Special abilities are power-ups that can be earned and used during career mode in Midnight Club II, Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition, and Midnight Club: Los Angeles.
Description[]
Special abilities allow the player to affect vehicles around them. This can be used to gain an advantage during races or to help protect the player from crashes. Each special ability has a limited number of uses and must be recharged. The Zone ability allows the player to slow down time, giving them extra control over their vehicle. The Agro ability allows the player to inflict more damage upon traffic vehicles, police vehicles and opponent racers, without damaging their own vehicle, making it invincible to all types of damage. The Roar ability allows the player to emit a powerful shockwave that pushes rivals, cop cars and traffic out of the way. The EMP ability (only available in Midnight Club: Los Angeles) allows the player to temporarily disable the electronics of all vehicles surrounding them.
Midnight Club II[]
In Midnight Club II, there are five available special abilities: in-air controls, burnout, slipstream turbo, two-wheel driving, and fishtailing. In-air controls are used to do a clear landing while using weight transfer and is unlocked before the start of Maria's Freeway Rally, burnout is used when the player car is standing still and accelerates while pressing the handbrake, it makes the car's wheels smoke, and if the handbrake is released, they can get a head start and is unlocked after beating Angel's Hollywood Hysteria, slipstream turbo can be charged by driving behind an opponent and when it is fully charged and used, the player can get ahead of many opponents and is unlocked by beating Hector's Block Party, two-wheel driving can be used to bypass heavy traffic by using weight transfer and is unlocked by beating Dice's Droppin' Knowledge, and fishtailing, which is first available on the Cocotte, it involves the player drifting left and right while pressing the handbrake button, which can allow cars to reach higher speeds as long as the player avoids crashing with anything.
Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition[]
Three special abilities are available in Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition: Agro, Roar, and Zone. Each one is limited to a specific set of vehicle classes and each vehicle class can only use one ability. Zone is charged by driving cleanly and is restricted to Tuners, Sport Bikes, and Exotics, Agro is charged by hitting things and is restricted to SUVs/Pickup Trucks and Luxury sedans (except for the Mercedes-Benz SL 500 (along with it's higher-performance AMG variant and the Lexus SC430, which use Zone instead), and Roar is charged by drifting and powersliding and is restricted to Choppers and Muscle Cars.
Midnight Club: Los Angeles[]
Midnight Club: Los Angeles has the same three special abilities from Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition and adds a fourth ability, EMP. The EMP ability temporarily disables the electronics of all cars surrounding the player. Unlike the previous game, every vehicle is capable of using any of the abilities, though only one ability can be active at a time, but the player can always visit a garage and switch abilities. Also, unlike the previous game, all special abilities in Midnight Club: Los Angeles are charged by driving cleanly at a minimum of 50 MPH. Achievements (Xbox 360) and trophies (PlayStation 3) will become available when the player successfully reaches Level 3 (maximum level). They are as follows:
- Zoning Out
Requirement: Level 3 Zone
Gamerscore: 46 Points
Trophy Grade: Bronze
- Anger Management
Requirement: Level 3 Agro
Gamerscore: 47 Points
Trophy Grade: Bronze
- Hear Me Roar!
Requirement: Level 3 Roar
Gamerscore: 44 Points
Trophy Grade: Bronze
- Set To Stun
Requirement: Level 3 EMP
Gamerscore: 42 Points
Trophy Grade: Bronze