Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition [PS2]

We expect the world from Grand Theft Auto creator, Rockstar Games. The company has done so much to redefine a particular sector of the gaming universe that most onlookers figure the rest of their lineup can do the same. So when the publisher teamed with DUB Magazine to produce a title celebrating gorgeous cars moving fast, we expected the game to look just as good as the rides. Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition isn't quite that hot, but it's nevertheless a fantastic arcade racer.

For the first few minutes, the game is bound to be slightly disappointing. Despite a graphics engine which ably handles many onscreen cars, huge open city maps, and oodles of lighting effects, even the Xbox is plagued by blurry edges and occasionally shaky framerates.

But when the graphics engine loses luster, the sense of speed kicks into overdrive. There aren't many games that create such a sensation of running the redline, where you straddle the knife edge of losing control, but never quite fall off. Motion blur kicks in, the sound design whooshes by, and you slide just barely by a life-ending piece of masonry. And that's just on the way to a race.

And there are plenty of races. The huge career mode, which includes San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit, is packed with events, optional races, and challenges from elite racing clubs. There's no story mode to insult your intelligence; you're not a cop trying to infiltrate a ring of Cuban cigar importers. Instead, a few cutscenes introduce key points, after which you're free to roam the streets.

An arcade mode eliminates even the cutscenes and random city driving, so that all unlocked races and events are quickly accessible. All those challenges are also available online, as are odd variants like tag and capture the flag. Users can create their own checkpoint races, and even form basic clans. It all works swimmingly, with up to eight players racing with only the barest hint of lag.

Don't come to this club looking for innovation, though. What MC3 does is take every city-based arcade racer, eliminate the fluff, and streamline the result. Once on the street, it's basically gas, brake, e-brake, and boost. There's also the initially ridiculous two-wheel driving and new powers which intimidate and push away the competition. These are fun and amusing in multiplayer, but not all that useful in the career mode.

One of the few beyond-basic mechanics makes the thrill of driving fast even better. By tailing another driver, it's possible to catch a slipstream boost. The car in front will begin laying trails like a 747; that's when you know you're in the wake. Stick in that spot, and a meter fills. When it's red, hit the nitro button for an insane speed burst. Be careful to do it on familiar streets, though. It lasts longer than you'd expect, and it's all too easy for that winning burst to send drivers straight into a wall.

That boost mechanic, however, is enough to require tactics that border on complex. If you're winning, it's best to weave in and out of traffic so that cars hot on your trail can't pull their own slipstream boost. Of course the police attempt to butt in as well, but they become just another target to send careening into the opposition.

Midnight Club 3 has one omission that's typical of arcade racers: it fails to implement a meaningful damage model. Your car will take cosmetic damage, but it's essentially impossible to kill, and it doesn't carry over. A head-on collision at full boost just shaves a few seconds off your time. When you're sinking money into a supremely customized whip, a balance of risk and reward would have made the game more thrilling. But since nothing can happen to your chromed dream, there's no reason not to take chances, and in the end, that's what the game is about.

We couldn't exit without also digging into the game's tuning options, as that's the reason for the whole "Dub Edition" moniker. None of the options, which include performance and cosmetic upgrades with fully licensed manufacturers, are remotely cutting edge. Once again, we've seen all this before, and MC3 just presents it well. And the final variation in cars is so extreme, that the lack of innovation is acceptable.

The primary downside to all that detail is a set of load times that can cripple short play periods. Even the Xbox is burdened with the frequent and long-lived load screen. The times are on par with Burnout 3, though at least the races are much longer here.

In the end though, it doesn't much matter. Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition is one of the best arcade racers currently available, and is certainly the most easy to pick up and play. Tuners can go crazy creating a fully customized garage, and pure race fans can get off on the sense of speed. It's even rated "E" for Everyone -- a shock from Rockstar! Who needs innovation, anyway?