Midtown Madness 2 Central | Midtown Madness 3

Midtown Madness 2 Central | Covering MM2 & 3

What do you think of the MM3 DLC?

GAME INFORMATION
	Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
	Developer: Digital Illusions
	Price: $49.99 USD, ERP
	Net Support: Xbox Live
	Multiplayer: 1 - 4 Players
	Platform: Xbox
	Release Date: Spring 2003

MIDTOWN MADNESS 3 PREVIEW

Previewed October 2002

Who would have thought a third Midtown Madness game would ever be developed? It came as a complete surprise when I was notified Midtown Madness 3 was in development by Digital Illusions C.E.

No more Angel Studios-Digital Illusions C.E. (DICE) has taken the task to create a third part of the successful franchise known as Midtown Madness. The Sweden-based developer has already created impressive games such as RalliSport Challenge (Xbox & PC), Motorhead (PC) and V8 Challenge (PC).

Midtown Madness 3 will feature Paris and Washington DC. Each city will be larger and more detailed than San Francisco and London were in MM2. More time has been spent on recreating the mood in each city unlike making an exact copy of the street layout. Why you may ask? Simple, this way it will be a lot easier to navigate your way through the city instead of looking at the map all the time.

Midtown Madness 3 will include the same single player modes as the previous two versions, namely as "Cruise", "Blitz", "Checkpoint" and "Race". There are ten races each for "Blitz" and "Checkpoint" along with additional hidden races. In addition to these four types of races, a story mode will be added and should function as a red line to keep the single player game more interesting besides racing your laps. In the story mode, players will need to work through 50 missions across 14 careers, including a limousine driver, taxi driver, pizza deliverer, secret agent, stunt man, paramedic, security guard, a police officer and lots more. You can expect around 20-30 races for each city.

Besides the usual single player, Midtown Madness 3 will be fully compatible with Xbox LIVE. Here is a list of multiplayer games modes to be included, courtesy of IGN Xbox.

"You're It", similar to tag
"Hunter", hunters pursuit their prey
"Capture the Gold", evolved version of Cops N Robbers
"Catch the Rabbit", a reverse, score-focused version of "You're It"
"Checkpoint", race through checkpoints and finish first
"Cruise", as free as a bird

Players will have the ability to download new content from Xbox LIVE such as new vehicles, races and perhaps more. Midtown Madness 3 will have over 30 vehicles including licensed and non-licensed vehicles. Here are some vehicles / manufacturers of which we know are in the game.

BMW Mini Cooper S
Hummer H2
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Dodge Viper
Lotus Esprit Turbo
Ford Mustang Fastback
Freightliner Century Class C120
Cadillac Escalade
Audi
Renault
Chrysler
'Swedish brands'
And a whole lot more...

Each car can be wrecked till there is nothing left to wreck. Cars will have various types of visual damage. Think of flying bumpers and wing mirrors and you'll get the picture. The damage will also affect your car's performance.

Physics is a difficult aspect of a racing game to preview without playing the game personally. Vehicle performances are arcade; after all, the Midtown Madness series are arcade racers. DICE's experience with physics (RalliSport Challenge) guarantees excellent handling.

In addition to the features already described, other options such as replay and custom sound tracks will also be added to the game.

Midtown Madness 3 looks to build on the fantastic gameplay of all the previous titles in the series. The game looks to be making full use of the graphical capabilities of Xbox, if you have seen the in-game videos you know what you can expect. If you are a fan of the series there is more to love than ever. We will have more media and hopefully a hands-on preview as soon as the possibility arises.