Midnight Club Los Angeles is a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde story. For a long time now, the series has focused on being hip and “in” with the urban culture and underground circuit, but this time around, it’s all about gorgeous looking cars and intense races to compete in. But there’s a big downfall that detracts from the overall package: the controls.
When players first begin their session with Midnight Club Los Angeles, they’ll notice how great the game looks. The problems begin once your first race starts and you are all over the streets trying to stay in front of the pack. It’s touchy and the difficulty level of the game isn’t very forgiving (which I’ll speak about in a bit). When you bang into the walls, your car will be thrown all over the place while the computer opponents barely struggle with staying on their course to the finish line. With so much correcting having to be done to stay on the streets, the controls aren’t user-friendly and aren’t inviting to new gamers.
Let’s move onto the obvious; Los Angeles is beautifully recreated and is entertaining to drive through. Whether it is day or night, the city is gorgeous with wide enough streets that make for easy driving. What Rockstar has done with the map is even more interesting; if you’ve played around with Google Maps, you’ll know exactly how it works with zooming in and out. It’s stunning in motion but not overly useful as it’s hard to navigate with. On top of this, there’s a day/night cycle that is a pleasure to see in motion with its fair share of cloudy and sunny days. Lastly, if you’ve ever been to Los Angeles, you’ll encounter landmarks such as the Orpheum Theater, Macarthur Park, Los Angeles Convention Center, the Viper Room and so much more.
The story of MCLA is pathetic and won’t keep your interest for too long. You’ll drive around the city meeting up with people to race against and challenging them by the flicker of your headlights. The races have your run-of-the-mill objectives such as having to get from point A to point B first, becoming a transporter and delivering cars, and damaging an opponent’s car. Along the way, you’ll run into police officers who’ll do their best to arrest you for your illegal activities, but the car chases aren’t as intense as they should be. It’s hilarious to burn rubber in their face when they get out of their car and attempt to give you a citation.
Players will earn money and respect after each race, which both are needed to unlock and buy new cars. There are a lot of items to unlock to upgrade your vehicles, but with only 40 or so cars and bikes to drive, it’s not as in-depth as it could be. Plus, it takes a lot of time to unlock these cars due to the difficulty being at an all-time high. Even though the races are difficult, it doesn’t deter the entertainment value of the game as it’s the challenge that helps provide replay value. The CPU racers already know the shortcuts and secrets, so be prepared to find them getting ahead of you without knowing. Even if you get ahead, the CPU racers have rubberband AI incorporated to help them catch back up and make it competitive.
But the greatest advice for gamers is to skip the offline and head straight to the online play if you want to get the most out of your game. Online features the opportunity to play with up to 16 players through several different modes. It’s hands down the best aspect of the game as, after awhile, you’ll become increasingly bored with the single-player campaign. With the ability to create your own race types and challenging anyone you’d like, Midnight Club Los Angeles is best played with human opponents rather than the incredibly hard CPU.
