Midtown Madness 3

The S4 Avant takes it full frontal

Midtown Madness 3 is the third game in the very popular Midtown Madness series, but this is the first installment to arrive on a console, in this case, the Xbox. But then again, it's not likely to end up on anything else, being a Microsoft game. The basic premise of each of the previous games and this game is the same. Race across the centre of a bustling city and deliver your pizza/passenger/newspaper or collect said items, within a set time limit. So nothing changes then? Well, not exactly. There have been changes.

The TT doesn't have wings, but still flies pretty good!

There's the story mode in which you play an undercover policeman on the trail of a scumbag by the name of Dieter Kleinman. You only have suspicions at the start of the game, but as you accept jobs and deliver friends and associates of his, the details start to come out. Nothing serious, nothing concrete, but it does make you wonder what he's been up to. Then there's the online multiplayer via Xbox Live and System link. As the Midtown Madness series is having it's first outing on console, to say that this is a new feature would be stretching it a bit, as there have been multiplayer options on the PC versions previously, but it's really the first arcade racer that has Live Support available for the Xbox.

New Clothes?

The little run-about takes to the skies!

Presentation is excellent, with brief, concise instructions that you only need to flick briefly through, and then it's onto the game. There are choices, the undercover mode takes you through all the missions one by one, and then there's the quick race options. Timed runs through the city of your choice, checkpoint races etc are available here, and each mode counts as you aim to reveal new cars skins and extra cars in arcade mode.

The cars themselves are very well done, each car drives as you believe it should, the limo feels slow to accelerate and very heavy as you turn, it's momentum swinging the tail out very easily, the little smart-a-like feels like a go-kart in comparison and there are several officially licensed cars from manufacturer's such as Opel/Vauxhall (Astra), Chevrolet (Corvette Z06), Audi (A8 Limo, S4 Avant), Volkswagen (Beetle RSi), Lotus(Elise), Renault (5 small hatchback) and BMW/MINI.(Cooper S) There's a total of 26 vehicles waiting to be unlocked, and there's also many different paint jobs for the same cars. In total, 30 licensed cars exist in the game, so there should be something that tickles your fancy!

Are you sitting comfortably?

But Officer, I didn't do anything!

In the story mode, the first mission has you jumping into your little Smart-a-like car and racing round the streets of Paris delivering copies of a newspaper, being chased by your arch nemesis through each mission. This idea of an 'enemy' who will either try to complete the same mission faster than you, or try anything to prevent you completing your mission if it will make her look bad, is a good one. It adds a little spice to the proceedings; it's just a shame that she happens to be so singularly rubbish when she's trying to stop you. You need to drive so ineptly and crash so much to get her to catch up, and she drives so badly that she makes no effort to avoid any other traffic, that it's all too easy to just drive into the distance while she smashes into all and sundry.

When she's trying to complete the same mission as you, only quicker, she reveals a slightly darker side, and she'll have no qualms about knocking you into trees or lampposts, but gets all whiny and well, girly if you as much as tap her. Of course, running her off the road is also allowed, and positively encouraged! Not every mission includes her, but she is usually waiting post-mission to deliver a suitable quip about your performance, usually a disparaging one.

Rather large, rather heavy, virtually indestructable. I love it!

The cities are Washington and Paris, and have been realistically mapped. It's supposed to be accurate right down to street length, but as I've only ever been to Washington when I was a lot younger, and got I lost in Paris, I didn't pay much attention to street length (I'll make sure and bring a tape measure next time).

It certainly looks realistic and has the right 'feel', with the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel tower looking suitably dramatic, and very large. The other cars and pedestrians all shout and dive out of the way (it's not actually possible to hit one, they always dive) in authentic French fashion, and your passengers in the taxi missions have dodgy French accents to boot. There is a slight sub-plot regarding racing driver Dieter Klienman, but it really takes a back seat to the overall racing/crashing.

Hunter becomes the hunted

I think everyone secretly wants to be a pilot!

There are several different modes, starting with the main work undercover mode detailed above, and there's also normal race mode for instant kicks and a 'just cruise' mode where you can drive around the city without the pressure of time limits or irritating customers and controllers. The only enemy in this mode is the police if you do something bad. Multiplayer modes are also in abundance, and work in System Link and Live modes. These include slight twists on the usual FPS modes that would just seem daft in a racing game. There's Capture the Gold, a variance on Capture the Flag, but you can crash into someone to get the gold from them and return back to your parking place with it. Number of 'golds' or a time limit can be set. Other modes include Tag, (you don't want to be 'it' when the timer runs out), Prey (1 person starts as hunter, others are prey. When the hunter catches someone, they also become hunters. Last person who is Prey wins) and 'it',(a reverse of tag when everyone wants to be 'it').

This is one of the most open ended modes as you can just play forever, indeed if it's a popular game, theoretically it could just run and run and run as people from different time zones come in and out. Imagine waking up and finding the game you were playing still running? If a game has started, you can't join, but you can spectate on games in progress, which is a nice feature.

Fun, frenetic and fast

If it's in the way, and destructable, why drive round it?

The graphics are wonderous, a whole living, breathing city is laid out in front of you, there are no invisible walls that I came across, you can drive over or through just about anything, it's beautiful in it's execution. Lamposts come crashing to the ground, fences and bollards go flying when you hit them, bus shelters shatter into thousands of pieces and the pedestrians all jump out of the way in nicely motion captured dives.

The sounds are equally as good with cheesy French accents abound through the Paris streets. Cries of "Zut Alors!" and "Oh my god" in a French accent come through the speakers on a regular basis as if you want to complete your mission within the time limit, you really do have to drive like a loony. The engine sounds are suitably individual, and the noises when you hit various items littering the streets all sound excellent. Hitting something solid gives a really nasty sounding crunch, which makes you wince.

Overall, I really like this game, it's fun, frenetic and fast, which is exactly what I like in my games. I like to be excited, and this game provides it by the bucket load. The Live and system link modes are totally frenetic, but also excellent fun. If you have Live, this is an essential purchase, there's no doubt about it. If you don't, it's still massive fun, with lots of missions and different game modes to play, and a few unlockable cars and paint schemes to tempt you back. Find and get everything and there's a secret car, which is said to be very fast! Midtown Madness 3 is an excellent game, just don't try driving through Paris on your holidays like this just because Parisians do!