Crave Entertainment has released eight new screenshots of NRA Gun Club for the PlayStation 2. Enjoy!

]]> Wed, 06 Sep 2006 19:49:00 -0500 Shiva Stella http://www.gamebump.com/go/new_media_for_gun_club_the_nonviolent_shooter http://www.gamebump.com/go/new_media_for_gun_club_the_nonviolent_shooter http://www.gamebump.com/go/new_media_for_gun_club_the_nonviolent_shooter# This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Certain formatting, imaged, and embedded content may have been lost in the transition process.

The Club is a loosely organized and highly illegal underground entity. For most people, The Club exists only as an urban legend – a game where criminals are paid huge amounts to carry out gunfights and where online spectators view, gamble and cheer them on in a deadly game of skill. Yet the rumours are true. People are getting rich. People are dying. The first task is to survive, but according to their rules - quickly, relentlessly and with style.

The game is scheduled to ship for the Playstation 2 and Xbox on April 12th, 2005. DUB Edition lets you race through the streets of Atlanta, Detroit and San Diego. The game also looks to feature eight-player online support and vehicle custimizations.

Though we now have the date for the Playstation 2 and Xbox, Rockstar didn't give any date for the PSP version yet.

The controls are simple and easy to pick up. The racing is competitive and fun.

The cities, cars and environments are very well designed – even the dark fog looks impressive.

The music is a matter of personal opinion, but the engine sounds and tire screeches are nice.

When you get to play, the game is fun, but sadly the load times drag down the experience.

There’s plenty to see and do. Career mode will give you a lot to play; add to that ad hoc.

]]> Wed, 06 Jul 2005 19:44:00 -0500 Tim Grube http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_midnight_club_3_dub_edition_psp1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_midnight_club_3_dub_edition_psp1 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_preview_midnight_club_3_dub_edition_psp1# This preview was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

The best-selling PlayStation 2 and Xbox title, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, is headed to the PSP and is shaping up to be one hell of a title. This will be the first PSP title out of the Rockstar Games studios and the company is giving the gamer lots of features. You have customizable licensed cars, three open cities to race in, multiplayer action, and several modes.

Gamers will be able to tweak their car inside and out. For example, you can do custom paint jobs, change out your rims, purchase body kits to make the car look like a mean machine, and much more. Upgrades for performance parts range from suspension to superchargers. The blur is back this time around! Rockstar San Diego found a way to make the gamer feel the sense of speed on a small screen.

Three cities – Atlanta, San Diego, and Detroit – will all be open for racing. Each city is rebuilt for the PSP, so expect all the shortcuts, secrets, and side streets. It's all there! Rockstar is also hard at work with a new mode called "On The Go". The mode will be meant for people who don't have large amounts of time to play and will be able to play in sessions. Multiplayer capabilities will also be integrated for ad-hoc and online. Up to six players will be able to play in each game.  

From the recent screenshots, the game is shaping up to be a fantastic title. The On The Go mode seems very interesting. I can't wait until they release more information concerning that. It will be a great way for people who are in the subway, bus, or car to play in short intervals rather than hours. Online is definitely a plus here too. ]]> Fri, 13 May 2005 23:49:41 -0500 Aaron Dunlap http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_midnight_club_3_dub_edition_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_midnight_club_3_dub_edition_ps2 http://www.gamebump.com/go/gh_review_midnight_club_3_dub_edition_ps2# This review was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor. Its format does not match our own but we support its content.

Did you know that Rockstar makes more than just car-stealing games? That’s right, they also make car-driving games.

I’ve always been a fan of the Midnight Club series. Midnight Club: Street Racing was my favorite PS2 launch title, and it actually started the contemporary street racing addiction as it came out a year before Vin stole our hearts in The Fast and the Furious and three years before Electronic Arts pretended to have invented the concept with Need for Speed Underground. Midnight Club had a simple concept: drive around a city at night, look for people to race, beat them and win their car (which was usually better than yours). This simple and addictive gameplay came through with 2003’s Midnight Club II but, in order to keep up with the times, Rockstar teamed up with DUB magazine to turn Midnight Club 3 into a full-blown car modification powerhouse.

Midnight Club 2’s frantic and simple gameplay is back, in this amped up sequel that kicks everything you thought you knew about street racing games in the face. Unlike in previous games where the cars are phony and few, here we have over 50 actual cars and darn near a thousand actual modifications, from body kits to vinyl decals to ridiculously oversized spoilers. Licenses come in four classes, including the ever-popular import tuners, midsized sedans and sport scars (like Honda Civics and Toyota Supras) that kids these days love to dump thousands of dollars on customizing; luxury cars of the Lexus and Cadillac sort; American muscle cars, classic ‘Vettes and Mustangs; and chopper, Harleys and custom rides.

