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It’s a factual and common knowledge statement to
acknowledge that the PSP is a stylish piece of gaming equipment.
It’s also rather easy to recognise that the two main launch titles
– as far as SONY were concerned – Ridge Racer and WipEout
Pure reflected the PSP’s mantra to a high-calibre of
satisfaction; style, but not without substance. Rockstar’s Midnight
Club series was one of the first to get them noticed after
changing from DMA Design, before Grand Theft Auto made the
move to 3D. Because of this heritage, I’m sure it’ll come as no
surprise to learn that Midnight Club is one of Rockstar’s
most cherished series, however, it may be a little surprising that,
along with the forthcoming Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories,
Rockstar handed the development of the PSP title over to their UK
department; Rockstar Leeds.
Midnight
Club 3: DUB Edition has ramped up the aggression in the
series ten-fold. Tagging itself with the huge
US
car publication, DUB Magazine, the title intends on stripping
back to the roots of arcade racing, then lining it again with the
grace of illegal
midnight
races.
The competition in the street-racing genre has been heating
up drastically over the last year. Since the so-so Need For Speed
Underground in 2003, we’ve had a sequel, Juiced, SRS:
Street Racing Syndicate, BurnOut: Revenge, London
Racer: Destruction Madness and, of course, in less than a month Project
Gotham
Racing 3 will be gracing us with its presence. However, on
the PSP, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition is likely to be looked
at as Ridge Racer’s older, edgier brother; hanging around
street corners at night, trashing cars and picking up girls - doing
all the things that it’s younger brother wished it was old enough
to.
Clearly, the basic premise of Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition
follows that of all racing games – the idea is to race, and win.
Progression will demand a
First Place
from you for every race or series you enter, which are accessed by
driving around the city until you approach a race which you can take
part in. The races take place on the same city streets which you
drive around out-of-play, giving you the opportunity to pick-up the
roads before racing on them.
There are a variety of race-types you can enter; Circuit,
Point-To-Point, Sprint, Ordered Races etc. each with their own
unique rules. Ordered Races feature a series of Checkpoints which
you must travel through in order on a pre-designated route and
Circuit races are shorter, but have a pre-set series of Laps. The
Point-To-Point races are clearly where the title excels; ordering
you to compete in a race with an astonishing sense of freedom,
occasional Checkpoints will line a route around the city – more to
make sure you’re still heading in the right direction than
anything else – with a Finish Line holding more than enough
importance. The event sees you flying around the city at ridiculous
speeds through any route you so choose – as long as you get there
first. With such a paced feature demonstrating the ability to
innovate in a genre which has received overhaul-after-overhaul in
the past five years it’s certainly a shame that it doesn’t hold
water throughout the title. The earlier races are perfect – AI
opponents will bomb around with seemingly the same sense of
unawareness and exploration as the player – but later races will
prove that no matter how far we’ve come graphically, AI is never
going to step-up as more than a series of methodical mathematical
equations on this generation.
There’s plenty of tracks available, although all with
similar background detail – due to them all taking place around
the same areas – and the variety of cars in Midnight Club 3:
DUB Edition obviously reflects that new tagline - and along with
a ludicrously wide selection of cars, you also have bikes. It’s
possible to do all the usual modding and stylising work to your
vehicle that’s the common-place in  Arcade Racers these days, but
with an easy Auto Upgrade feature for those of us who really don’t
care what the difference between two shock absorbers Spring Rates
and Shock Stiffness.
A fairly unique feature that may put many of the Arcade
Racing hardcore’s noses out-of-joint is the ability to learn
Special Moves. Certain types of vehicles may earn a Special Move in
order to help your progression and the most enterprising one is the
first to be unlocked. A single press of the Square Button will allow
Muscle Cars and Bikes to send a shockwave through the ground
disrupting all vehicles in the local vicinity – traffic and
your opponents.
The title’s graphics are effective enough, but are sorely
lacking when compared to some of the PSP’s other efforts. Ridge
Racer outclasses
Midnight
Club 3: DUB Edition is practically every respect. The cars
shimmer and the backgrounds are very nicely detailed, but the whole
game suffers from that distinctive motion-blur that far too many of
the PSP’s titles use – perhaps covering-up some holes in the
PSP’s internal architecture. The Soundtrack is passable – along
with the graphical style and arrangement of the title, the music has
clearly taken its cue from DUB Magazine. Some nice tracks
make an appearance, Hundred Reasons and Jimmy Eat World enter
alongside Pharrell William’s protégé’s, but for the best-part
you’ll have one of fifty random 50Cent-alikes.
Rockstar Leeds have performed well. With the lesser-known
team handling a conversion of a greatly appreciated home console
title, they’ve managed to pull out-of-the-bag a very worthwhile
adrenaline-pumping piece of software. However, there’s no denying
that for all of its pleasantries, there’s just as many niggles and
flaws.
Midnight
Club 3: DUB Edition is a title that will while away many a
bus or train ride, or the queue for Grand Theft Auto: Liberty
City Stories, but never really has the stamina to take on the
mighty Ridge Racer on what it has claimed as its home turf.
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