PS2 Review: Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix (2006)

The Midnight Club franchise is truly one of the biggest players in the street racing/car customization genre, and for good reason. It offers a diverse selection of cars, trucks, as well as a selection of sport bikes and choppers, and many different ways to customize them, including (but not limited to) chopping the top, underglow, lowering the chassis, chrome accents, body kits, rims, tires, hydraulics, etc. More than any other car game, I felt like with MC3 I was able to make my car my own, while others, such as Forza Motorsport or Need for Speed: Most Wanted, felt more limited, with my options mostly settled for me (with the exception of vinyl and paint. However NFS: Carbon had some interesting modification abilities for wheels, albeit cartoon-looking).

Of course, the ability to do stupid crap with your car is not at the heart of any racing game. NFS: Hot Pursuit 2 remains my favorite racing game even though it offered no modifications. Why? Because it has one of the finest and funnest driving experiences of any game. And though MC3 is not quite up to the same standards, it still offers hours of entertainment.

One of the difficulties I found with the gameplay was that my ability to win races depended just as much, if not more, on upgrading my car's performance to the greatest extent possible as my driving ability. I'm happy to say that there are many close races, but this must have left me frustrated at the time; one of my controllers will no longer vibrate properly because of my slamming it against an object whilst playing this game. No doubt, the large amount of traffic in this franchise leads to many collisions, and this can by very annoying. You will rarely feel the freedom of the open road because you'll be too busy dodging crashes. Another difficulty, and one that can also be very frustrating, is the difficulty of navigating the checkpoints. There aren't really racetracks in MC3 but rather series of checkpoints, requiring one to keep one eye on the road and the other on the HUD. For most ordered races these routes are fairly straightforward, but there are also unordered races where one only need reach every checkpoint in any fashion. These can require much trial-and-error to find the best ways to tackle them.

The frustrations aren't enough to keep MC3 from being a great racing game, though. Even with its age, it remains a gem and, in my opinion, is better than more recent next-gen entries in the franchise, such as Midnight Club: Los Angeles. If you want to find some racing on the cheap, MC3: DUB Edition Remix is a good bet.

For Your Viewing Pleasure, Chickenman's Top Ten (Part 9)

Previous Games:

The Sims (PC)

Star Wars: Battlefront (PS2)

Hitman: Blood Money (PS2)

Everything or Nothing (PS2)

Rise to Honor (PS2)

Batman: Arkham Asylum (XBox360)

TimeSplitters 2 (PS2)

Splinter Cell (PS2, XBox360)

Once upon a time, before Paul Walkers and Vin Diesels filled people's heads with the garbage that cars need to be modified and souped up to be fast or cool, Need for Speed made games featuring cars that came direct from the factory fast and didn't need to be upgraded. Surely, there is a place and time for that, but Hot Pursuit 2 seemed more pure in that it was about the driving experience, not having that perfectly tuned and balanced car. And it was fun! I'm not sure I have the time or patience to learn how to play Grand Turismo or some hardcore simulator well. When I have tried, I feel so constrained and the need to be cautious, not the need for speed. Some simulators, such as the honorably mentioned Forza 2, offer some driver's aids (such as stability management or suggested brake lines) that reduce the frustration and make the simulation experience more fun. However, newer Need for Speed games fail to do driver's aids well, being like a nanny driver's ed teacher where instead of a suggested brake line, it brakes for you.

What also should be mentioned is the strong soundtrack (audio seems to be an important theme among these Top Tens) that goes well with the game, as shown in the video above. Listening in on the police radio adds to the experience, where they seem to have a personality, unlike later NFS cops. The visuals were especially strong for its release date and still look good. It is a must-have for racing gamers, and still is hot and spicy chicken.

Honorable Mentions:

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix (PS2), Forza Motorsport 2 (Xbox360)

Code Redd Net Awards: ChickenMan's Choice (Game)

In the category of ChickenMan's Choice (Game), the winner is...

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

Code Redd Net Awards: Best Multiplayer

As opposed to the previous award, the Best Multiplayer award is tailored for games which foreground competition between players rather than cooperation. And the nominees are...

TimeSplitters 2 (2002)
TimeSplitters: Future Perfect (2005)
Nightfire (2002)
Thrasher Presents: Skate and Destroy (1999)
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)

And the winner is...

TimeSplitters 2

Special Wednesday Edition From the Archives: Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 (2002)

Every Friday (or Wednesday when we're busy, like today) we celebrate the heritage of Code Redd Net by posting a retro-review from our considerable back catalogue of embarrassingly naive, but nonetheless entertaining and heartfelt, movie and game reviews. Please pardon the prose; most of these articles were written in our immediately post-pubescent years. Hopefully you find them as enjoyable as we do.

The following is actually ChickenMan's original review, culled from the archives before the original site went down in 2009 and before I had an opportunity to post my own thoughts. He makes many fine points below. Need for Speed Hot Pursuit 2 is still the perfect racing game and the only one I truly love. It is, indeed, "hot and spicy chicken."


"I love this game! I absolutely can’t find anything serious that I don’t like about it and you can’t say that with every game. It has loads to play from event trees and unlocking cars. Sometimes with games it seems like a chore to completely and totally beat the game while not having the most fun possible. But with this game you pass the time having lots of fun with it. It has 49 cars to choose from so you can fit your taste and style. It has many tracks to master, lots of cool music, and a very good pre-sequence video. Anybody who loves speed or cars can enjoy this game; what’s not to love? Maybe hitting spike strips, but you get over it, eventually. One thing I would request is the classic Lamborghini Diablo SV from the original Hot Pursuit. HP2 is hot and spicy chicken. Play it."