Motor City Online

A persistent online universe based on hot rods? Call it the Dark Age of Parking Lot.

To really enjoy Motor City Online, you?ll have to be one part speed freak, one part grease monkey. The game offers tons of classic cars for you to buy, upgrade, tinker with, and race?from hot-rod relics like the ?32 Ford Coupe up through the muscle-bound monsters of the 1970s like the Chevy Nova, Ford Mustang, and Pontiac Firebird T/A. However, just as a serious flight sim is only of interest to players who have a real-life pilot?s license, MCO is really a haven for wannabe mechanics who know how to rebuild an engine and tweak it for the best performance. If you don?t know a camshaft from a crankshaft, this is not the game for you?unless you?re willing to learn just how an improved valve train or intake manifold can boost your horsepower.

Assuming you are the target market, however, Motor City Online is an awesome playground where car enthusiasts get to build their dream rides, decking them out with everything from custom-built V8 engines to fuzzy dice and flame paint jobs. The game involves a dynamic economy, where cars go up for auction and the market determines any given part?s worth. Players are paid weekly based on their racing level, plus they?ll earn cash for winning street, circuit, and drag races. Only the brave and crazy will risk their ride in a pink-slip race where the winner leaves with both cars! Unfortunately, most people don?t race their own cars?since you have to pay for damage and upkeep, you?re more likely to find folks racing in sponsored contests. While you?ll make less money and earn less points this way, nobody feels bad wrecking a rental. That?s less romantic compared to the idea of building your dream machine and putting it to the test, but hey?the game is young, and perhaps this trend for safe bets will change.

A broadband connection isn?t required, but it sure is recommended; the hi-res, accurately re-created car models look much better when they?re traveling at 150 mph and not dogged by lag. The cars are a little too shiny for their own good, but you?ll love the wholly generic tracks like the fairground dirt oval and shortcut-laden street races down the main roads of middle America. The soundtrack?s awesome?a selection of radio stations cranks everything from rockabilly to surf to funk, offering music for every era represented in the game. Not only are all the engine sounds accurately reproduced, but so are the horns. Oh yes, they sweat the details.

If you?re a serious PC racing fan, you probably have a decent steering wheel. If not, here?s your opportunity to get one. Full force-feedback support means you?ll feel every rough idle, every hay bale collision, and every sickening crash. The keyboard, joystick, and gamepad all work, but this game was designed with a wheel in mind. You?re cheating yourself if you play without one. (For the record, the Logitech MOMO Force and Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro both work great.)

All told, there?s a lot to like in Motor City, and the game?s off to a great start. As long as you?re prepared to be your own mechanic (and you?re prepared to pay $40 for the game, then an additional $10 each month to play), then Motor City Online is a killer ride.

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