Cars and Customization
A great racing game is nothing without cars to race with and MC3 has a huge lineup of fully customizable vehicles for you to play with. There are more than 60 vehicles including Volkswagon Jettas, Mitsubishi Lancers, Nissan Skylines, Corvettes, Vipers, Hummers, Escalades, ‘57 Chevys, West Coast Choppers, Kawasaki Ninjas, and much more. The cars fall into different car classes (like the clubs from the career mode) and include muscle cars, tuners, choppers, trucks, and more. What makes Midnight Club 3 really stand out is that the customization options are different between the various classes. You aren’t just slapping the same parts on every car like in NFSU2, in MC3 you actually have different body kits for different cars types and it makes a world of difference. The number of customizable parts is less than in NFSU2 (you can’t change mirrors or roof scoops and a handful of other things) but you have more control over things like ride height (you can set the front and back separately) and you can really customize your paint and even personalize your license plate (right down to the state) make up for it.You can make pretty much whatever you want in Midnight Club 3 and making new cars will keep you playing it for months.Graphics
The only real problem areas with Midnight Club 3 are in the graphics and sound. They certainly aren’t deal breakers, but they definitely aren’t as good as they could have been. The environments are just detailed enough that they look decent while you are tearing around at 200 mph but when you stop and actually look around the game is pretty bland. The car models are also not as good as in some other street racing games which is a disappointment. They do show damage but it doesn’t affect performance and the damage models aren’t that great anyway. I’m also not really crazy about the reflections on the cars because they make the car look blotchy and ugly and it distorts the colors. I used matte paint (flat and nonreflective) on almost every car because I can’t stand the reflections. That is just me, though. One major problem, however, is that when there are heavy rain effects being used the game slows down to a crawl, almost to the point of being unplayable. Framerate issues with a game this simple looking shouldn’t happen on the Xbox. It only happens in a handful of races, but it is definitely annoying. Overall, the game looks good, just not great.
Sound
The sound is also a bit of a letdown. Actually, the voice acting in story mode is pretty good and the engine noises and sounds of racing are fine. The problem comes from the soundtrack and the fact that the custom soundtrack option is broken. The artists featured in the game include M.I.A., Kasabian, Queens of the Stone Age, Beenie Man, Nine Inch Nails, the Ying Yang Twins, and Jimmy Eat World among others. They are split up between hip-hop, rock, and techno but there are only a handful of tracks in each and none of them are really all that good and even the best ones wear on you when you hear them over and over and over. You can use custom soundtracks, but as of this writing using custom soundtracks causes your game to freeze as soon as you cross the finish line in a race. Basically, since you can’t use your own tunes the music in the game will drive you crazy after a while. Bad times.Bottom Line
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition features great gameplay, a great selection of vehicles, and a ton of customization options and is another must-own title for Xbox race fans. Xbox Live play sweetens the deal even more by allowing you to take your custom cars online. One thing I can happily say is that in spite of the DUB license, the game isn’t too hip-hopped up or bling blinged out. It focuses on the cars themselves rather than the lifestyle which is appreciated. Midnight Club 3 is among the best racing games on the Xbox and I highly recommend it for a purchase.
