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Midnight Club: Los Angeles–Option Overload

It’s hard to make a driving game fun.  Really it is—I mean, what do you do in a driving game besides jam your foot down on the accelerator and occasionally turn the wheel?  But Midnight Club: Los Angeles is going to try its level best to pull it off.

But will it succeed?

Midnight Club: Los Angeles really doesn’t have much in the way of plot—you’re a new street racing soul who’s just hit Los Angeles—a surprisingly realistic Los Angeles– looking to make the big scores.  And to that end, you’ll…well…jam your foot down on the accelerator and occasionally turn the wheel.  Repeatedly. Over and over and over again.

I know, it’s a graphic oversimplification, but at the root that’s exactly what you’ll be doing.  Of course, since what you’re doing is kinda sorta technically criminal…you’ll be doing this in the most underground, often criminal of fashions.  You’ll be introduced to the world of illegal Los Angeles street racing by a guy named Booke, who sets up your races via officially licensed T-Mobile Sidekick cell phone.  And you’ll eventually get hooked up with a few others, including Karol, who’ll offer you use of a garage as a safehouse; Annie, one of the best drivers in Los Angeles; and Andrew, a young man with a lot more enthusiasm than good sense.

Now, that’s not where this game ends, though—Midnight Club: Los Angeles will make up for its incredibly simplistic game play (like I said, foot, accelerator, wheel turns slightly) by offering you an INCREDIBLY vast array of options.  It’s downright unsettling just how many options there are.

First, you’ll be able to, eventually, choose from a whole lineup of cars.  Muscle cars, exotic cars (including a Ford, which surprised me…the Ford GT, specifically), something called a “tuner”, which strangely included a PONTIAC, and a motorcycle.  Now, once you’ve got your base ride finally settled on, you’ll then be able to launch into a series of options.  Everything from paint and body work down to the very floor mats will be available for your selection.  No, seriously—you can CUSTOMIZE THE FLOOR MATS.

But there’s a not inconsiderable down side to the whole affair.  While you’re given a whole wide field of options—probably too many options for the kind of game you’re playing—you’re going to have to grapple with an intense initial level of difficulty.  The car you’ll start with isn’t exactly the best car.  The car I wound up with handled like a brick with wings, and trying to win those early races was pretty tough, even at the easiest levels of racing.  Traffic got uncomfortably dense in a lot of places, and all I can think is, how am I supposed to win a race when I’ve got all these Sunday drivers and commuters out at Ridiculous O’Clock at night?  It doesn’t even make SENSE, seriously.

But still—if you can’t get enough of modifying your car or motorcycle, and are desperate to take it through the streets of a shockingly realistic simulation of Los Angeles, then Midnight Club: Los Angeles is going to be EXACTLY what you’re after.  Otherwise, try a rental or take a pass.

Live Like A Chinatown Boss Sweepstakes

When it comes to living the life of a mafia-like boss, chances are you can only do that on video games. But don’t let that crazy idea get by you. GameStop, the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer, today announced the “Live Like a Chinatown Boss” Sweepstakes in conjunction with the launch of Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars.

Beginning today through May 14, there are two ways to enter to win the Chinatown boss prize package. Your first chance is by participating in the text-to-win program. When boss wannabes buy the new Grand Theft Auto game from GameStop stores, they will receive a code to text in to be entered in the sweepstakes.

Boss status includes:

• A 3 day/2 night trip to New York City for you and 3 friends
• Private limo
• Deluxe hotel accommodations
• An entourage of models and a bodyguard for a night out
• Nightclub VIP room
• $5,000 cold hard cash

Additional runner-up prizes will be given in the amount of $250 GameStop gift cards.

(Source) Press

Grand Theft Auto 4 Game Review–Sheer Option Overload

I confess, I was looking forward to the release of Grand Theft Auto Four–it was all a lot of us could even talk about.  Every time you opened a game mag or watched a video, every time you read a game blog, or even if you were one of the couple dozen people who still watched X-Play, you were sure to hear something about this game, and the inevitable word was a series of slobbering superlatives as commentator after commentator fought all over themselves to see who could praise it the fastest, the loudest, and the most sincerely.

And now that it’s about to get a major new expansion pack, The Lost and the Damned, I figured now would be a good time to go back and talk about the original.  I, however, will NOT be using a lot of flowery language.

