Midnight Club: Los Angeles reviews

First off, just to clear this up from the previous review, if you're connected to Xbox Live, there is now a patch that fixes the broken difficulty problems and makes the game far more accessible.

Open world racing games have come a long way this generation, each trying to out do anothers attempt. Test Drive gave you an entire island in Hawaii, Burnout Paradise gave you a ficticious city which was quite large in its own right and now the newest, Midnight Club LA which faithfully recreates a lot of Santa Monica, Downtown and Beverly Hills.

Racing is pretty straight forward although unmodded cars handle like a boat in the Pacific Ocean but as races are won and your skill level increases in each particular car, parts become available. Modding is pretty straight forward, purchase parts and off you go. No need for mucking around with settings, although plenty of time to make some amazing paintjobs with the custom paint section which is very reminicent of the Forza Motorsport games.

Time of day cycles through the night, rain appearing every few days here and there in different parts of the city which is handled nicely. Puddles appear as you near a rainy area and then the clouds appear darker and the sun disappears. Graphics are beautiful and the amount of city life around is amazing. Freeways are busy, footpaths have lots of pedestrians and of course cops patrol the areas so its not uncommon to get into a police chase mid race.

Overall this is a great arcade racer, a ton of racing modes, times trials, pink slips, wager races and promised new areas released for free on Xbox Live as well as sme great online game modes with friends. Highly recommended (But only if you can get the patch as previously mentioned).

A few scratches, good price, good game , good trade, very happy

If you are into the fast and furious movies and are into games then this is for you. The graphics are amazing and honestly there is no way you can get bored of it. One fault of the game is how easy it is to crash, almost the slightest bump will spin you out but the more you play the game the less you crash and the better it gets! I finished this game in about 25 hours and must say it is one of the top games I have ever played. I'll easily rate this a 9.5/10

Wow. got this for $40 and i think it is worth sooo much more. i got a great deal at $40 and at my opinion this is a must have. Great graphics. Epic driving. Elite cars. Such a great game and should not leave my consoles disc tray for many months

Let me begin by saying that although I have played almost all of the racing games released on the xbox 360 I had not played a Midnight Club game until this one. I was pleasantly surprised when I picked this up. In comparison with games like Test Drive Unlimited and the Project Gotham games, Midnight Club is on a par, if not better than these games. In terms of pure racing enjoyment it surpasses both in my opinion.

The game is set in a condensed version of Los Angeles. The map is extended by a third by the free South Central download. The city looks incredible and vibrant and contains open boulevards, narrow side streets, and highways. A full day/night cycle is present in the game along with variable weather: sun, rain and fog. Graphically, the game is excellent apart from a minor texture load issue at high speed. The in-car view is very immersive too.

The career mode structure is flexible. Races are color coded based on difficulty and you will always have between 6–10 different races to choose from as you progress. Race types include point to point races, circuit races and tournaments. There are also delivery missions (where you must deliver without damaging it too much, and within a time limit) and sabotage missions (where you chase and damage another car).

MCLA has been criticised for its difficulty, and specifically its rubberband A.I. Essentially the game's difficulty depends on the your win/lose ratio. If you are constantly winning the AI becomes more difficult, while if you lose often, the AI will ease up. This means you will have to compete in some races than you won't win, because you must finish the race for the AI adjuster to analyse your performance. However you will still earn cash and reputation points. Rep points allow you to unlock better, faster cars, and extra parts for customization.

The customization options are vast. Spoilers, sideskirts, hoods, widebodies, wheels, tyres are just some of the things that can be changed. A Vinyl editor similar to that found in Forza 2 is also included, as is a paint editor. Your customised ride can be uploaded to be rated and purchased by other members of the online community.

To conclude, I would recommend buying this game. The career mode will take over 40 hours to complete and even then the race editor and online modes provide longevity. If your a racing fan you cannot miss this game.

This is a superb title for anyone interested in the street-racing scene, full-stop.

With customisation so in-depth you can add neon lighting to the INSIDE of your car, add a tacho to your dash (with a yellow shift light too) and edit vinyls to a level only Forza 2 can compete – this will keep you busy!

It's huge, there's at least 20 hours of gameplay in the box alone and more with the DLC that adds a whole new region to the map. Great graphics all-around, including cockpit views – I spent ages test-driving the cars just to check them out inside! Fun voice-acting, nice cutscenes and great SFX

Overall a great racer that will keep you occupied for many-an-hour – at least until Forza 3 arrives…

This is a fantastic update to the Midnight Club franchise, especially in the graphics department. Rockstar have created THE best looking free-roaming enviroment i have seen on a game yet( apart from Far Cry 2). And you have to see the rain effects to believe them. It's not photo-realistic, but it won't be long now( Midnight Club 5 or 6 mabye).

Another excellent point for this game is its ability to modify your car. While it lacks the autosculpt seen in the need for speed series, the visual customisation level for each vehicle is far from small. I personally loved the fact that the vinyl( stickers for your car) range was so extensive, which was something that i thought let other games down.

As for the racing? Ummm… that really depends on wether you like the handling physics or not. I actually prefer games like Need for Speed Most Wanted in this respect, but that is only my opinion. The cars seem to lack weight, and impacts at high speed with traffic or crash barriers sends the car spinning out of control. This wouldn't be so bad if the AI wasn't so hard. The difficulty level for this game is quite steep, and may put some people off from attepmting to finish it. But if you like a challenge, then Midnight Club will deliver in truckloads.