Genre: Arcade Racing
Publisher: Midway
Developer: Digital Eclipse
Release Date: September 27, 2005

The Midway Arcade Treasures series has reached its third iteration, chock full of racing titles for gamers feeling the need to drive fast and crash and burn. Some of the included titles make the transition fairly well, while others lose something when moved from their arcade setups to the Xbox.

Out of the eight games included in Midway Arcade Treasures 3, six have polygonal graphics, to some extent or another, while two are top-down racers that peel out in two dimension only. Badlands and Super Off Road offer similar gameplay with contrasting settings. A nuclear-ravaged, dystopian future would give anyone reason enough to race cars outfitted with guns and missiles in quarantine zones, right? Badlands thinks so. In between races, players can use wrenches (which can either be picked up on the track or are rewarded for first-place finishes) to purchase upgrades such as increased speed, better tires, turbo boosts, and missiles. The game plays fairly well, but without its steering wheel and pedals arcade setup, Badlands is missing something in the translation.

Super Off Road exchanges missiles and nuclear holocaust for dirt jumps and moguls. Aside from that, the idea is the same: be the first to see that checkered flag. It adds one more player (for four total) and nitro boosts for every race, but other than that, it plays similarly and is missing the steering wheel as much as Badlands.

We take it for granted today, but hard as it may be to believe, video games weren't always in 3D. Shocking, I know, but that all changed in 1989. Race Drivin' was the sequel to Hard Drivin', which was apparently "the industry's first true driving simulation game," but it's certainly showing its age nowadays. Hard Drivin' gives you four generic cars (three with manual transmission and one with automatic) and tosses you out onto several different tracks. The game's graphics are pretty dated, but there's something nostalgic about them in a way, which makes them a little easier to swallow. It doesn't control well at all, though, as even the slightest of nudges on the analog stick can send you swerving off the road at the most inconvenient moments.

S.T.U.N. Runner transports us to the future, into the distant 21st century! Well, it's hopefully a little farther than we are now, or the developers should've double-checked their crystal balls. All joking aside, S.T.U.N. Runner plays pretty well. It has a nice sense of speed and the ability to drive on the walls and ceilings of tunnels keeps you from just driving on cruise control. The game's more about survival than racing, though, as more and more cars (or drones, as the game calls them) stand in your way as you progress through each level. Luckily, your "runner" gets increasingly cooler weaponry for dealing with any who stand in your way.

The remaining half of Midway Arcade Treasures 3 consists of games that are much more recent, and it could even be argued that they may not belong in a compilation just yet. Atari's Rush series was right up there with the Cruisin' series as the premium arcade racer of the late '90s. Rush: The Rock offers up seven tracks worth of reckless racing and frequent explosions. Like any good Rush game, every track has shortcuts aplenty that you'll need to use if you want to win. The controls are kind of touchy and loose, but thanks to the arcade style, it doesn't get in the way as much as if it were a simulation like Hard Drivin'. It also looks markedly better than that 1989 relic, but it's definitely not a current-gen game. Add all of these things to the fact that there are only a handful of tracks, and Rush: The Rock feels more like an expansion pack than a proper stand-alone game.

Luckily, its successor, Rush 2049, comes off as a much stronger game. As its moniker suggests, Rush 2049 has you racing around in futuristic cars outfitted with retractable wings. The wings help you prolong your jumps to reach certain shortcuts that would otherwise be just out of reach. They also come in handy in the game's stunt mode. Yep, Rush 2049 encourages you to treat your racer like a skateboard and rocket it into the air in order to pull off flips, barrel rolls, and whatever else you can manage without landing as a flaming heap. This mode really works and helps add replay value to the game. 2049 is just an overall better looking, tighter handling, and deeper game than Rush: The Rock, which is good on one hand, but on the other, it begs the question of why Midway wanted to include it on the disc to begin with.

Hydro Thunder was an arcade boat racer that required you to use shortcuts and boosts to finish the race as a champion. Generally speaking, the game is pretty over-the-top. While boosting, you can knock all other boats out of the way, essentially steamrolling your way to victory. There are nine tracks, evenly distributed into easy, medium, and hard difficulties. The tracks are pretty varied, taking you from tropical jungles to arctic wonderlands (complete with penguins!), depending on your mood.

For the more terrestrial-minded, Offroad Thunder offers the same basic gameplay, but it replaces the boats with off-road trucks. It almost seems like Midway wanted to take it to 11, so there are more shortcuts and way more air than in Hydro Thunder, so the game is a thrill to play. Offroad Thunder brings a couple of more gameplay modes to the table than its waterlogged cousin. There's Demolition, which rewards you with points for smashing up your fellow racers, taking care not to max out your own damage meter, lest your truck meet with an untimely end. Snag the Flag has you grabbing and holding onto the flag for as long as you can before it is inevitably stolen back. All things considered, Offroad Thunder is perfect for just picking up and playing whenever you need quick fix of arcade goodness.

Those nostalgic for the old days (or not-so-old days) or racing aficionados might be interested in picking up Midway Arcade Treasures 3, especially when its $20 price point is taken into consideration. For younger gamers weaned on more current games such as Burnout, a rental may be all you need to sate your curiosity of how things were before bump mapping and light bloom.

Score: 7.1/10