First, a recap of the plot for those few of you who haven’t yet tried it–you play as Niko Bellic, a recent transplant from an Eastern European country fresh off the boat in Liberty City.  He, like a lot of other immigrants, has come in search of that great American Dream: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, a fresh start, and all the gusto you can grab.  Yes, it’s the kind of thing that makes you believe in America again…at least until things start going south for Niko right away.  He’s come for his cousin, Roman, whom he believes has made good already in the land of hope and dreams.  But Roman’s tales of wealth and success were gravely exaggerated–Roman’s up to his eyes in debt, and he’s desperate for an edge: an edge shaped suspiciously like his cousin Niko.  Thus, Niko will be working as his cousin’s protector and enforcer as the two of them try to make their fortunes in Liberty City.

Let me make one thing perfectly clear from the get go.  A lot of the flowery language this game got is well deserved.  The graphics are amazing, the gameplay is spectacularly fluid and intuitive, and that plot is straight out of some of the best of literature.  Anton Chekhov himself might well have written something like this if he’d been alive to see it.  Perhaps best–and yet, perhaps worst, more on that later–is the incredible variety of missions and options you’ve got to work with in this huge monster of a game.

This may be the biggest problem of Grand Theft Auto 4: sheer option overload.  Of course, you’ll have the full array of missions–kill this guy, kill that guy, kill all THESE guys, get this guy here, run protection, run the rackets, and so on and so forth.  A veritable criminal encyclopedia is available in this game, and you’ll get to try it all.  When you’re not out engaging in the criminal lifestyle, you’ll have a panoply of options to try out in Liberty City proper–strip clubs, comedy clubs, bowling alleys, bars, or just drive around.  Going to a strip club and getting a lap dance isn’t just a cheesy exercise in pointless graphic titillation anymore, kids–lap dances will now cause your controller’s vibration function to work in sync with the dancer.
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The Lost & Damned Set Xbox Live Record

Anything related to GTA seems to bring in sacks full of money to Rockstar Games. So, it isn’t too surprising to know that the recently released GTA 4 expansion The Lost & Damned set a one-day Xbox Live revenue record, according to Microsoft.

While no sales figures were given, it can be expected that it sold at least a couple hundred thousand units. But then again, even if it sold only a few, its $20 price tag would still ensure the record.

The expansion went live last week on February 17 and adds about ten hours of story-based gameplay. It introduces a completely new character and adds/enhances multiplayer.

Midnight Club DLC Out on March 10

Rockstar Games today announced that the first downloadable content for its open-world racer Midnight Club: Los Angeles will hit Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on March 10.

The content will arrive in two forms – one free, the other premium. The free download expands the map by one third, adding four new neighborhoods. The premium content will add nine new vehicles on top of the map, as well as 26 new races, 12 new battle maps, 10 new delivery missions, new body parts, new music and more.

The premium content will be priced at $9.99 on PSN and 800 points on Xbox Live.

GTA 4 Not Censored Down Under

Seeing as how Grand Theft Auto IV is the most violent entry in the series so far, many of you thought the game would be refused classification down under in Australia. But that doesn’t appear to be the case, as the PC version of the game has been given a MA15+ rating for “strong violence, sex scenes, coarse language, and drug references” and it appears that it has been unedited as well.

All this comes from Gamespot, who notes that the game has not been edited in any way and that content will be similar to the one in international versions. It isn’t known whether Rockstar actually cut any offensive content before applying for classification.

Grand Theft Auto IV comes out tomorrow on PC.

Thailand: Game Makers Should be Responsible for Actions of Players

In what can be seen as a stupid move by Thailand, one of the country’s government official has stated that game makers should be prosecuted for the criminal activities of players that are inspired by game content. This follows the recent murder of a Thai cab driver by a 18-year old who told police he was attempting to recreate a scene from Grand Theft Auto 4.

“When a player copycats a crime he or she sees in the game, the game maker should be prosecuted,” said Somchai Jaroen-amnuaysuk, deputy director of Thailand’s Welfare Promotion, Protection and Empowerment of Vulnerable Groups Office. “Prosecutions will automatically force game makers to act more responsibly.”

The official also stressed a need to better educate children about the difference between video games and real life. “At the same time, everyone, especially the Education Ministry, should make children aware that games and real life are two different things.”