I know what you're thinking: not another illegal street racing game! It's like the first person shooter's Vietnam obsession last year! While it is true we have seen an abundance of them lately, with Need for Speed Underground and Underground 2, Juiced, Top Gear RPM Tuning and others, Midnight Club 3 easily remains the most unique and fun. Back when it was a PlayStation 2 exclusive it lacked quite a bit but had loads of potential and then Midnight Club II happened. In my opinion it quickly became the king of arcade racers, mixing an absolutely outstanding career mode with a great selection of online games. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, in association with the popular car magazine DUB, takes Midnight Club II and picks up right where it left off, adding everything it needs and removing what it doesn't.

The setup is a lot like MCII; you're thrown into a huge, living city full of traffic and civilians, in this case San Diego, California, and try to make a name for yourself in the street racing scene. Your character has no personality or appearance, viewed only from a first person perspective and never speaking, which eliminates the chance of you disliking him. You have a small selection of real licensed cars to pick from in the start but whatever you do select you can now build upon and make even better. Things from the type of paint job and colour to what's under the hood can be completely customised and even minor things like the type of license plate or tail-lights can be changed. Different vinyl designs, rims, bonnets and an assortment of other things can be added to your car, but not from the start.

MC3 features hundreds upon hundreds of things to unlock, from special cars to specific upgrades for each vehicle type and even new special abilities. In the second Midnight Club you learned how to do things like ride on two wheels, use nitro and do a slipstream boost; in this version these are all unlocked from the get-go. Instead, you get to unlock new techniques that are vehicle type specific. Exotic tuner cars, imports and sports bikes can use Zone by clicking in the left thumbstick, which slows down time and allows you to briefly manoeuvre your vehicle around traffic or tricky corners. Sports Utility Vehicles, trucks and luxury sedans can use what's called Agro, enabling you to plough through any vehicle on the track - civilian or another racer - with ease. Lastly is Roar, used by muscle cars and choppers, when activated it blows away any car nearby, allowing you to easily take a straight path without worrying about other vehicles. These certainly aren't realistic features but neither is the gameplay and they probably won't be incredibly useful either. Whilst they have certainly saved my rear end many times, they aren't at all required to win any race, they just make it a bit easier and are a lot of fun.

The greatest aspect of Midnight Club 3 is simply the pure arcade style fun. Console racing games have been all about realism lately and even the most extreme arcade racing games like Burnout 3 have lacked one thing... huge jumps! MC3 is loaded with them, along with hundreds of shortcuts ranging from alleys and buildings to bridges and underground areas. Just cruising the city is a joy, looking at all the great details in buildings or signs and then being able to race freely through them without worrying about annoying barriers is great fun. Some may complain about the lack of barriers, claiming it is too easy to get lost and lose because you simply made a wrong turn, but I love that part of the game. It adds a lot of extra stress and suspense knowing you could very easily blow it by making a wrong turn but then again a wrong turn may prove to be helpful, as it may reveal a shortcut you were unaware of. Traffic and police are in full force in the single player and like in MCII the police will often yell at you in an attempt to get you to stop; unfortunately the helicopters with giant spotlights seem to have been removed.

Along with that a few other things have been taken out as well, such as the anime-like video sequences before certain races where you'd get to know your enemy a bit better and understand his style. Similarly, since they lack any sort of personality, they will not yell things at you during or before races like MCII's did. The cities seemed to have been toned down a bit as well, removing a lot of memorable bits that MCII had, such as canals, huge drainage ditches and narrow, winding highways. Perhaps the cities in this title - San Diego, Detroit and Atlanta - just didn't call for them. Either way, I do miss a lot of sections from MCII's fantastic cities, but don't get me wrong - Midnight Club 3 is absolutely packed with memorable areas and the cities are careful designs to get the most out of races and game types.

Each city has a plethora of game types and tracks associated with them, including dozens of point-to-point or lap-based checkpoint races, unordered checkpoint races where you must get each checkpoint in any order, checkpoint races where there is only one checkpoint clear across the map and even barricaded tracks where there is no traffic or enemies. All of these can be played online, where there are even more modes to enjoy. Midtown Madness 3 fans will be thrilled to find game types like Capture the Flag or Tag and there are also several others including Paint and a mode where your car is constantly driving at top speed and cannot brake. Unfortunately, Detonate has been removed from play (though you can modify your Capture the Flag games to play exactly as a Detonate game would). With all the things being taken out, you might be thinking that MC3 is a step in the wrong direction, but that's where the DUB Edition aspect comes in. Collecting real cars and then making them completely unique to yourself is a real joy and ultimately what keeps this game going in the long run; there's nothing quite like being able create something that reflects you and then compete online with it. Similarly, you can still create checkpoint races using the very cool race editor (which is greatly improved) and race with them online and even load previous tracks you raced online that aren't yours, so you can modify or save it. Which is good, because the AI sometimes acts incredibly stupid on a track you created and doesn't know where to go, or runs straight into walls (a custom, four checkpoint track took me 18 seconds, where it took the rest of the cars between 55 seconds to 1:05.)

The single player career mode, like Underground 2, is not short. By the time I was about 30% complete, I felt as if I had only played around seven to eight hours, but lo and behold, the fantastic stat-tracking system claimed I had been playing for well over twenty hours! Each city has tons of events, from simple city races that consist of just one challenge, or tournaments taking up to five races. Vehicle specific clubs challenge you to see if you're worthy throughout the entire game and the streets are full of rival racers just waiting for somebody to come along and flash their high beams. It's worth it to beat every race, as you'll need the extra cash to upgrade your car, but you'll also unlock new cars that cannot be bought, as well as earn brand new upgrades previously unavailable, such as two-tone paint types. Like Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series, the cities are also littered with icons that unlock something when all are obtained.

