Got the game last week, thought fellow XBox owners would like someone's take on the game:
Overall: 9.5/10
Preface: If you have never played Midtown Madness for the PC, now is the chance to redeem yourself. Midtown Madness is one of a series of racing games published by Microsoft (along with Motorcross Madness) that combines a perfect combination of realism and arcade racing. The Midtown Madness series (will hereby be called MM for short) takes place in real life cities around the world, where players get their chance to show their stuff so to speak. MM1 included Chicago, MM2 London and San Fransisco, and MM3 has Washington D.C. and Paris. Each city is modeled after it's real life counterpart - I'ver personally never been to any of the above mentioned cities but according to most sites, every street, alley, building, and landmark are accounted for. Midtown Madness 3 is a combination of Crazy Taxi, Project Gotham Racing, Cruisin' USA, San Fransisco Rush, and Wreckless all rolled into one solid, ass kicking game.
The concept of the game is simple - pick a car, blow away opponents by beating them through checkpoints in blitz or checkpoint mode. MM3 has over 30 cars to choose from - you have a limited standard selection to choose from at first, ranging from a bus to a VW Beetle RSi. New vehicles are unlocked by completing missions in different modes of play or finding them in Cruise mode. Blitz mode is just that - take your car around checkpoints as fast as you possibly can. Checkpoint mode is similar but also includes 2 player split screen mode and several options. Cruise mode lets you cruise/explore the city, so you can become familiar with the streets and sights. Undercover mode is an indepth mission mode where you are an undercover officer and have to drive different vehicles from taxis, limos, security trucks, and so forth.
The gameplay is simple yet addicting. MM3 is a step back from MM1 - whereas MM1 focused a little bit more on the physics/realism, MM3 lives up to the "Madness" it's title aptly describes. The gameplay is pure arcade - taking turns at 200mph, going on 2 wheels. Taking ramps and flying over rivers and buildings. Going on a 360 degree loop and flying over a building. The arcade gameplay is what makes this game so fun and addicting. In order to get most of the paint jobs in the game, one must fly over some sort of building or obstacle in order to get it, as well as certain hidden cars hidden in trees or other obscure places. The sheer size of the cities and number of secrets to be found gives this game almost infinite replay value in single player mode.
However, multiplayer is where this game shines. This game is playable via 2 player split screen, via LAN, or best of all, via Live! In multiplayer, you can pick from Cruise Mode, Hunter, Tag, Checkpoint, Capture the Gold, and Stayaway. Cruise lets you explore the city, so other players can show you neat tricks they've discovered. Hunter - one person starts out as the hunter - the others are prey - when the hunter's car hits the prey's car, the prey becomes a hunter. The last person who is prey wins. Tag is where one person is it and if they don't hit another player's car, when time runs out they're out. Checkpoint is standard checkpoint racing. Capture the Gold - go get the gold and deposit it at a certain spot. Stayaway - one person has the rabbit - the person who has it the longest wins. Each mode is super addicting and mind numbingly fun to play. Even with voice activated, there's very little lag and the $hit talking over the Live! communicator is one of the best features.
Graphics: Some of the best graphics to date on the XBox, imho. Very reminiscent of Wreckless - I thought at first I was playing that game when I popped MM3 in, but after more time with the game, the graphics are a lot sharper, textures more rich and detailed. The amount of detail in the cities is amazing - the street signs, trees, buildings, everything is there in all it's wonderful glory. The cars show damage after having been in a couple of wrecks - compartments on the ambulance flop open, bumpers hang off the car, just one of the little details that goes a long way in the game. Some of the people on the street are carrying several boxes of XBox consoles, another nice touch
One very nice touch is the replay whe your car lands on 2 wheels/is about to flip over. It goes into a hi-res mode of sorts and makes for a nice touch.
Sound: nothing bad to say here: people screaming, cars screeching around corners, objects flying and clattering when you run them over, all magnificently reproduced. I wish I had a 5.1 system or something other than regular TV speakers to play this on because I'm sure it would scream on a great sound system.
Controls: controls are simple - gas, brake, handbrake, change view, headlights, gear up and down. Controls are nice and tight for an acrade game - it's easy weaving and bobbing through traffic at 180mph.
Gripes: One of my main gripes is the player listing in multiplayer modes. It lists all the players in the game and takes up half of the left side of the screen. Although transparent, it is very annoying and constantly gets in the way of the action. Possibly delegating that listing by having it appear by pressing a button would be a better choice. Games are sometimes no longer available, even a mere second or two after refreshing the list on Live! Lack of vehicular combat or drag racing - although this is just a wish, those two options would have made the game awesome. And Mathilda - could they have picked a more annoying voiceover for her character?
