Preview: LA Rush
October 15, 2006
Midway / Playstation 2 Xbox PC / Teen
LA Rush, has long a big arcade racing power for Midway, with racing locations fleshing out the titular city in what was, for the time, great detail. Now it’s being revitalized with the popular West Coast Customs (WCC) license for modern consoles to go up against Rockstar’s Midnight Club 3.
LA Rush shares a premise with almost all the other street racing games out there: race, race some more, pimp your ride, race said pimped ride, repeat. What Midway hopes will set LA Rush apart are two major things. First is the West Coast Customs license. WCC is currently the biggest name in car customization thanks to the success of the MTV show Pimp My Ride, and they lend their expertise, as well as their likenesses, and kooky personalities, to the game. Second is the huge, detailed Los Angeles the developers have crafted. Mapping nearly every city street from the Hollywood hills to South Central, it’ll be a joy to explore.
The actual racing is what you’d expect from an arcade racer, plus several key features picked up from the competition. Borrowed from Burnout are some pretty spectacular crashes and ride damage. Crash into something head on and time will slow to show doors, panels, and various other bits and pieces flying off your car.
Like Need For Speed: Most Wanted the cops will chase you around if you tick them off. There is even a GTA-style warning system going from one to six. The cops in LAR seem to be much more competent and aggressive than the ones in Midnight Club so it’s best just to avoid them. Likewise the driver AI for both rival and bystander is surprisingly competent. Cruising around the streets of LA will show the local populace driving, pretty much as you’d expect them to in real life. Coming from Midnight Club is the detailed and realistic car customization, and a cruise mode for exploring the massive city.
The only real question mark here is in the driving. The demo showed certain competence but to dethrone the reigning kings of the genre LAR will have to capture the exiting, adrenaline-fueled, cerebral racing of the major competition. Only time will tell.
It is evident that Midway is putting a lot of effort into the revitalization of one of its classics. From the WCC license to the city itself everything smacks of a quest for perfection. Whether that will capture the magic of the other arcade racing giants is yet to be seen. Look for that magic when LA Rush hits in early October.
By Zack Rovinsky
