Midtown Madness 3

Overview

Midtown Madness 3 is a racing game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Microsoft Game Studios exclusively for the Xbox. The game was released on June 17, 2003 and is the third installment in the Midtown Madness series.

The game is currently not backwards compatible on the Xbox 360.

Gameplay

Midtown Madness 3 is an open city racing game and has multiple modes across single player and multiplayer. There are also Xbox Live features which are now defunct as the service for the original Xbox has been disabled. Midtown Madness 3 has 34 cars in total (two secret) for the player to use. For most of the races there is no set path to complete it in as long as all of the various checkpoints have been hit.

Single Player

Single player consists of four different play modes. All of these modes can be played in either Paris or Washington D.C.

Undercover

Undercover mode is the mission based career mode in Midtown Madness 3. In Undercover mode the player works as an undercover police officer doing various races to uncover a plot. The player starts out with a low class of vehicle and job and works up to the high class. Either city can be chosen in undercover mode and different missions will be available in each one.

Blitz

Blitz mode is very much like a time trial race. The goal of a Blitz mode race is to hit all the checkpoints in the fastest time possible.

Checkpoint Checkpoint races are much like Blitz races. The goal of a checkpoint race, like the Blitz race is to hit all the checkpoints. The difference in a Checkpoint race is that there are also A.I opponents. The checkpoints must be hit faster than the A.I opponents.

Cruise

Cruise mode is an open mode with no set objectives or goals. In cruise mode either city can be selected to explore, find the extra paint jobs, and learn routes. The player will also be chased by police when in this mode.

Multiplayer Modes

There are three ways to play multiplayer. There is split screen in which all the players are playing on the same Xbox with the screen split. There is also system link in which there is more than one Xbox and more than one TV but they are physically wired together. Then there is multiplayer over Xbox Live, which has since been shut off.

Checkpoint

Checkpoint mode works in multiplayer virtually the same as it does in single player. The difference between the single player mode and the multiplayer mode is that the opponents are human instead of A.I.

Cruise

Cruise mode also works much the same in multiplayer as it does in single player.

Capture the Gold

Capture the gold works like a one flag capture the flag mode. There is some gold that is randomly placed somewhere in the city. The teams are split up into cops and robbers. The goal is for one team to try and pick up the gold and drive it to their hideout.

Tag

Tag works exactly how it sounds. One player is "it" and must chase down and hit another player to make them "it".

Stayaway

The goal in stayaway is for a player to pick up a rabbit and hold it for as long as possible. Other players can hit the player holding the rabbit to steal it.

Hunter

In hunter mode one player in the game starts out as the hunter. Once the hunter "tags" another player then they also become a hunter. The game goes until only one player is left as a hunted. \

While Xbox Live service was still available, many players would create an unofficial game of "Legal Hunter" where the player who started as the hunter would act as police in the town while the other players would attempt to either abide to the hunter's stated laws, or evade the hunter before being "tagged".