By Richard Bell

NEED for Speed Underground was the first credible title to let petrol heads engage in illegal street racing, legally. Midnight Club 2 also had a go, but failed to fire on all cylinders.

Now back on the scene and raring to go, this latest model puts right its predecessor’s wrongs, with the DUB tie-in no doubt a bid to make the title a bit more ‘street’ — DUB Magazine is an LA-based ‘urban automotive lifestyles magazine that chronicles the trends in the street customisation scene’, you see.

The name of the game is the same as before: race at break-neck speeds through open city streets. But there’s more. It’s not just about finishing first — now how you look when you cross the line is just as important.

While an unmodified car will not attract many admiring glances, a tricked-out ride rolling on 20-inch rims, decked out with spoilers, splitters, decals, logos, scoops and under-car neon striplights is sure to crank up your kudos no end. Then there are tweaks such as sports suspension systems, uprated brakes, high-performance exhausts and nitrous oxide boosters. Such after-market additions cost, of course, and to afford them you’ll have to gradually work your way up the street racing ladder by winning events.

Winning events means more money and the unlocking of new cars. There are over 60 licensed vehicles, taking in muscle cars, trucks and SUVs, and brands ranging from Cadillac and Chevrolet to Hummer and Mitsubishi.

Entering Cruise Mode is an ideal way of familiarising yourself with a particular city, be it Atlanta, San Diego or Detroit.

Here you are free to simply drive anywhere you like, at whatever speed, in any direction and for as long as you like, while discovering the city’s secret short cuts, back alleys and special jumps.

Once you’ve got enough tricks up your sleeves, Arcade Mode gives you an instant introduction to the scene.

Generally the races (there are over 10 varieties) involve following arrows and locating checkpoints while staying one step ahead of the competition. Although the races are closely-fought affairs, the game is quite forgiving, as, just because you’ve wiped out, you’ve still got a fair chance of making up lost ground.

Vehicle handling is distinctly arcadey, with monster power drifts, in-air control, two-wheel driving and very sharp turn-in leaning heavily towards stimulation, not simulation.

Graphically more GTA than GT4, the visuals don’t really keep pace with other driving titles out there. That said, they are easy on the eye and work well enough, but never threaten to elicit a ‘wow’.

While the eyes, then, are somewhat shortchanged, the ears certainly are not. Featuring more artists that you can shake a gearstick at, from hip-hop and rock to dance hall and electronica, the headliners include Kasabian, Queens of the Stone Age, Beenie Man, Nine Inch Nails, Sean Paul and Marilyn Manson.

VERDICT: With practically endless vehicle variation on offer and a Race Editor that lets you customise the tracks, Midnight Club 3 will have race fans burning the midnight oil along with lots of rubber.

Four stars

By Derek Uchman

THIS strange-looking beast is, in fact, a portable DVD player. However, as it comes in two parts linked by an unsightly cable, you might be forgiven for thinking it’s not very portable at all. And you’d be right. Sort of.

Sampo actually have a very good reason for this. You see, the base detaches completely and can be used as a high-specced stand-alone DVD player in it own right, which will link up to your TV. It supports Dolby and DTS sound, has optical outputs and will play just about any video format you’d care to throw at it. Oh, and there’s also a remote control. It’s all very clever, although we’re not sure how much demand there is for such a feature.

As for the TFT screen, well, that’s special too. Unlike the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny pictures you’ll find on many portable DVDs, this is an extremely generous seven-incher. And it’s widescreen as well, so it should satisfy the movie buff. Colours are rich and deep, although horizontal lines are quite noticeable.

The DVD player is powered by a whopping battery pack which almost echoes the player in size. It’s rechargeable, though, and you should get a good number of hours out of it.

Sampo have made portability a little easier, by supplying a black mock-leather, zip-up pouch. The DVE-P1 sits snugly inside, with the screen and player held in place using elasticated straps. Hardly hi-tech (or attractive), but it means set-up takes no time at all,

Finally, what about that price? £349. Ouch! Thankfully, you don’t need to worry about it too much, though, as the DVE-P1 is available on the Net in loads of places for around the £150 mark. That’s much more like it, I think you’ll agree.

VERDICT: An ugly little thing, but nonetheless a great performer, the DVE-P1 is the Sammy Davis Junior of portable DVD players.

Three stars

THERE were almost 400,000 attacks on web servers and defacements of websites around the world in 2004, according to a study by technology company Zone-h, released at this week’s Infosecurity Europe exhibition.

The report warned the number could increase to 80,000 a day as technology such as 3G phones expands.

MUSIC lovers in the UK are getting frustrated with the downloaded music they paid for. A survey claims that restrictions placed on tracks by certain download sites are turning people off Internet music stores. Customers are also getting fed up with the steep prices and poor sound quality. If this is so, then it’s not surprising only 2% of all downloaded music is legal.

POLICE in New Zealand are spending so much time downloading pornography that it has used up 20% of their network’s capacity. The material was discovered accidentally, and an investigation has been launched which may result in criminal prosecutions.

OUT today — Guild Wars (PC, NCsoft), Delta Force: Extreme (PC, Novalogic), Empire Earth II (PC, Vivendi), Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex (PS2, Atari), Imperial Glory (PC, Eidos), Poker Masters (PS2, Liquid Games), Sprint Car Challenge (PS2, Liquid Games), Star Fox: Assault (GameCube, Nintendo), TT Superbikes (PS2, Jester).