Silicon Fusion >> Reviews >> Midtown Madness 3

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Review:

2nd July 2003:
Midtown Madness 3
Drive what you want, where you want, how you want, and thanks to Xbox Live - with whomever you want.
Posted by John Grothier - Xbox - UK and Europe

Once in a while as a game reviewer you get to hear about a game in development many months or even years before it's released, and despite the fact that I am in my early thirties, I actually still get rather excited about them. The only trouble is, as with mega-budget films, the hype rarely seems to live up to expectation. Midtown Madness 3 thankfully does not fall into this category - it is one of the most impressive first-party titles since Rallisport Challenge, which was also created by Digital Illusions.

Midtown Madness 3 is all about fun. Driving fun, in two of the worlds most exciting cities - Paris and Washington DC. Each city is modelled on its real-life counterpart with all the well-known landmarks, buildings, major roads, and even parks recreated on your Xbox. Both cities also have their own particular kinds of pedestrians walking the streets, and each their own ambient noises peculiar to that city. Midtown Madness 3 is not only packed with so much attention to detail, it also happens to be one of the best racers available on the Xbox as well.

After a short movie that shows the player the spirit in which the game is intended, the main menu greets you with many options. The single player mode consists of a mission-based game - 'Work Undercover'. The premise of this mode is that you must assume the role of several different driving professions to uncover a plot. You start as a pizza delivery driver and work you way through many different careers including a taxi driver, a paramedic, a car salesman, a police officer, a stunt car driver and even a private eye. Many of these missions borrow heavily from games like Crazy Taxi, and each city has its own story and set of mission-based careers to go with it. If you complete the four working jobs you unlock the car or vehicle that goes with that particular career - so if you complete the police officer jobs you get to keep the car. Other single player modes include 'Cruise', in which you can drive around either city in whatever cars you have unlocked, choose the time of day, weather, traffic density, and even the season of the year. 'Blitz' mode is all about racing through checkpoints before the clock runs out, and 'Checkpoint' is a thrilling race to the finish against some quite devious computer controlled opponents. A clever feature in both Blitz and Checkpoint modes is that they are both vehicle sensitive, so with Blitz if you choose a fire engine you will get more time to finish the race that if you were driving a sports car, and sometimes it might well be the right way to finish the course on time. With Checkpoint, your opponents will drive cars and vehicles of a similar power.

There are a staggering thirty-two type of cars and vehicles in Midtown Madness 3, as well as a couple of super-cars that are hidden - one in each city. These range from slow moving vehicles like the garbage truck and cement mixer to the Lotus Esprit V8 and the mighty Koenigsegg CC. A special mention must go to the controls and the collision detection - they are both spot on. Each vehicle handles as you would expect them to, albeit with slightly exaggerated physics, and you can easily plough through streetlamps, tables and chairs outside French bistros, statues in parks, other cars, everything - except the pedestrians, who always manage to comically jump out of the way just in time.

The Xbox Live play is where Midtown Madness 3 really comes alive. Superb OptiMatch settings mean that you can easily and quickly find games. As well as online 'Cruise', 'Checkpoint' and 'Blitz' modes there are four other game types available for up to eight racers. These are 'Capture the Gold', in which players must drive to a particular point in the city to pick up the gold, and then deliver it back to a set location, but beware - other drivers can steal the gold by crashing into your car. 'Tag' plays like the old schoolyard game, but the twist here is that when the clock reaches zero you are out, until the last one standing wins. 'Hunter' is good old fashion cops and robbers, one player is chosen at random as the hunter, and he must chase the other players by crashing his police car into them. Once caught by the hunter, the player then becomes a hunter until all players are finally caught. With 'Stayaway' players are fighting each other to be 'it' and the player who is 'it' for longest wins the game. The Xbox Live play is really fantastic and it has been responsible for some very late nights here at Silicon Fusion. Microsoft has also promised downloadable content on Xbox Live that will include cars, blitz and checkpoint races.

The graphics in Midtown Madness 3 are gorgeous and each city oozes detail. The framerate is set at a constant sixty frames-per-second, which never drops - even online. The cities contain all the tourist hotspots, monuments and buildings that you would expect, all beautifully rendered, there is virtually no pop-up, and the draw distance is quite amazing. The size of each of the cities is also quite staggering, and it will take the average player a few minutes to drive from one side of the city to the other. The game's sound has all the standard racing noises that you would expect, but as well as engines revving and tires screeching, each city has its own distinct ambient noises, and the pedestrians will also shout out if you get too close to them. The music fits the game perfectly, but thankfully you can add your own tracks if you wish, and everything is presented in Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

Overall Midtown Madness 3 is one of the best racers I have played for many a year, and if you have Xbox Live, buy this game and then take a week off work - you won't be disappointed!

John Grothier

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Review Summary:

Drive through Paris and Washington DC is this fantastic Xbox Live enabled racer from Digital Illusions. Superb Xbox Live play for up to eight racers with full voice support. We think this is one of the most enjoyable racers yet seen on the Xbox. 40+ single player missions and lots of paint jobs to try and collect around both of the cities.

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