Metacritic Games

Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (Xbox)

The series that took racing from tracks to the open urban streets is back, and the stakes are even higher. Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition delivers insanely fast, open city racing in Atlanta, San Diego, and Detroit, complete with 8-player online competition and the most comprehensive vehicle customization ever seen in a video game. Drive the hottest licensed real life SUVs, import tuners, muscle cars, choppers and luxury rides, and trick them out with the latest rims, trims, and upgrades just like in the pages of DUB. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition has more speed, more choices, and more chrome than any game has ever packed under the hood. [Rockstar Games]

Rockstar Games
Racing, Driving
Players: 8
E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)
Developer: Rockstar San Diego
Released April 12, 2005

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

84 / 100

Critic Reviews

100 AceGamez
A perfect blend of arcade style action, mixing the best of Midnight Club 2, Midtown Madness, Need for Speed Underground and Burnout 3. With a combination like that, you really can't go wrong.
95 Game Informer
There wasn't one moment during my time with this game that I wasn't engaged and having fun. Ultimately, that's the mark of a great title in any genre. [May 2005, p.106]
94 Inside Gamer Online
The game is worth the price of admission for the customization alone, but throw in near perfect graphics, great sound, a plethora of game modes and online play and you have a racing game that is one of the best on the market.
94 GameZone
It not only outshines the competition with its addictive racing modes (and one killer online multiplayer mode) but it also offers enough goodies for the import tuner crowd to sink their teeth into.
94 BonusStage
Officially the king of the street racer gaming scene. No other title out there delivers this much speed, customization, or outright fun at all.
94 Gamezilla!
The actual racing won’t disappoint either with tight handling and a forgiving, over-the-top physics engine. There’s no realism here and who would want any in this type of game.
93 PGNx Media
The game’s gameplay is solid, the car customization is in-depth, the online modes are effective, and even the use of DUB Magazine seems helpful.
93 Worth Playing
Long after you're finished building your automotive empire, you'll still have editable races, online contests and simple cruising sessions at your disposal. It's good for a quick play or for a long stretch.
92 IGN
While graphically MC3 doesn't have the chops of Criterion's "Burnout" (which runs at 60 FPS), Rockstar's game does offer open city courses, more cars on screen simultaneously, a custom feature, special moves, and what appears to be a more robust and much deeper online component than its opponents.
92 GamingTrend
It fits squarely between "Need for Speed: Underground 2" (a game I didn’t like) and "Burnout 3: Takedown" (a game I loved), but tends to lean very close to Burnout 3 on the scale.
92 My Gamer
An absolute blast to play. It nails the street-racing scene perfectly, melding it with some stunning visuals and sound, and gives it all a nitrous boost in the form of some top notch gameplay.
91 IC-Games
The controls have been perfectly fitted around the Xbox Controller with everything feeling in the right place.
91 TeamXbox
This game has everything a racing fan could ever want. What it lacks in graphical delivery the audio department and sense of speed more then make up for.
91 Xbox Solution
Loaded with replay value. It's a massive game to beat.
91 Next Level Gaming
Has everything that an import tuner nut could ever want. Heck, this game has everything a racing fan could ever want.
90 Cheat Code Central
The gameplay and control is what makes Midnight club, Midnight Club. It's an arcade racer at heart, with easy to handle cars, and really good controls. (that you can completely remap to your liking in the options menu, allowing for manual shifting as well) Even when your blazing at super high speeds, you still feel like you're in control.
90 GameSpy
Aside from minor framerate niggles, DUB is one of the finest racers to hit the market in recent memory, and it's certainly the king of the tuner racer scene, without a doubt.
90 GamerFeed
It has deep gameplay that makes "Need For Speed Underground" look like a Lego car.
90 1UP
It's the first game where I've actually felt a sense of attachment to my customized car, and it's one of the most entertaining racing games around.
90 Total Video Games
Creates the most exhilarating sensation of speed in a videogame as well as offering the most comprehensive modification package in a street racing title yet.
90 PALGN
One of the greatest Racing games I as a gamer have ever played... Rockstar made a great choice by affiliating with DUB.
90 Xbox World Australia
It’s addictive with plenty of high speed, high flying racing action and having bikes is a great drawcard as well.
90 GameBiz
The crashes will make you laugh, the corners will make you irritated, but all round this game has a whole lot of awesome fun crammed in to the disc.
90 GameSpot AU
Realistic graphics, a real sense of speed and tight controls all add up to Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition being a flat-out adrenalin rush of a game.
