If anyone can recall the greatness that was Midtown Madness 3 on the original Xbox (and my FIRST XBL game) and the phenominal multiplayer that came along with it, I think we can agree...Where is MM4? There was so much to love about the last MM games playability, cheesey humor, and online depth that I'm sad they haven't made an attempt to ressurect the franchise...I know it sold well enough to merit consideration...There was never any lack of people to play with even 2 years later.



For those that don't remember, or haven't played it, here's the skinny...You are placed in a city...In MM3 there was Washington DC, and Paris. Around 30 real world vehicles, and each car had a few different paint jobs you could unlock through the course fo the single player game...Now the single player was fun, but it wasn't the meat of the game...That was eserved for online...and there were plenty of modes, both solo and team based, that created havoc, laughs, and enjoyable memories for me...

The modes of play were (From the MM3 Wiki article)

Capture the Gold - Gold is stashed around the city and you have to grab it and take it to your hideout. Whether as a solo player or playing in teams, this mode is the most fun, with cars flying around, stealing the gold from the other guys and taking off down the street as everyone follows in hot pursuit.

Checkpoint - Race against others on pre-defined tracks around the city.

Cruise - Just cruise the city while chatting with others. Often ends up being a glitch hunt.

Hunter* - One player starts off as the Hunter and everyone else in the game is Prey. As the Hunter nails Prey, they in turn become Hunters, and the last person who is Prey stands alone as the winner.

Stayaway - Whoever holds the rabbit for the longest time wins. Bust out some jukes in order to stayaway from the other players.

Tag - When the clock counts down to zero, you better not be It. Nail another player to make them It, and take off.

Each mode was fun, and the cities were well realized, and had special areas as well as monuments and landmarks that we all could recognize. Hunter was probably my favorite, and team Stayaway was right there too. The game had arcade-like physics, damage rendering (you could kill your car dead), and leaderboards. It should be noted that in Hunter, one player starts out as a police car, and you basically run down ppl and turn them into cop cars...so the number of cops increases for every player who is successfully 'hunted'...last man standing wins.

There were stunt areas littered all over both cities, and finding, and completing them was itself a task...But made even more enjoyable by the 'Cruise' play, where you would find something awesome, and show your friends, and then have everyone attempt to complete it...There were plenty of online game modes created by what I would call an almost rabbid community (then, not now). I still have people on my friendslist who I met on MM3 and still play with them regularly...The community for the game, overall, was one of the best I had the pleasure of being a part of in the early days (and even now) of XBL.

I just don't know why it dissapeared...Sure, DICE is now another developer gobbled up the Empire Arts...But surely there is a way to ressurect a once great franchise...Here's to hoping...