfortunately, none of the aforementioned titles were particularly fun. That was because the most important aspect of gameplay, the actual racing, wasn’t well put together. One of the points that was emphasised to us, was that Midnight Club: Los Angeles was about the racing gameplay, first and foremost. You will be able to customize and the like, but it comes down to the actual racing first.
Get ready to race.
As was mentioned in our previous first look preview, the progression in Midnight Club: Los Angeles is based on two aspects. Firstly, you will have access to Rockstar’s recreated version of Los Angeles. While not 100% accurate, anyone who has been to LA ought to have a bit of familiarity. A simple GPS navigator allows players to jump in and out of locations and races. To further add to the simplicity, if you see someone who is up for a race, you need only to flash you lights to start the race. Before the actual race, you’ll need to actually race your opponent to the starting line as well. The point is to keep the players in the game and out of the menus.
Secondly, in the previous Midnight Club games, some players who liked to race but may not have been particularly fantastic gamers, may have been frustrated with the need to win EVERY race. In Midnight Club: Los Angeles, you will earn some ‘reputation’ points regardless of your placing in any particular race. So you don’t have to win every single race to move forward in the game. Hopefully, this will open up the game to those who found it too hard before.
The actual racing, while reminiscent of previous titles, looks to be a fairly exhilarating affair. Not only will there be a variety of cinematic and action-orientated camera angles, but different classes of cars will look to handle differently. We got to see three cars in action, 2006 Mitsubishi 3000GT, a 1969 Mustang 302 Boss, and a 2006 Lamborghini Gallardo Roadster, though the final roster is still to be decided. It was interesting to see how differently the Mustang handled from the Lamborghini.
The camera would adapt with the players actions. For example, it would go into an ‘over-the-shoulder’ view as the boost was cranked up, or it would adapt to drifts and slides to make them look more dramatic. While in the air, there was full control of the camera angle that could be viewed. The actual racing was similar to the rest of the series, that is, point-to-point racing. However, the design was quite solid, as there was more then one path and there were situations where the cars had to veer off course to avoid carnage, though the potential then was to find a new, better course.
Look at the detail..
While the game was still in need of some polish (which is common for games that are months away from release), the racing was very well designed and so far, managed a great sense of speed and control. Not to mention, the way you raced across the road actually felt like you were racing across a road. Among the other features, players will be able to do some limited customizing and whatnot on the go, instead of trekking back to their garage. There will be extensive online options but none were elaborated to us and DUB will have some sort of affiliation with the game, though again, we don't have any confirmations at this time.
Despite being in somewhat the earlier stages of development, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is shaping up very nicely. While it’s rather obvious that it has been heavily built off its predecessors, the fixes in difficulty, the expulsion of menus and the cinematic adjustments indicate some evolution, but not at the expense of fast and challenging street racing. While a lot is still under wraps, after what we’ve seen, we’re confident that Midnight Club: Los Angeles will again be at the forefront of street racing, when it’s released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
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