Since it seems Rockstar aren't that concerned (if at all) with releasing the South Central DLC on to Xbox Live any time soon, I left myself contemplating another racing game purchase to kill the prolonged time. I brought myself to two contenders: Need for Speed Underground 2 and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix. I had a tough time deciding which one I wanted to go with, because I wanted a game with great customization options and a good car list after the lackluster inclusions on Los Angeles (even after the DLC cars). Eventually my decision came to Midnight Club 3: DUB Remix strictly because it had more and better cars. After buying the Xbox version and finding out that the 360 doesn't support the original or Remix releases, I exchanged it for the PS2 version to play on my PS3 (backwards compatibility can never be convenient, can it?). Picking up on my last save, I've drug myself through about 10% more progress, finishing some races up in San Diego and starting some in Atlanta.
Too bad it's not that simple.
Recently I've been playing a lot more games from the last generation due to the lack of good, promising games. After Midnight Club Los Angeles, no game save for maybe Red Dead Redemption and Guitar Hero Metallica (if only to play "Disposable Heroes", "Whiplash" and "Master of Puppets") has thus far sparked my curiosity (hopefully BioShock 2 and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 will entice me when we see some MOTION footage). From Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, to DBZ Budokai 2 & 3, Halo 1 (which I've held on to for a while but only recently played on co-op with my friend the other week) and now Midnight Club 3, I've been finding more of my time being spent on games that are about 3-5 years old; I feel like a semi-nostalgia gamer.
Unfortunately, not every game ages so well over time. While I'm fine with the occasional framerate die-out in Halo 1 during frantic firefights, Midnight Club 3 has shown that it's not one to be played years after its release. Allow me to break it down for you based on the past 20 or so races I've been in:
-The framerate can not keep up with half the action on-screen, not exactly helpful in a fast, frantic arcade racer
-It's easy to see the city style*s as derivative of one another (unlike Midnight Club 2, where you could easily and distinctively tell which city was which)
-The rain (which has become a part of half the races I've been in) literally ruins the handling on any vehicle you're driving
-The choppers...ugh...they handle so...so...horribly.
-Traffic (as with EVERY racing game) is awful and feels unnecessary when in a frantic race
-Racer AI is literally some of the worst, if not THE worst I can recall. Yeah, games like Need for Speed Undercover have AI that just lacks any skill or challenge, but the AI in this game is all over the place, crashing and speeding into everything (half the time you) without any second thought; it's like Burnout 3 all over again (and another reminder as to why I still say that it's the weakest in the series)
-Cops, as with the game's sequel, are annoying and unnecessary (but being able to buy cop cars for free is nice)
Yeah, this game hasn't exactly aged well at all. But I'm still going to persist since I just need another tuner-themed racing game to kill time until the South Central update comes (sorry Forza 2, my racing sim mood just isn't on now), if only to access every car and customize them how I see fit (though the customization system is a bit disappointing to me right now since I'm so used to the elaborate vinyl system in MCLA).