Midnight Club: Los Angeles

Obviously, these new additions would count for very little if the driving experience was underwhelming. But if you’ve ever played a Midnight Club game before, the arcade handling will be more than familiar.

Po-faced simulation is nowhere to be seen. Instead, outlandish power-slides, outrageous handbrake turns and seat-of-your-pants traffic dodging is combined with a weight to the cars that requires a degree of driving skill that prevents MC LA being written off as a lightweight racer. Something that’ll be further reinforced after you’ve hung onto a screaming superbike and darted through obstacles that threaten to turn you into man jam.

Adding an extra layer of strategy to events is the return of ‘power-up’ skills from DUB Edition. Only this time, Zone, Agro, Roar and new skill EMP (which briefly disables surrounding cars) can be applied to any vehicle. So, if you fancy a bike that can smash other vehicles out the way, well, there’s nothing stopping you…

Some might argue that the ‘street racing thing’ peaked a couple of years after The Fast And The Furious and every publisher with two pennies had a game where you could stick neon lights under a car. But think about it – how many are there now? The original Midnight Club not only pre-dated the aforementioned film but has survived since relatively unchanged – something only a truly competent racing game could do.

By sticking to its roots, Midnight Club Los Angeles may not be a master of innovation, but as one of the most polished, finely honed and adrenaline-filled racing games, you won’t find any that do it better. You’ll love your time in the City of Angels...