In the career mode, the meat of the game, you’re started off with a few bucks over $22,000 to pick out a car and make it yours. From then on, you’ll have to start earning your own cash by winning races and championships. Like MC games past, you do this by cruising around San Diego, Atlanta, and Detroit (the second two you’ll need to unlock) and looking for races or racers. A handy in-game map gives you a full view of the available challenges, and will even allow you to set your targeting system to get you to a specific race. While cruising, you’re presented with standalone city races, often with relatively small prizes; racer challenges, where you can team up with another gearhead like yourself and race with his crew for a while; club races, where you can join car class-specific clubs; and some tournaments, where you have to come out on top through three to six sequential races.

Races themselves vary as well; not only are we limited to the straight circuit races we’re used to, as there’s a new ordered race mode where you just go from checkpoint to checkpoint to get to the finish, and a frantic dash race that lets you loose miles away from the finish and leaves it up to you how you want to get there; all of these taking place in a hectic cityscape that’s just rattled with cars, buses, and trains.

With the sheer number of race types available, the hundreds of individual race challenges, and the millions of customization options available, it’s practically impossible for this game to get boring. Rightly so, as even the most focused gamer won’t be able to finish the game in under 30 hours.

It doesn’t matter if there are a million ways to race, though, if the racing itself isn’t any good. Unlike NFSU and its selection of clones, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition shines in absolutely every aspect, driving especially. The arcade-style controls are very responsive, and each vehicle responds realistically depending on how you have it tuned. I had a huge problem with MC2 being painfully difficult after a short while, and the geniuses at Rockstar San Diego have fixed that problem swimmingly. In this game, AI racers react dynamically based on your past performance. If you’ve been sucking it up for a few races, the game figures out that you must be having a bad day and tones down the competition. No longer do you need to restart an entire race if you screw up one turn, like I’ve been conditioned to from previous games. I was surprised how I was able to drop from first to fifth then pull back into first before the race completed. For a MC game, this is huge.

If you’re bored with the career mode – you’re a very difficult person to be around, I’m sure – but there are even more modes for you to chew on. If you’re just itching for a no-strings-attached race, the arcade mode should fit the bill, and if you’re still addicted to the race builder option from Excite Bike on the NES, the race editor mode will be your latest vice. What’s more, this racing game has an online mode. Does GT4 have that? Nooo.

If you’re one of those nuts with a PlayStation 2 Network Adapter, you’ll love the online mode here. It’s got stat tracking, buddy lists, custom clubs (like clans, only spelled different), and eight player races that have a sort of server load-balancing system that will transfer the game server over another player if the host drops out. I’ve never seen a PS2 game with so many Xbox Live-type features.

The graphics on this game are amazing, there’s definitely a sense of fluidity and speed that most racing games lack, but sadly the PS2 doesn’t quite stand up to the Xbox version of this game. There’s no widescreen or progressive scan in the PS2 version, and the particularly beautiful weather effects can pull the framerate down to a sputter if there’s too much going on at once. The graphics are better than most other racing games on the planet, but it’s not quite up to GT4’s or Burnout 3’s level.

While the game claims to have over 100 licensed songs, it always seemed like I was hearing the same five songs over and over. No songs particularly stand out, while other games like Burnout 3 have much more memorable soundtracks.

One of the things that I miss from previous games is the characters they developed for other racers; they had their own styles, cars, attitudes, and even had little animated avatars. In Midnight Club 3, other racers are just names on a screen and voices through the speakers; they’ve got no characters or presence. The only fleshed-out character is "six-one-nine", the owner of the garage where you buy and trick out all your cars.

If you’re bothered by the boring realism of Gran Turismo 4, or tired of the watered down, trying-too-hard staleness of Need For Speed Underground, this game should keep your butt tied to the couch. The graphical hiccups shouldn’t keep you from experiencing this unbelievably addictive gameplay. Midnight Clubs I and II were already great, but this game is miles ahead of anything we’ve seen in the genre.

Controls are tight, modifications are great, and racing is just perfect.

While the game looks great, the lack of widescreen and prog. scan is a bit irritating.

Everything sounds fine, but the soundtrack just doesn’t do it for me.

Driving’s fun, customization is fun, multiplayer is fun, and exploration is fun.

The extra modes and slick multiplayer give you plenty to do ‘til MC4.

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