First, you set up your player profile - here's where you keep track of your settings, unlocked secrets, best race times, Xbox Live settings and Career progress. This is crucial, since the progress you make in single player Career mode translates directly into the amount of options you'll have when taking the game onto Xbox Live. The Career mode involves a rather...iffy storyline involving undercover work in Paris, France and Washington, D.C. To be honest, the storyline is cheesy as all get out - and the accents used by the different characters are laughable in the extreme. The actual missions themselves are quite fun, though, and range from tailing targets to balls-out racing against the clock and other competitors.

Blitz racing offers you a race against the clock through checkpoints - and the clock time is actually set based on your vehicle, so it's all on you, win or lose. Checkpoint racing pits you against other racers through different checkpoints, and these guys play hard. Luckily, you can take the checkpoints in any order you choose, and swapping paint with the competition is encouraged. Lastly, Cruise mode offers you the opportunity to just hang out, find secrets, and learn the streets and alleyways of each city - this is the best way to plan your routes for the other two race types.

Midtown Madness 3's single player game is your typical racing game, slightly average and nothing special, but where it really comes into its own is during Xbox Live play. Suddenly, an average racing game becomes an all-out war against some great competition. We've had some great Gaming-Age-only races with members of our forum, and the deviousness that comes with human players transforms Midtown Madness 3 into some of the best racing fun the Xbox has ever seen.

Tag is pretty simple: when the clock counts down to zero, you better not be It. Nail another player to make them It, and take off. Stayaway is Tag turned on its head. You want to stay It for the longest time. Hunter is great fun, one player starts off as the Hunter and everyone else in the game is Prey. As the Hunter nails Prey, they in turn become Hunters, and the last person who is Prey stands alone as the winner. My personal favourite is Capture the Gold, where gold is stashed around the city and you have to grab it and take it to your hideout. Whether as a solo player or playing in teams, this mode is the most fun, with cars flying around, stealing the gold from the other guys and taking off down the street as everyone follows in hot pursuit. Combine that with the Xbox Live Communicator and everyone screaming and swearing at each other, and it's hilarity of the highest order.

Now for the fly in the ointment. Midtown Madness 3, like all good Xbox titles, supports the custom HD soundtrack option. What they don't tell you is that there is a nasty bug which ensures that you will hear the same song, over and over again, until you're ready to kill someone. I haven't seen any updates (read: A FREAKING PATCH) to fix this yet, so keep this in mind. Some people might not mind hearing Scritti Politti's "Perfect Way" thirty straight times in one gaming session. I am not one of those people. How this got past DICE and Microsoft QA is beyond me.

Still, it's not bad enough to ruin the game entirely - the Xbox Live-enabled Midtown Madness 3 experience is awesome fun, and makes up for the lackluster single player mode. If you have Xbox Live, I recommend Midtown Madness 3 without hesitation, but those of you without access to the Borg network may want to look elsewhere for your racing thrills. Take that under consideration.