At first the races aren't incredibly challenging; you'll probably blow through the first one with ease, but the pressure is quickly added as police start to show up, enemies start to drive faster cars more aggressively and the tracks suddenly become a lot more difficult. As you continue playing, the game gets harder and harder to the point where, like Midnight Club II, you'll find yourself screaming in a fit of rage whilst trying not to crush your controller.

Just cruising through the cities can be a lot of fun, either to seek out the hidden icons or just to explore the sights; and the sights are definitely worth seeing. At dawn you'll find beautiful sunsets shining onto the melting snow along the rural highways of Detroit, while Atlanta and San Diego are full of bright, tall and colourful buildings. Each city has their own attractions, ranging from monuments to signature buildings and stadiums (including a baseball field you can drive into); they really do feel full of life, with lots of colours, cars and people at all times in single player. The streets themselves all look as if it has just rained incredibly hard (that is when it isn't actually raining, I mean) and reflect all manner of colours, lights, buildings and cars. Speaking of reflections, the lighting effects on the vehicles as they pass different signs and buildings is truly impressive, rivalling the mighty Project Gotham Racing 2. You can even make out buildings perfectly in them when you're in a static position.

Midnight Club 3 is also full of wonderful destruction; almost everything you run into can be taken down. As you zoom down the street it is not rare to see street lights, signs, trees, or others cars sliding down the road and it really adds an amazing sense of speed and mayhem to the game. There is nothing quite like having another racer take out a huge street light in front of you only for it to get right in your way at the last second. Speaking of destruction and damage, the cars all react to what you hit well and show obvious wear and tear (though not as much as you may expect), I've cringed many times after a race when I see what has become of my once lush paintjob...

The only downside of the graphics is that the game runs at 30 frames per second instead of 60 - not a big deal and you'll hardly notice once you get used to it - however in the single player mode the game slows down even more whilst heavy weather is in effect. It's a real shame, as the effects do look nice, but it almost feels as if the game is experiencing some sort of lag and severely hinders the experience when it is based upon massive speed and quick reflexes. It gets so annoying that I've actually decided to mark the graphics down a notch because, as good as they might look, it's never good when it negatively effects gameplay.

MC3's soundtrack is made up of a variety of music styles including hip hop, techno, house, drum 'n' bass and a dash of rock. MCII's soundtrack did the same and was nearly perfect; MC3's is just as good. They've really nailed it with some of the drum and bass tracks, as they sound really spectacular coming through a stereo system and add a lot of intensity to a race. Though I personally would have preferred a lot more techno, as I think it's most fitting for this style of game, there is a good assortment there already and anybody should be able to find something to enjoy. It's worth noting a new Nine Inch Nails track appears in the game off the forthcoming album too.

Outside of the music the sound is what you would expect, but unlike the previous instalment there is a lot less voice acting. The only voices heard are those of your garage mechanics and only three appear in the game - I was quite bummed out that the game removed the anime influenced characters and voices because I really think they added a unique touch to the second game. Here, all of your rival racers feel unimportant and lifeless, which hurts a lot because it almost makes the game feel as if there is no main goal or point, whereas in the second title you would race and advance to challenge new rivals or beat guys talking a lot of trash. This is easily my biggest letdown with the game, but I digress - the rest of the sound is great and so is the rest of the game. It may lack characters but it makes up for it with, for the first time, character in the vehicles - which could easily be why they removed the people; to put a greater focus on the cars instead.

Once you build up a solid collection of upgraded cars and create a style for each one you like, it's time to take the game online. I've already gone over the various modes, so I'll keep it short and sweet by saying that the online mode is near flawless. Everything from races, capture the flag and even just free roaming through the cities with seven other buddies. Also, if the host leaves during a race someone else quickly and almost seamlessly becomes the host and gameplay continues. It's great to go online and race against other players' custom vehicles and see what their imaginations came up with. However, with all the great cars, non-linear race tracks and huge open ended cities comes the only "downside" of the online play - there are no civilian cars or people. The cities are completely free of any other life other than the racers, which may or may not be a bad thing depending on personal preference. It's simple to see why they were not included and it barely hurts the experience at all; in fact, it took me at least 30 minutes to even realise they were gone. Modes like Tag and Capture the Flag are a welcome addition (and return) to the series; there is nothing like racing through a city trying to steal a flag from another driver and bring it to a checkpoint before someone takes it from you. Power ups can be turned on or off and range from more nitro to being able to freeze your enemies. The online play really is satisfying and a hugely refreshing experience that comes very highly recommended.

If you have online abilities then Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition is a must have for any gamer; great arcade action, incredible car physics, huge jumps, multiple game types, laid back free-roaming mode, the ability to take your own, one of a kind car online... MC3 offers the lot, online and offline. If you're a fan of racing games then the single player alone is worth the price of admission with a huge, challenging career mode and over sixty licensed vehicles. Even if you haven't liked arcade racing games in the past, you may enjoy this one, as Rockstar San Diego has really nailed the handling of each car perfectly - don't expect something as wild as Burnout but don't expect Gran Turismo or even Project Gotham either. Midnight Club 3 is a perfect blend of arcade style action, mixing the best of Midnight Club 2, Midtown Madness, Need for Speed Underground and Burnout 3. With a combination like that, you really can't go wrong.

Reviewed by Christopher Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).