But in the grand scheme of things, those gripes are only a tiny chip in the paint of this magnificent beauty of a game. I will be playing this game for the next few weeks on end, and when I get bored of single player I always have a solid, action packed multiplayer mode to pick from. Titles like Halo, Splinter Cell, and Mechassault are constantly named as A-list titles for the XBox: MM3 is the next A-list title to solidify a spot on that coveted list. If you own a XBox, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
(If you have this game and wish to make a comment/add your own review, by all means please do)
Overall: 9.5/10
Preface: If you have never played Midtown Madness for the PC, now is the chance to redeem yourself. Midtown Madness is one of a series of racing games published by Microsoft (along with Motorcross Madness) that combines a perfect combination of realism and arcade racing. The Midtown Madness series (will hereby be called MM for short) takes place in real life cities around the world, where players get their chance to show their stuff so to speak. MM1 included Chicago, MM2 London and San Fransisco, and MM3 has Washington D.C. and Paris. Each city is modeled after it's real life counterpart - I'ver personally never been to any of the above mentioned cities but according to most sites, every street, alley, building, and landmark are accounted for. Midtown Madness 3 is a combination of Crazy Taxi, Project Gotham Racing, Cruisin' USA, San Fransisco Rush, and Wreckless all rolled into one solid, ass kicking game.
The concept of the game is simple - pick a car, blow away opponents by beating them through checkpoints in blitz or checkpoint mode. MM3 has over 30 cars to choose from - you have a limited standard selection to choose from at first, ranging from a bus to a VW Beetle RSi. New vehicles are unlocked by completing missions in different modes of play or finding them in Cruise mode. Blitz mode is just that - take your car around checkpoints as fast as you possibly can. Checkpoint mode is similar but also includes 2 player split screen mode and several options. Cruise mode lets you cruise/explore the city, so you can become familiar with the streets and sights. Undercover mode is an indepth mission mode where you are an undercover officer and have to drive different vehicles from taxis, limos, security trucks, and so forth.
The gameplay is simple yet addicting. MM3 is a step back from MM1 - whereas MM1 focused a little bit more on the physics/realism, MM3 lives up to the "Madness" it's title aptly describes. The gameplay is pure arcade - taking turns at 200mph, going on 2 wheels. Taking ramps and flying over rivers and buildings. Going on a 360 degree loop and flying over a building. The arcade gameplay is what makes this game so fun and addicting. In order to get most of the paint jobs in the game, one must fly over some sort of building or obstacle in order to get it, as well as certain hidden cars hidden in trees or other obscure places. The sheer size of the cities and number of secrets to be found gives this game almost infinite replay value in single player mode.
However, multiplayer is where this game shines. This game is playable via 2 player split screen, via LAN, or best of all, via Live! In multiplayer, you can pick from Cruise Mode, Hunter, Tag, Checkpoint, Capture the Gold, and Stayaway. Cruise lets you explore the city, so other players can show you neat tricks they've discovered. Hunter - one person starts out as the hunter - the others are prey - when the hunter's car hits the prey's car, the prey becomes a hunter. The last person who is prey wins. Tag is where one person is it and if they don't hit another player's car, when time runs out they're out. Checkpoint is standard checkpoint racing. Capture the Gold - go get the gold and deposit it at a certain spot. Stayaway - one person has the rabbit - the person who has it the longest wins. Each mode is super addicting and mind numbingly fun to play. Even with voice activated, there's very little lag and the $hit talking over the Live! communicator is one of the best features.
Graphics: Some of the best graphics to date on the XBox, imho. Very reminiscent of Wreckless - I thought at first I was playing that game when I popped MM3 in, but after more time with the game, the graphics are a lot sharper, textures more rich and detailed. The amount of detail in the cities is amazing - the street signs, trees, buildings, everything is there in all it's wonderful glory. The cars show damage after having been in a couple of wrecks - compartments on the ambulance flop open, bumpers hang off the car, just one of the little details that goes a long way in the game. Some of the people on the street are carrying several boxes of XBox consoles, another nice touch
One very nice touch is the replay whe your car lands on 2 wheels/is about to flip over. It goes into a hi-res mode of sorts and makes for a nice touch.Sound: nothing bad to say here: people screaming, cars screeching around corners, objects flying and clattering when you run them over, all magnificently reproduced. I wish I had a 5.1 system or something other than regular TV speakers to play this on because I'm sure it would scream on a great sound system.
Controls: controls are simple - gas, brake, handbrake, change view, headlights, gear up and down. Controls are nice and tight for an acrade game - it's easy weaving and bobbing through traffic at 180mph.
Gripes: One of my main gripes is the player listing in multiplayer modes. It lists all the players in the game and takes up half of the left side of the screen. Although transparent, it is very annoying and constantly gets in the way of the action. Possibly delegating that listing by having it appear by pressing a button would be a better choice. Games are sometimes no longer available, even a mere second or two after refreshing the list on Live! Lack of vehicular combat or drag racing - although this is just a wish, those two options would have made the game awesome. And Mathilda - could they have picked a more annoying voiceover for her character?
But in the grand scheme of things, those gripes are only a tiny chip in the paint of this magnificent beauty of a game. I will be playing this game for the next few weeks on end, and when I get bored of single player I always have a solid, action packed multiplayer mode to pick from. Titles like Halo, Splinter Cell, and Mechassault are constantly named as A-list titles for the XBox: MM3 is the next A-list title to solidify a spot on that coveted list. If you own a XBox, you owe it to yourself to buy this game.
(If you have this game and wish to make a comment/add your own review, by all means please do)
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