Fantasy on four wheels

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition takes one part Gran Turismo, two parts Burnout and a dash of attitude, mixes the whole lot together and serves up a street racer like no other.

For the benefit of anyone over the age of 19, DUB magazine is an American version of Max Power mag over here. Called the "original automotive styling magazine" its pages are filled with pictures of macho cars "enhanced" with body kits and spoilers so massive they could have fallen off an Airbus A380.

Midnight Club has always enjoyed a dedicated following among gamers who love to tinker with their wheels. The DUB Edition endorsement would seem a perfect fit. And the influence of the magazine pervades every second of this latest addition to the series.

The customisation options available this time around put the previous games firmly in the shade. There are literally hundreds of after-market parts available so you can add some bling to your car. You can accessorize just about every inch of your car - right down to the registration plate and window stickers. Some of these styling goodies are unlocked by finding hidden Rockstar logos. Next to this, even GT4's extensive tuning section comes in a distant second to DUB Edition's comprehensive parts catalogue. Combine this with an extensive roster of more than 50 licensed vehicles (admittedly well short of GT4's 500 plus) and you have a game that's a budding boy racer's dream ticket.

There's more to DUB edition than giant alloy wheels and nitrous injection kits, though. Once your dream machine is prepped and ready for action there are three cities - San Diego, Atlanta and "Motor City" itself, Detroit - to race through.

There's more to each event than out racing your competition, though. Every city has a plentiful supply of traffic cops just itching to force you off the road and into the slammer. Each race allows for multiple branching paths with which to shake off pursuing law enforcers. Each route is packed with irritating Sunday drivers and you need sharp reflexes to dodge them as they meander up the road. When the log jam gets too thick, you can call up a special move that clears your path for a short time. Without this, victory would be almost impossible.

Mind you, even with the help of a "power up", Midnight Club 3 is a difficult game to master. You won't be pulling off stylish tricks and blowing past your rivals after a matter of hours - it takes lots of practice to get the hang of the tricky handling and challenging courses.

When you do come a cropper the crash impact effects are genuinely impressive and the spectacular jumps are reminiscent of the grand-daddy of street racers, San Francisco Rush.

The multi-player modes are pretty standard stuff (Capture The Flag and Tag are the two stand outs) and there is a handy race editor that allows for custom checkpoints through each city. Cruise mode allows players to drive around the cityscape showing off their pimped up motors.

Xbox owners can use their hard drives to create their own soundtrack. The PS2 version makes do with a decent selection of "bangin'" tunes.

Interestingly, considering this is a game from Rockstar, a studio that seems to thrive on controversy, Midnight Club 3 has also been dubbed in an entirely different way. Presumably with one eye on a likely 12 certificate age rating (and the age demographic of racing games like this) the soundtrack places a censorious bleep over on-screen swearing.

ENTHUSIA

Publisher: Konami. Format: PS2. Price: £39.99. Family friendly? 3+

ANOTHER driving title that isn't afraid to take a tilt at a seminal racer - in this case, Gran Turismo - hits the shelves this month.

Enthusia takes a different road to Midnight Club by placing its emphasis firmly on driving skill rather than car modifications.

At first glance it can certainly hold its own against GT4. There are 50 different tracks (mostly well modelled, although some of the trackside furniture is a bit rough) and more than 200 official cars.

The much hyped "Visual G System" - which is supposed to be a visual indicator of the physics acting on the car - turns out to be more of an annoying distraction than a useful addition.

Enthusia has a novel career mode that unlocks extra cars but a bizarre way of awarding points means you're often better off sticking with a car that's (on paper) a worse performer than newer models. You also earn points for sticking to the racing line and avoiding crashes. This is similar to the kudos system used in the much lauded Project Goatham Racing on Xbox.

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