Microsoft XBox > Midtown Madness 3

Review of Midtown Madness 3 for XBox:

Introduction
The Midtown Madness series started in 1999 on the PC. The game has always given fans a variety of races in cities carefully modeled after real locations like Chicago, London and SanFrancisco. The first two were made by Angel Studios, who then went on to make Midnight Club. The third game in the series is made for the XBox and is developed by DICE, who created the XBox game Rallisport Challenge. This one, I assure you, is most likely the best of them all.

Gameplay (Rating: 8/10)
Midtown Madness 3 has two cities to choose from: Paris and Washington DC. Paris is easier to navigate around, and Washington DC is laid out in a trickier fashon. In addition to the original modes of MM, there is also a new, and, if you ask me, silly mode called "Work Undercover". Each section of that mode puts you in different vehicle to get to the bottom of some odd crime. The other modes, of course, are much better than Work Undercover. There's cruise mode in which you can drive freely, check-point mode, clock-goes-down mode, and circuit mode. The racer AI and rigid nature of the checkpoint-style races grow tiresome fairly quickly, making the single-player game less than exciting, especially when it forces you to race an armored car.

The control in MM3 is designed as far from racing simulation possible. Cars will make corners without any problems, and it's rare that you need to use your brakes. Which is why I think DICE intended to make the physics more fun than accurate. As soon as you get control of the faster vehicles in MM3 (Panoz GTR1, for example), the game will get fun. But when you get to slower cars, it's just boring. The collisions are also wierd. Whenever you crash into a traffic car, the car starts skidding around all over the place if it's moving. There are also breakable parts like lamp-posts, postal boxes, etc. However, trees do not fall in that category. If you hit a tree, you drive right through it and your car starts hovering. Note that this game is XBox-Live supported, and multiplayer is where all the real action is.


Graphics (Rating: 7/10)
MM3 has decent graphics. The game has a smooth framerate and a lot of detail. However, I say decent because the graphics don't give you that speed. 100 mph will feel like 50 mph. I also say decent because even though the monuments and other popular buildings have much detail, the stores and other buildings don't look that great. Which is why I say decent, and not great.

Sound (Rating: 6/10)
The game has a good collection of screeching tires and engine noises. However, the voices in the game are really bad. And the soundtrack isn't good either. I reccomend that you use the custom-sountrack feature.

Overall (Rating: 8/10)
In overall, MM3 is a great online game. The single player modes are there to give you a trial before getting to the real thing. And the ease of the online mode just makes it all better. Racing fans won't be disappointed if they buy this game for their XBox!