Midnight Club: LA Previews

A group of websites were recently invited to play Midnight Club: Los Angeles for the very first time, so today sawa bunch of hands-on previews go live. It’s the usual ones; GameSpot, IGN, 1UP, Kikizo and TeamXbox. And because they all played the same demo, they’re all pretty much the same in different words. So to make it easier for you, I have compiled links for each one:

GameSpot
‘LA itself has been re-created with some artistic license by the game’s designers because the real-life grid structure of the city would have been detrimental to the actual racing. This means that some of your favourite landmarks might be missing, but we thankfully saw the 20th Century Fox building, which Die Hard fans will recognise as the Nakatomi plaza and was the scene of the denouement in Fight Club.’

IGN
‘When the lights turn green, the handling of the cars proves extremely gratifying, with a marked difference between the different models we got behind the wheel of in our hands-on. Vehicles boast a subtly exaggerated physics that help retains the series’ arcade sensibilities, with the cars actually feeling alive in their movements, and different vehicle types feel suitably distinct.’

1UP
‘Using all sorts of namebrand parts (I tended to hit up the MOMO catalog for most of my gear), you can trick out your car in spiffy ways. It won’t be on the obsessive level of Gran Turismo, but enough to shape your car into what you want (i.e. air intakes, brakes, electronics, rims, even interiors). Besides standard parts and body modifications, there will be special Midnight Club- and DUB-edition parts and body kits that you can use as well.’

Kikizo
‘The emphasis is on no rules, zero load times and no menu screens. At the very first moment of the game, this fact becomes impressively clear: the game map isn’t actually a menu screen. It’s a realtime overhead view of Los Angeles, the interactive city you’re about to cruise around and race in. The camera literally zooms in from this satellite view, through the clouds and down to street level and right behind your car in two seconds - it makes you do a double take, and basically sets the standard for the visual polish to expect throughout the game.’

TeamXbox
‘Street racing games really have become a dime-a-dozen genre, so it’s good to see the return of a series that always stood above the crowd. Midnight Club: Los Angeles looks like a well thought out and well designed progression of the series.’

Sounds good! Oh, and there are a few new screenshots in the previews so just head to one and check em’ out.

Tags: GameSpot, hands-on, IGN, Midnight Club LA, Preview, Rockstar Games

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