Too Fast and Relentless for its own good, but nonetheless a highly addictive beautiful game!!!
-Nice looking Cars
-Fun to play during leisure time
-Beautiful Graphics
-Fast paced Racing
Negatives:
-Limited Car Selection
-Customization is lacking
-Long overdone police chases
-Doesn't feel like LA (I live in Los Angeles)
-A.I. dominance
-Too Arcady
Midnight Club Los Angeles is a beautiful game, though night time graphics are dull and boring. The games graphics shine at dawn, noon, and dusk creating an lighting effect only seen in GTA IV which was nothing short of impressive. The cars handle well, but understeer and oversteer are prominent (mostly when driving below 40 mph, but it still is bothersome and is apparent in racing as well). The car models are not photorealistic like GT, but they are pleasing to the eye and are worth an applause, but some cars could have been paid more attention too like the lower the end cars such as the Lancer, Cobalt, etc. The soundtrack is "so so" compared to Midnight Club III, but it does a great job at creating the atmosphere with a mix of rock and rap, but some songs are just plain annoying like the main title song which I still do not enjoy listening to when I start the game.
The story in this game seems like a less corny version of a need for speed game, but with a more serious tone which is understandable for a game which does not take itself too seriously which makes this game more enjoyable each second behind the controller. But then again, why choose this formula when you had something better already. You land in Los Angeles, looking to make money to race faster cars to become the king of the streets, yeah not much going on in the story department. On top of that, why do we need a story, this is a race car game. I think the story makes the game feel silly at times, but other times it gives the game a nice flow.
Gameplay wise, it is just like Dub edtion, the game is full of fast and I mean fast racing which makes accidents a dominant part of the gaming experience. But missing a car by a hair makes the race more intense and being able to finish a race head on with a competitor is damn near beautiful. Many people complain about the difficulty of this game, but if the A.I. were a clumsy as you, once you become a pro at the game, each race would be a breeze making the game unplayable because the novelty quality has diminished. I will admit though that the A.I. in the game have a unfair advantage because they can crash wtihout it affecting their progression and they use Rubberband techniques to catch up even though you have a faster car and you have left them in your dust. Upgrades don't do anything except give you car more power, sounds great, but then as you upgrade, your opponents makes their car more potent, so this means you are racing the same unbalanced races, just at faster speeds. Really kills the point of upgrading. My favorite car is the Saleen 302 because it has weight to it and the speed of an exotic. A lot of the fast cars in the game are light and slippery making it hard to complete races without sliding because you are going too fast for the brakes to be responsive. The game feels arcady which is good, but then again it feels cheap because you spend forever sliding, which is fun just like in Midnight Club III, but then again, it doesn't produce the same fun factor it use too because the A.I. makes fun sliding feel like an amateur mistake, allowing them to overtake you. Even though they have created a patch for the games difficulty, it does not fix all the difficulty issues and on top of that, the game should have never been this difficult to start with. The patch though made Medium races feels like Medium races, but Hard races are just plain hard, and with traffic in your way at every corner, this game can be down right frustrating to play.
Some dissapointments include limited car choices. Not enough muscle cars, not enough exotic, not enough luxuries, not enough everything in the car department. Dub set the bar, and MCLA couldn't reach it. I also hate the long and overdone police pursuits, (mostly during freeway races), the far camera views, and unrelentless godly A.I. Another thing that puts the game on a crush, in my opinions, is Rockstar got rid of the car class/type based tournament races which were fun, but I guess with such a limited amount of cars in each class, everyone would be racing the same car. Hopefully downloadable content will be available.
In the end, this game is a game I can just come home and play because it is a race car game that is fun as hell, though midnight club feels like it is missing something that would make the game whole. I enjoyed it every second even though I listed so many negative, but it feels like the continuation of an old series that needs new ideas. Midnight Club III was mind blowing, while this game is just another game. The game has less of a Wow factor compared to the last installment. I still play the game non stop and just cruising around is a good way to get time to past when their is nothing better to do, but I was expecting more. Grid is a better game, but Midnight Light club can last forever because it is a free roaming game. After playing this game, I feel like it is time to give arcade racers a rest and start playing simulation racers like Gran Turismo. Never actually owned one becasue I felt I couldn't do all the childish things I could in an arcade racer, but these type of racing games are not as appealing to me anymore, not in this day and age.