Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Midnight Club: Los Angeles is a game centered on the illegal street racing car culture that became prevalent after the movie The Fast and the Furious. You play a guy that knows how to drive and as soon as you get to the city of angels, you make some contacts and start to race. Winning races earns you respect and more respect earns you more races. Upgrading and pimpin' your ride is not only necessary to beat all takers but to have a stylish car to joyride with on the hip streets of LA.

What's Hot
Rockstar Games knows how to create an atmosphere right out of the gate. The movie-like opening sets the perfect mood for this type of game. In many respects, the opening of the game is better than entire movies about the same subject. You play a straight-laced guy who meets a cast of characters who will get you laughing with how played up their personalities are. Each part of the game is carefully constructed and polished, in true Rockstar fashion. You feel like you are part of the underground culture even though you're safe in the comfort of your living room with a sensible Toyota Prius in the driveway.


With the gas pedal down to the floor, the streets of LA shine. The city is faithfully recreated and looks gorgeous. The in-game advertising is fairly obvious, but it fits not only with the LA setting but the hip-hop feel of the game. I was surprised at some of the luxury good advertisers in the game. People and pedestrian objects like fire hydrants populate the sidewalks, the lighting, day or night, gives an electric vibe and the cars are the decorations on the Christmas tree. Races are orchestrated chaos as you dodge and weave out of traffic with close calls that will leave you wondering how you got out impossible situations with just a few scratches.. Cars themselves take on many shapes and sizes and have a great feel to them. The most important thing to remember is that each car you get is fully customizable, which will boost your speed.

It may sound silly, but accessing the GPS system is one of the best effects I have seen in a game in some time. When you hit the back/select button, the camera pans out wide and you zoom out to a map of the entire city. To better explain it, it is as if you were looking at Google Street Maps and could zoom out to see all the major roads in the city in one fluid motion. The technical feat alone is worthy of praise but to see it used stylistically like it is makes the effect never get old.

What's Not
The bane of illegal street racers is the fuzz. In MC: LA, there are a lot of men and women in uniform. Unlike most racing games, you'd have to do something awful to bring on a police pursuit. In MC: LA, all you need to go over the speed limit. It so happens that you'll speed a lot and run into cops a lot. When you see the flashing blue and red lights, you have two options: either lose the cops or pull over like a responsible citizen and accept a ticket. While causing a police chase sounds fun, it's not. The police are hard to shake. Pulling over is the better option, but it saps the fun out of the surreal world full of illegal street races and disregard for reckless driving laws. Just make sure you have a lot of money to pay for bail and tickets.


Getting cash from races seems like an easy task, but the AI is unforgiving. And by unforgiving, I mean ruthlessly difficult. While I can recall the first Midnight Club being like this, I am still shocked that one wrong turn or crash will cost you the entire race. You'll need to have your wits about you as you cut corners and draft opponents to squeeze some time out of the race. Yet, I kept coming back for more as I restarted races just so I would come in first place. You'll need to like punishment to not throw your controller against a brick wall.

Final Word
Rockstar Games is a master at creating a living, breathing world full of life and personality. Midnight Club: Los Angeles continues that tradition for the illegal street racing scene and the game is likely to put a smile on the face of anyone who gets behind the wheel. The game is brutally difficult and the police will make your life harder. If you can grit your teeth and win races, you'll appreciate the digitized city of LA.