Midtown Madness 3 Interview

We ride shotgun and bend a corner with the game's lead designer.

Taking a known franchise like Midtown Madness from PC to Xbox is a chance to introduce a fresh multiplayer driving experience that "flesh out" Xbox Live's initial library of games. Midtown Madness 3 was originally scheduled to be one of the launch titles for Xbox Live when it was first announced in spring of 2002. Now that it's been moved to an early 2003 release slot, we wanted to take a look at what changes Digital Illusions has planned for this high profile game making the move from PC to Xbox. IGN had a chance to fire some questions at the game's Lead Designer, Andreas Roman. Read the answers below and you'll know a lot more about the game than you did before.

IGN: Are any new Xbox Live multiplayer gameplay modes going to be added now that MM3 is coming out in Q1 2003?


There are a bunch of game modes that we're making more complete and versatile than originally planned. Most game modes will have team play abilities now, and we're also adding visual enhancements to all of the modes. Briefly, our game modes are: "You're It, " which is a version of Tag but with more crash and burn to it; "Hunter," where hunters go after their prey in a relentless pursuit after time; "Capture the Gold," which is an evolved version of Cops and Robbers; "Catch the Rabbit," which is a reverse, score-focused version of "You're it"; "Checkpoint," which is exactly what it sounds like, and "Cruise" which is just general messing around.

IGN: Explain how the single player game will be used to enhance the online play (unlockables, etc.)


Elements that you unlock in single player can be used in multiplayer, such as cars and paint jobs. Also, single player actually has a split screen mode where you can cruise or do checkpoint races while sitting right next to a friend. With 20 checkpoint races (and, theoretically, an infinite number of races that you can make up while in "Cruise" mode), this will keep you busy for quite awhile until you decide to go online.

IGN: Will there be any instances where the main character will get out of whatever vehicle they're driving?


There will be times during the "Career/Story" mode when other people enter and exit the player car. If you are driving a taxi, or a limo, for example, you may actually see this on occasion. However, "Midtown Madness 3" is really all about the racing/driving experience, where your vehicle is the protagonist, in either the race or the story ("Career" mode). The game is true to both racing and driving, so getting out of the car really doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

IGN: How important is stunt driving going to be in MM3?


It depends. There's a big difference between the "Midtown Madness" philosophy and, for example, "Stunt Man." We encourage reckless driving but don't enforce it. We're littering the city with stuff that enables you to do stunts that'll make all other games pale in comparison -- mostly because these stunts are made in real world places, with only slight modifications to their architecture. Many races will be different if you utilize our stunts, and also, if you decide to just cruise around and mess with our tracks, you'll find lots of goodies hidden and available only if you do mad stunts. You don't have to, but if you do, you'll be rewarded. "Midtown Madness 3" is a pure racing experience, we don't want to clog it down with stuff that we might think is cool but that turns out not to be. However, just to make sure that stunt fanatics get their share, we have a stunt car racer job in the "Career" mode in Washington. And yes, you're driving a Mustang there. And yes, we love the sound it makes at burnouts and crashes. And yes, we believe Steve McQueen would be proud, even if it's not San Francisco and the famous chase scene from "Bullitt".

IGN: What kind of downloadable content do you have planned?


We'll keep that a secret for now, but if you had me locked down with a cigarette to my eye, I would have to say that we're planning more cars, more races and more... aw, that's about as far as I would go.

IGN: What auto manufacturers are being included? Which models?....


We've got a bunch of non-licensed vehicles such as taxis, police cars, ambulances, garbage trucks and so on. We also have quite a few licensed ones, from manufacturers such as Ford, Lotus (the Esprit Turbo), Corvette, Audi, Renault, Chrysler and many, many more. We even have two of the hottest cars around right in the BMW Mini Cooper S and the H2 (Hummer) from GM. And of course, we have a few Swedish brands, one of them being so outstandingly cool, you'll drop your controller in awe when you unlock it. If you unlock it. And, if you do, be sure to pick the controller back up, it makes the game a lot easier and more enjoyable!

IGN: What well-known landmarks will we see in Paris and D.C?


Most of them. There are so many, I would need an entire page to list them all. We've got the Eiffel tower, Sacre Ceur, Champs Elysses (Yes! You can go blitzing along this huge avenue and end in triumph at the Arc de Triomphe), the Louvre, Capitol Hill, the White House, Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Chinatown... the cities are huge! I dare say you've seen nothing like this before.

IGN: Describe the damage model for the cars.


he car gets damaged where it gets hit, which could in theory mean that if you crash with your front all the time, that's the part of the car that gets bruised. You could damage out with a car that's brutally smashed in one place but otherwise fine, since the total amount of damage still goes up when you're hit. Parts also come off, though not all of them - car doors remain fixed, though they can get beat up pretty badly. Each car has its own set of loose parts, so no car is exactly like the other. My favorite is the H2 -- it has so many loose parts that you could litter the entire city with them, just driving around, spreading metal junk around you!

IGN: How will DICE apply their experience from Rallisport to MM3?


Our long experience with fine-tuning car physics will go a long way into making this game something special, and our knowledge in balancing cars against each other will also be of great use. Also, the general approach that the game is more aimed towards arcade racing rather than realism, with physics adjusting the car to help the player navigate out of impossible situations, is something we utilize from our earlier driving games.

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