Midnight Club

I've always stayed away from games like Need for Speed and the like because I never thought they would have anything to offer me. Not being a driver, and certainly not being the type of person who spends all their expendable income buying widebody kits for their punto, I just gave them a wide berth. The closest I came was a few lusty months with Gran Turismo all those years ago, but the passion quickly waned as I got bored thinking about carbon flyshafts or whatever they are called. And that was that. Until I had a shot of Midnight Club: Los Angeles, which absolutely floored me. Despite buggy gameplay, a paper thin plot and repetitive missions, I cannot stop playing this game. The sheer speed, thrill and exhilaration of steaming through LA at 180mph is a sensory delight I have not felt for some time.

The pace of the races and the added calamity of the traffic makes for seriously eyes-glued-to-the-tv gameplay. Then there is the "kevving up" of your motor. Now, I am the furthest from interested in cars, but the joy I have felt by taking a VW Scirocco up against Nissan Skylines and winning is unmatched. I found it strangely emotional when I had to sell up t buy something superior too. And then....racing for - and losing - cars is easily one of the most heartbreaking things any game can do to you. Hours of work, tens of thousands of dollars....gone. I nearly cried.

So what is it about this game that has got me so, given I have no interest for any of the subject matter? Perhaps it's like crossover albums in music, when albums of sufficient quality break out of their genre into the mainstream, like say... Nevermind breaking out of the grunge scene, to use an obvious one. Is this the case? Or have I just gone mental?