Midnight Club LA Remix is probably the best racing game I've played on the PSP.
Los Angeles is represented fairly well, but unfortunately, the hardware of the PSP limits it to a small, but pretty good sized map for the PSP. It's definitely smaller than the console versions, probably by a fair bit, but what's in the map is very good. It has all the best bits of LA and it's really fun. It has Santa Monica (you can go on the beach), Hollywood (includes Universal Studios, the Sign and Capitol Records), Beverly Hills (includes Rodeo Drive and a nice boulevard), Mullholland Hills (nice hilly section and includes a Chalet hotel), Downtown (has all the buildings of the city centre), and has an industrial area, the river with the concrete slopes (very fun place to zoom around) and even LAX (International Airport), and that's all connected up with a highway system for high speed tense racing.
The handling of the cars and bikes feels very well balanced with the analog stick.
The races are pretty easy at first, and follow the basic easy to hard forumla, but at a nice rate, unlike the console versions which are really hard by the sounds of it.
There is plenty of customisation for everyone. It's at a pretty good level and I really enjoy customising vehicles.
The graphics of this game is very good for a PSP racer, but the draw distance could be only a slight bit better, but I still am impressed.
The soundtrack is ok, but there are some songs there they should've replaced. My favourite song in the soundtrack is probably 'Get Out' by The Vines. One song I was dissapointed to find not in the game is 'Hollywood' by Collective Soul.
The only major downside to the game is that you may not have enough money to buy all or most of the cars in the game unless you win every race.
I've heard some complaints from other reviews about lots of traffic and bad placement of checkpoints and that it's hard to see it all on the map. I disagree because my eyes are very good and react very well with looking at the map and the screen. If you do have some eye problems though, then why are you playing on the PSP?
Overall, this game is a must buy for PSP gamers who like open world games or racing games. It is very enjoyable, and even with the limits of the hardware, this game is still very impressive and highly enjoyable.
I give it overall an 'A' and 8.9/10