Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition
What was the byline we used for MC2? Oh yes: TOO. EFFING. HARD.
Published: May 6, 2005
Hey Rockstar San Diego, listen up, we have something important to tell you: you're making your games too goddamn hard. I really do love a challenge; nothing will give you that warm fuzzy feeling of accomplishment better than overcoming the odds, but by the time I got about halfway through the races in Detroit, Midnight Club 3's third and final new city, I had just about lost it. Stripped off my ability to use the one saving grace in the game, the God-like sport bike, I couldn't wrestle with the insanely high difficulty and scripted traffic events anymore. I had to finally call it quits.
Keep in mind, now, that I played through and finished Midnight Club II, a game that is, without a doubt, a more difficult experience, but I had to do a strategy guide for that, and it very nearly drove me insane. So, with MC3 a game that's certainly easier, why did I finally just give up? Aside from not having any real obligation besides my own to beat the game (which is usually why you'll see our reviews go up a lot later than most), I just couldn't take two games' worth of abuse.
It starts somewhere near the end of San Diego, the first game, that now-familiar process of restarting a race a half-dozen times. Then a dozen. Then more. By the end of the game, my restarts were becoming commonplace on every single race. If I happened to win a race within the first three or four tries, it was a miracle. All those restarts come from a couple of key factors, namely the aggressiveness of the AI (never a bad thing) and the fact that you simply can't mess up on a race later on in the game or you won't win it (never a good thing).
Those two factors combined make for a ruthlessly hard race experience, so when a racer crashes into a car, which spins into you, or slams into you while in the air, knocking you into a wall, or when a scripted event like a car barreling out of nowhere gets in your way, it means another trip to the pause menu, something that became the norm back in MC2, and is even more annoying here because I know I wasn't the only one who complained about the problem before. If this kind of difficulty were unlocked as a bonus feature after you beat the game, that'd be one thing, but punishing you for slamming into one too many corners or, even worse, taking a corner too wide on your bike but otherwise running a racer perfectly, isn't fun, it's just a cheap way to make the game seem longer.
Make no mistake, though, this is a far, far better game than MC2, and it brings with it an unrivaled sense of speed that is made all the more exciting because of the perilous nature of the traffic and claustrophobic streets, something that even games like Burnout can't really match in terms of raw, nigh-impossible courses. Grid-based city streets weren't meant to be taken at the speeds that Midnight Club and Burnout offer, and this is both the game's biggest rush and largest downside. The basic controls and driving techniques are identical to the last game, so if you're curious about the small stuff, by all means read the last game's review.
Rockstar San Diego isn't without compassion, though, and the limited improvements they made the general difficulty level (at least early on) are complemented by a trio of new skills. The Zone skill slows time to a crawl, allowing you to take corners and boost handling for a few seconds that would be normally impossible (well, unless you're on of MC3's AI racers). Agro makes your vehicle indestructible and sends anything in your path flying like pinballs -- including opponent racers. Roar issues forth a rev from your engines that clears the way in front of you; do it close enough to cars and you can literally flip them out of your way.
The catch to these powers is that they can only be performed by specific vehicles, and you'll have to run a few races with those vehicles before you can learn the skill. Sport Bikes, Tuners and Exotics can tap into Zone, Muscle Cars and Chopper Bikes can let loose with Roar and Sedans, SUVs and Trucks can go Agro. The game is at its best when you can use these skills against other racers in a nice little goulash of racing and abilities, but if you're in one of the common themed races where only certain vehicle types can do it, it's not always as effective.
Keep in mind, now, that I played through and finished Midnight Club II, a game that is, without a doubt, a more difficult experience, but I had to do a strategy guide for that, and it very nearly drove me insane. So, with MC3 a game that's certainly easier, why did I finally just give up? Aside from not having any real obligation besides my own to beat the game (which is usually why you'll see our reviews go up a lot later than most), I just couldn't take two games' worth of abuse.
It starts somewhere near the end of San Diego, the first game, that now-familiar process of restarting a race a half-dozen times. Then a dozen. Then more. By the end of the game, my restarts were becoming commonplace on every single race. If I happened to win a race within the first three or four tries, it was a miracle. All those restarts come from a couple of key factors, namely the aggressiveness of the AI (never a bad thing) and the fact that you simply can't mess up on a race later on in the game or you won't win it (never a good thing).
Those two factors combined make for a ruthlessly hard race experience, so when a racer crashes into a car, which spins into you, or slams into you while in the air, knocking you into a wall, or when a scripted event like a car barreling out of nowhere gets in your way, it means another trip to the pause menu, something that became the norm back in MC2, and is even more annoying here because I know I wasn't the only one who complained about the problem before. If this kind of difficulty were unlocked as a bonus feature after you beat the game, that'd be one thing, but punishing you for slamming into one too many corners or, even worse, taking a corner too wide on your bike but otherwise running a racer perfectly, isn't fun, it's just a cheap way to make the game seem longer.
Make no mistake, though, this is a far, far better game than MC2, and it brings with it an unrivaled sense of speed that is made all the more exciting because of the perilous nature of the traffic and claustrophobic streets, something that even games like Burnout can't really match in terms of raw, nigh-impossible courses. Grid-based city streets weren't meant to be taken at the speeds that Midnight Club and Burnout offer, and this is both the game's biggest rush and largest downside. The basic controls and driving techniques are identical to the last game, so if you're curious about the small stuff, by all means read the last game's review.
Rockstar San Diego isn't without compassion, though, and the limited improvements they made the general difficulty level (at least early on) are complemented by a trio of new skills. The Zone skill slows time to a crawl, allowing you to take corners and boost handling for a few seconds that would be normally impossible (well, unless you're on of MC3's AI racers). Agro makes your vehicle indestructible and sends anything in your path flying like pinballs -- including opponent racers. Roar issues forth a rev from your engines that clears the way in front of you; do it close enough to cars and you can literally flip them out of your way.
The catch to these powers is that they can only be performed by specific vehicles, and you'll have to run a few races with those vehicles before you can learn the skill. Sport Bikes, Tuners and Exotics can tap into Zone, Muscle Cars and Chopper Bikes can let loose with Roar and Sedans, SUVs and Trucks can go Agro. The game is at its best when you can use these skills against other racers in a nice little goulash of racing and abilities, but if you're in one of the common themed races where only certain vehicle types can do it, it's not always as effective.
