E3 2003: Midtown Madness 3 Hands On

Microsoft's Midtown Madness 3 is finally nearing the completion of its development. Impressions plus new screens.

Midtown Madness 3 - which, to our knowledge, has been in development since the Reagan administration - made a respectable showing at E3 2002. The game was early, but it bore promise as a visually precocious arcade driving experience.

Well, a year has passed, and Midtown Madness 3 is back, now touting online play, but the magic just isn't there yet. We still have high hopes for this game, but it's not entirely clear where all those development hours went.

Midtown Madness 3 handles like you might expect an arcade racer to handle: fast and loose. The game has a decent driving engine, but it's not over-the-top enough to distinguish itself from other arcade racers, and it's certainly not realistic enough to convey a simulation experience.

Graphically, it's not quite up to par with other 2nd and 3rd generation Xbox titles. In fact, as a driving game with destructible city environments, MM3 doesn't even hold a candle to Wreckless, a 1st generation game.

From a gameplay perspective, MM3 holds a little more promise. The mission we played had us delivering packages from location to location in a sprawling, well-populated city.

It was fun, but not of the "we must pre-order this game" variety. Basically, we've been here before with games like Driver and Crazy Taxi (we noticed some liberal borrowing from Sega's arcade classic), and we're ready for the 21st century.

Fortunately, MM3 should deliver the goods when it comes to online play. In the E3 demo, we raced against an AI competitor in an effort to deliver four packages first, but when the game releases, you can do the same against human competitors. Add in several other gameplay modes, and MM3 could very well deliver on its early promise.

As of now, the game is in danger of getting lost in the holiday shuffle. Only time will tell if it can rise to the ranks of a true contender.

Tony Scinta
Staff writer, Kikizo Games