Midnight Club: Los Angeles - Complete Edition

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I just got Midnight Club Los Angeles Complete Edition the other day. I played the first Midnight Club for the PS One and wasn't a big fan. I didn't much care for the PSP Midnight Club either. But Los Angeles is a completely different story! I have to go to work early and I've been losing sleep because I can't put the controller down it's that much fun!

I think Need for Speed games have a lot going for them, but my big gripe has been vehicle physics and controls which are too loose, floaty, and unpredictable. Midnight Club LA is an arcade game and the physics are far from realistic, but they got the controls right! Dodging oncoming traffic at 150pmh is possible if you don't blink and long drifts around corners are easily controlable. Acceleration from a stop is a little cheesy (makes for more drama off the line when starting a race), but once up to speed the handling is smooth and responsive.

I used to live near LA so I see familiar sights when cruising or racing, which is cool. The sharp detail and high resolution world just waiting to be explored is gorgeous! What's really amazing is that, once you get into the game, there are almost no load times at all! With a high resolution, 3D world like this, that's amazing! The developers are really showcasing what the PS3 is capable of here.

This is not the first racing game to feature reputation points, but the way building reputation unlocks cooler cars and upgrades is neat and motivates you to keep racing. You don't earn large amounts of money from early races, but there are a lot of different types of races which keeps things interesting. You hit paydirt when you come across the chance to win your opponent's car, which can be sold for a lot more than you'd make from a series of races. The game seems to be structured around picking a few favorites from the available vehicles and upgrading them, rather than collecting all the cars. There is a good mix of car classes and the car models are beautiful and nicely rendered.

The upgrade system is not as in-depth as some Need for Speed games or Gran Turismo but that's fine for a game like this where fine-tuning suspension settings wouldn't produce a noticeable difference. The fact that they are there, unlockable, and make your car go faster and turn better is enough. I'm not a big fan of the vinyls but I do like the paint and wheel options, which are easy to use for giving your vehicles a unique and customized look.

The best thing about this game is the nicely detailed graphics of the open world, and outrageously challenging and fun gameplay. I lost quite a few races from slamming into traffic or just plain going too fast to avoid obstacles on the last lap of a race, but I don't mind because it's so much fun! Cutting through a corner gas station doing an 85mph drift, then blasting through the fence on the other side of the street into an ally way shortcut with your opponents reving right behind you... Now that's fun! It's like they took the best parts of Burnout: Paradise and Need for Speed and put them in one game!

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Ok if you want to play the game read one of the many fine posts written by true gamers. I am not a gamer per-se. I am just a dude who has cerebral palsy, autism and a ton of other disabilities that will forever prevent me from driving a real car. Trust me save the pity party because; I honestly don't want or need it. I love my life just as it is thank you. However I always wanted to know what it was like to drive. I always wanted the experience of seeing the world from behind the wheel of a car. I always wanted to drive in a virtual environment where I could not hurt anyone while enjoying what it was like to drive.

I love this game because; it lets me drive and the experience is just life like enough to make me want to visit different parts of LA. I know it sounds sort of stupid but, driving in this game gave me a chance to feel a little closer to normal if only for just the all too fleeting time where I let myself live my driving fantasy in this virtual world. Yes the game wants you to race and the game voices are built around racing. However this game is programmed loosely enough that it lets you drive around the streets of L.A. looking at the sparkling buildings, bridges and such. The game is programmed loosely enough to just let you drive by nice houses and seedy parts of LA town too.

So many video games are so driven by their stories that they do not allow the person to just drive around. Of course I have the option to drive like a maniac or drive like Miss Daisy is in the back seat barking out orders. Sometimes I drive like a mad man and other times I drive like a gentleman of both quality and breeding. The best thing is the cars are in effect indestructable. The cars DO break down after lots of abuse but you always have the option to "Fix" them. The overall quality of the "friends you have in the game are of a thuggish gangsta playah sort". The cars are all extremely nice, sporty and powerful too. You drive during the day or night. As a dude with fairly moderate Cerebral Palsy playing video games is generally a disaster but with great effort I can generally keep the car on the road. Oh I do make some really BAD mistakes which is why I don't drive in reality. Oh I CAN AND DO drive on the sidewalk. The people in this game rarely get killed by a car because; lets face it people in LA are too kewl to be hit by any car even one driven by a reckless half blind autistic werewolf with cerebral palsy.

