Rockstar Games released the Midnight Club: Los Angeles – Complete Edition as a PlayStation 3 Greatest Hits/Platinum Range title and an Xbox 360 Platinum Hit/Classics title[15] on October 12, 2009. The Complete Edition features all of the map, vehicles, and music from the original Midnight Club: Los Angeles plus all of the previously available downloadable content on the disc to make up for lost progress, thus saving the player from starting all over again.
 
Midnight Club: Los Angeles is set in the city of Los Angeles, again providing an option to completely free-roam (in an open world environment larger than all the three cities combined from the previous game, Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition). New additions are a 24-hour day-to-night cycle, weather effects and traffic with licensed vehicles, adding a realistic aspect to the game. The new dynamic weather system has been reported to alter the gameplay experience, making the vehicle more prone to sliding on slick surfaces. If any damage is inflicted upon a vehicle after races, the player does not necessarily need to drive back to a garage for a full repair, but, instead, can choose the "Quick Fix" option through which old, junkyard-esque parts will be added to the car. To get back that "nice, new car look", the player must actually drive back to repair their vehicle at a garage or gas station. This also means that totaling a vehicle is only possible within a single race or event. With the RAGE system being used for this game,[1] traffic levels fluctuate throughout the day, with light traffic at night, heavy traffic in the morning and afternoon, and heaviest traffic in the evenings. Motorcycles are again part of the game, including the Ducati 999R and the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14. Convertible cars, customizable interiors, in-game photo mode, and customizable exotics are all new additions. Developers placed great emphasis on the elimination of load screens, stating that the player could literally jump from career mode to an online race in under ten seconds.
Los Angeles is said to be the longest of the four Midnight Club games, with more than ten different types of races including series races, tournaments, pink slip races, and freeway races. For most of these races, players must race an opponent to the start line in order to earn extra rep (a leveling system used to determine the player's skill in the game) before the actual race begins, although this can be skipped. Races have four difficulties: easiest, medium, hard, and hardest. These difficulties are color-coded with green being easiest, yellow being medium, orange being hard, and red being hardest. Each successive difficulty of race has greater rewards than the former.
There are a number of special abilities that have been brought into the game (a returning feature from the previous installment). These include an EMP, which disables the electronics of every vehicle around the player; Agro, which makes the player's vehicle indestructible-giving the ability to plow through traffic without slowing the car; Roar, which sends out a sound wave that will move traffic out of the player's way for a clear and straight path through the streets; and Zone, able to slow time and allow a temporary boost in handling. The previous installment had restricted special abilities to specific cars, but all vehicles in this game can now use any one of these above mentioned abilities, as chosen by the player. These abilities can also be changed at garages whenever necessary.
Police return but are no longer scripted to a specific race; they take notice of simple infractions in the game world (running red lights, speeding, burning out, hitting their cars or nearby cars, and driving offroad). If caught, players have the choice of pulling over (which will initiate a special cutscene when the police car approaches) or leading the police into a pursuit. The game goes into "Pursuit Mode" after a period of time or if the police lose sight of the player; this will also happen if the player decides to start the engine and flee the scene during the "pull over" cutscene. Infractions causing the game to go directly to pursuit mode include speeding and excessively damaging a police car. Police authorities will chase the player no matter where they are and the longer the player evades capture, the higher the fine if the player is arrested. The player will be arrested instantly if he totals (damages out) his vehicle.[6]
Additionally, there are sixty collectibles that the player can find hidden throughout Los Angeles. These appear as yellow oil barrels with Rockstar's logo printed on them. Every ten collectibles that are found will unlock one of six game modifiers (mentioned in-game as "cheat codes"), while finding half and all of the collectibles will unlock achievements. However, enabling any of these special modifiers (with the exception of a modifier that unlocks an overhead view camera) will prevent the player from earning money, rep, and further career progression.