Midtown Madness 3: Paris, Washington and an Undercover Xbox Sandbox

Midtown Madness 3 closed out the series, set in open-world versions of Paris and Washington, D.C. Digital Illusions CE built it for the Xbox, and Microsoft Game Studios published it in 2003. Players could roam freely, race or take on undercover jobs such as taxi, chauffeur and police work.

Why did the series change developers?

Angel Studios had developed the first two games, but it had moved on to work on the Midnight Club series. Digital Illusions CE, which had developed Rallisport Challenge for the Xbox, took over the third game. The change of studio and the Xbox-only release brought a clear graphical improvement.

Development was announced in April 2002 as an Xbox-exclusive title with a tentative late 2002 release. An early build was shown publicly in May 2002, and the final game arrived the following summer.

Several landmarks appeared in both cities, and Microsoft promoted the game with a satirical documentary about the motion capture behind its pedestrians.

Two real capitals, a crowd of pedestrians and undercover jobs made Midtown Madness 3 the series' most ambitious entry.

What were the cities like to drive in?

The two cities are Paris and Washington, D.C. Each map covers a smaller area than its real counterpart, though it is larger than the cities in the earlier games. The Paris stage includes the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and the Louvre, while Washington features Capitol Hill, the White House and Dupont Circle.

Cruise mode is a free-roam option in which the player can change the number of pedestrians, the amount of traffic, the weather, the season and the time of day. Players can also collect car-specific paint jobs while exploring.

Blitz races require players to pass every checkpoint in any order before time runs out. Checkpoint races are a straight contest to the finish line against opponents who are trying to beat the player there.

Which vehicles could players drive?

Players could drive any of several vehicles around the open-world maps, and each city offered its own mix of traffic and landmarks to explore. Some vehicles were licensed from makers such as Ford Motor Company, Lotus, Audi and Hummer, which gave the fleet recognisable names.

What were the Work Undercover missions?

In Paris, players take on delivery, taxi, chauffeur, security guard, ambulance, police and special agent jobs. In Washington the roles include pizza delivery, rental car driving, limo service, car sales, stunt driving, police work and private investigation. Each mission sits inside the story for its city.

Each job places the player in the middle of a plot, from chauffeuring a limo to immobilising a van during a chase. Those missions give the cities a sense of purpose that pure free roam cannot provide.

How did the Paris and Washington stories unfold?

The Paris story begins when a famous race driver, Dieter Kleinmann, arrives to receive a lifetime achievement award. Three Scandinavians become persons of interest, and the player is asked to deliver the real award after a fake copy turns up. Kleinmann is later kidnapped after the ceremony, and the player helps track down his captors.

The Washington plot follows the Tortellini brothers, who are filming a movie called The Quick and the Slippery in the city. The player works undercover as a private investigator, discovers a rival producer known as the Hot Shot Producer, and eventually stops him from escaping with the film.

How did the Washington storyline open?

Angelina acts as a rival in the businesses the player works for, and the player first meets Michael when delivering a replacement pizza after an unacceptable order. Stefano grows suspicious of Michael's dealings, and with the player's help identifies where Michael meets the producer.

Stefano later tries to crash Michael's limousine during a car chase, but the player thwarts him. Stefano is arrested and then released, and the police discover that he had been sending prank phone calls to Michael. The player then arrests four actors who stole vehicles from the film set.

In the final act Stefano is found to be working with the producer too. Posing as a driver, the player takes Stefano to meet Michael, and the brothers realise a conspiracy had set them against each other. The player then chases the producer down and stops him from escaping with the film, which lets the brothers release their movie.

How did the Paris plot reach its climax?

The Scandinavians tried to switch the award, and the player delivered the real copy while Olle and Inga attacked the vehicle. The kidnapping later revealed that Olle and Inga had smashed Kleinmann's limo, and the agency tracked Inga's van, which the player immobilised before her arrest.

Roadblocks followed while Olle was still at large, and the player delivered officers to reinforce several locations. A search of a hideout turned up more criminals working for Olle and Inga, and a deal with five kidnappers gave the agency testimony that revealed Olle's escape plan.

How did multiplayer work on Xbox?

The game supported Xbox Live for online play and offered split-screen multiplayer on one console. Modes included Capture the Gold, Checkpoint, Cruise, Hunter, Stayaway and Tag. Players could join live matches or play locally with friends on the same console.

Online access through Xbox Live ended on 15 April 2010, but the game returned online on the Insignia replacement servers. Online matches were easy to find, and the range of modes drew praise.

How did critics respond to the game?

Reception was positive, though slightly weaker than for the first two games. GameRankings recorded 80.24 percent and Metacritic gave 76 out of 100. Several reviewers praised the multiplayer, while others found the cities too small to live up to their promise.

Official Xbox Magazine questioned the choice of cities, and Electronic Gaming Monthly found the two cities fun to explore and large in size. Shawn Sanders felt the cities were not enough, though he expected future downloadable content to help.

Christian Nutt called the cities huge arenas for careening around, though neither would win awards for detail. Motor Trend's staff felt the game deserved a place in a driver's collection.

What did each multiplayer mode involve?

Capture the Gold scatters gold around the city, and players must carry it to a hideout while others try to steal it. Checkpoint has players race through predefined tracks, and Cruise is a free-roam mode. In Hunter, one player starts as the hunter, and each capture turns another player into a hunter until a single prey player remains.

Stayaway rewards whoever holds the rabbit for the longest time, while Tag has players chase each other and try to bump one another's cars.

How did Midnight Club compare?

GameSpot described the game as more accessible than its nearest competitor, Midnight Club II. That rival appeared on the PlayStation 2 and was developed by Rockstar San Diego, the studio that had built the previous two Midtown Madness games as Angel Studios.

IGN's Chris Carle called the multiplayer a chaotic scramble, noting that games were easy to find and that the title offered six different modes. Christian Nutt enjoyed Capture the Gold as a variant on classic capture-the-flag games.

What were the mobile versions like?

BeTomorrow developed the mobile version, which In-Fusio published in 2004. Smartphones received a full 3D version, while other phones played a top-down 2D version that ran on Java and Brew. The studio had access to the Xbox assets and two console copies for reference.

Development took five months. The 3D version was exclusive to Windows Phones, and its production ceased in October 2017. The mobile edition reached Europe on 4 November 2004.

How does the game look back on the series?

Midtown Madness 3 closed the series with a mix of city missions, free roaming and multiplayer, and it remains a reference point for open-world driving on consoles. Its online life, from the closure of Xbox Live to the return on replacement servers, shows how much its appeal depended on the network.