As a dude with cerebral palsy the main thing to remember is the primary purpose of playing any video game is to have fun. I figure if a video game can deliver on its promise of fun to all people able bodied and disabled alike then it is a true gem. This video game is a true gem because; I was not SOOOO locked or forced into completing the races that I could not just drive around and have a good time doing so. What made this game fun is that I could choose to just ride around the city and enjoy the trouble I got into. What a joy to have cerebral palsy and still DRIVE around like Joe solid citizen to see the sights OF THE great LALA aka LOS ANGELES. The graphics in the game are great. The realism of the game is first rate. I did not see any glitches or flaws at least not big ones that took away from my driving experience. For the price this game was "The Bomb Biggity!" Too bad this game does not let you just commit mindless acts of mayham from behind the wheel because it would have been so much more added fun. Yes I would have loved the opportunity to be a psycho mad driver with road rage being chased by police car and feared by pedestrians EVERYWHERE! I WOULD HAVE LOVED HEARING THE GAME'S POLICE OFFICIERS BROADCASTING THE FOLLOWING ALL POINTS BULLITIN...

ATTENTION ALL UNITS...

PSYCHOTIC INDISTRUCTIBLE AUTISTIC WEREWOLF WITH CEREBRAL PALSY RECKLESSLY DRIVING INDISTRUCTIBLE CAR. APPROACH WITH CAUTION. SUBJECT IS STONE COLD CRAZY. HE CAN NEVER DIE SO KEEP LA'S CITIZENS ON FOOT AND IN CARS SAFE... THAT IS ALL!

I am happy I brought this game. It is just plain fun even if you are so disabled you will never spend time behind the wheel of a real car. Hey this is the next best thing to real life driving. CRASH ON!

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This game is closest to in terms of content is burnout paradise. Its filled with endless amount of races, every time you finish one you'll most likely get a phone call telling you there's a new race available. So you'll never have anything not to do because there not all races some of the are delivery, payback which you smash up a rivals car which might I add usually takes forever, but they're varied enough. Now how the game looks, its pretty amazing what they did the world is a living breathing L.A and all very detailed even the npc cars have enough detail to warrant just stopping to take look at their detailed car models. Soundtrack is pretty ok a couple good songs I've added to the playlist but thankfully it has custom soundtrack so its always nice to have an option to play your own music.

The difficulty in this game is insane, everything you heard about this game being difficult is true. Stay away from this game if you get easily frustrated you'll cuss this game more then any other game in your collection unless you have ninja gaiden games then forget it. AI drivers in this game is brutal they'll always beat you off the starting line unless your playing it on the easiest difficulty which this will probably wont happen. There are difficulty levels but you can't beat the game just doing the easiest races sometimes you'll have to do a hard or very hard race to continue. There is a auto-difficulty adjustment, basically whenever you lose a race the game gets easier, whenever you win it gets harder.

This is fine mechanic but its silly and how you'll most likely intent on loosing a race on purpose just to make it easy. Its not like you lose cash or reputation or your car unless its a pink slip race then you'll probably reset the console in frustration. So what it ends up to is the game forces you to drive perfectly without hitting anything but hitting traffic is something that will happen to you constantly if your rushing to get the lead, as hitting traffic will slow you down completely while spinning car the other way.

This game in general is great, but the difficulty is whats going to turn people. I'd recommend renting it and trying out if it fits your need for a arcade racer I'd say this is one of the best just don't expect an easy one though. P.S the reward for beating the story is well worth it.

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The good:

-Huge city

-Lots and lots of customization

-Lots of cars

-Great races

-Huge depth, very addicting gameplay

-Great, eclectic soundtrack

The bad:

-Storyline may seem unnecessary

Overall, I've been playing this game practically nonstop. Upgrading and customizing your car never gets old. The races are fast paced and intense. Online is very well made too. Best racer this gen.

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This game is way too sensitive on the G27 and over-steering makes it basically unplayable. It says it supports G27 but there is no option to turn down sensitivity either! You will find yourself trying to keep from smashing into the sides of the ways... whereas in GT5 the G27 feels like a real driving experience.

Also, the graphics is a let down. You would think this being on the PS3 and this being Rockstar that Midnight Club LA would have BETTER graphics than GTAIV... but no... it has worse graphics. In some places I could promise the graphics looks like Nintendo 64 graphics. In fact some of the "mountains" in the background have so few polygons that you'd think you were playing the original DOOM on PC.

This is definitively not an "open world driving simulator"... the driving is fake and the world is not that big nor that open. If that sandbox sort of stuff is your cup of tea, save your monies and get GTAIV instead... or wait until GTAV comes out.