90 Official Xbox Magazine
If there's one notable flaw in Midnight Club 3, it's that the graphics can't quite hang with "NFS Underground 2." [June 2005, p.72]
90 Extreme Gamer
The rides are truly sweet and the inclusion of trucks and bikes is magic. If there is one racer that burns mojo nitro it's Midnight Club 3.
89 Games Radar UK (Pre-2006)
What MC3 lacks in grace and polish it more than makes up for with its raw power and sheen of cool.
88 Armchair Empire
It’s almost a guarantee your ride will wind up being a reflection of your personality.
88 Game Chronicles
The gameplay is fast and furiously addicting, and even though the overall difficulty is generally way too easy (thanks to slipstream turbo), there are plenty of random events that will cause you to lose more than your fair share of races.
88 Jolt Online Gaming UK
While still similar in many ways to Midnight Club 2, the two remain sufficiently different that neither negates the other.
87 Pelit (Finland)
The incredible speed and freeform routes are the major high points. The tuning options are excellent, too. [July 05]
87 Electronic Gaming Monthly
DUB redlines on the gorgeous meter. Everything blurs and tunnels to help convey a giddy feeling of speed—and then you hit the nitrous.
85 Gamer's Hell
Joining an overall excellent audio-visual experience with a very lengthy career mode and thrilling multiplayer, Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition is currently the best street racing game available.
85 3DAvenue
Not the most glitzy and glamorous racer around, but definitely the closest to the real thing yet.
85 Play Magazine
You've got blinding speed, and more than enough distinct cars to tinker with to push that insane speed even harder. [June 2005, p.57]
83 GameSpot
The career mode, with its lengthy list of races and deep customization mode, would by itself make the game worthwhile. However, the addition of entertaining online play, arcade races, and a race editor really makes this one of the best street racers currently on the market.
83 Game Revolution
Perhaps the biggest problem with Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition is the car control, which once again is just too simple.
81 Gaming Target
The career mode is once again the strongest part, but other areas (online, soundtrack, AI) have been improved upon to make the whole package better.
80 Boomtown
It’s a solid, fun game and there’s no doubt you could do a lot worse, but you might find yourself feeling a little detached from it all after not too long.
80 DarkStation
It seems to "borrow" a little too much from the Need For Speed Underground series.
80 G4 TV
Although the graphics engine chugs along at times, this is an excellent arcade racer that manages to raise the bar in the overcrowded, clichéd street racing genre.
80 Yahoo! Games
Tuners can go crazy creating a fully customized garage, and pure race fans can get off on the sense of speed.
80 GamePro
The auto graphics shine throughout. Whether you're into tuning or just customizing your ride, Midnight Club 3 is more than roadworthy.
80 Computer and Video Games
Chuck in the countless car-tweaking and customising options and brilliant multiplayer modes, and it easily slipstreams ahead of the other modding racers around. [Official UK Xbox Magazine]
80 MS Xbox World
A welcome arcade street racing title with enough bits and pieces to mess around with to keep the pimp in us all quite happy.
75 Gaming Age
The options in Midnight Club 3 may not be as limitless as the work at West Coast Customs, but you'll definitely end up with a unique garage to show off online.
75 Detroit Free Press
The city may not look entirely like home, but Joe's fist still looks pretty cool when you're blowing by at 100 m.p.h.
74 Ferrago
Technical faults such as difficultly seeing where you're going and suspect frame-rates are serious issues when it comes to games of such speed requiring cat like reflexes.
70 Eurogamer
Midnight Club 3 may have more cars, more customisation options, new special moves, look better and sport an enhanced online component this time around, but the lack of a tangible challenge and carelessly implemented progression system rips the soul out of what was an immensely promising series.
60 Pelaaja (Finland)
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition cannot be blamed for a lack of trying, but when you are facing formidable competition ("Need for Speed" franchise), trying is just not good enough. [May 2005, p.66]
60 games(TM)
There’s little here that inspires us to recommend DUB Edition above any of the other pimping opportunities that are either out already or due to make an appearance soon, and it’s certainly only worth bothering with if you’re willing to invest a fair bit of time. [May 2005, p.120]
60 Edge Magazine
There’s no question that DUB Edition can be pleasurable, especially in the multiplayer games, but the Career mode too often feels like graft. There are tournaments, one-off street races and ‘special’ events, but each individual race feels much the same as the last. [June 2005, p.92]
40 VideoGamesLife
Has neither the dexterity of "Outrun 2," nor the thrill of "Burnout 3." It does little to either further the genre or master a particular element, yet to a degree this is a title that can be enjoyed in short spurts.

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