Microsoft Midtown Madness

by Microsoft

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00001LDBV
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: July 1, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,574 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review

Midown Madness lets players live out their road-rage fantasies by turning downtown Chicago into a racetrack. And we do mean downtown Chicago--the game's developers modeled the city. It's not street-for-street accurate, but anyone who's visited Chicago will recognize landmarks and general street layout, if not individual buildings.

Apparently nobody told the hapless citizens of the Windy City that you'd be racing through their streets, since steady streams of traffic crisscross in front of your car and hamper your progress. Expect to be blind-sided if you run a red light, and driving the wrong way on the freeway is not for the faint of heart. Let the cops catch wind of your escapades, and you'll re-create the last chase scene from Blues Brothers as they chase you down.

Most racing games have shortcuts, but few are as fun as those in Midtown Madness. Will the drawbridge be down when you need to cross it? Should you go the wrong way down a one-way street, hoping traffic isn't too thick? Who knew that real-world considerations would make for a tenser racing game than the contrivances of games that use a fixed track? This more realistic approach to the racing environment also lets players indulge in things they would only dream of doing in the real world, like blowing by Wrigley Field at 100-plus miles per hour or pushing that annoying Sunday driver in front of you into oncoming traffic. Midtown Madness relieves stress like no other racing game we've played. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Race through a working city
• Relentless cops add to the fun
• Plenty of cars to race with
• Real-world street layout and Chicago landmarks

Cons:

• Graphics are a little repetitive and lack detail
• Runs slowly if your computer isn't up to task

Product Description

Ever want to get behind the wheel and race like a madman through the streets of a teeming metropolis? Here's your chance to careen your way through Chicago traffic that's thicker than a deep dish pizza. run every stop sign, drive the wrong way, or gun-it to jump a drawbridge. No rules racing means doing whatever it takes to win.

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful product-hope to see more like it, October 27, 2000

By 

Kazim Hasan (Karachi, Pakistan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Midtown Madness (CD-ROM)

Midtown Madness is one of those few computer games which you buy and just cannot stop playing. Others get boring, but with MM, the fun remains. The only real competitors this game has are NFS V and Driver. It beats both hands down. I am a driving sim addict-those are the only computer games I play most of the time. Due to this, I have played literally hundreds of driving games, including the computer and PS versions of NFS V and Driver. For a computer game to beat a PS game (I use a keyboard for my computer; no joystick or steering wheel) is *very* rare, but MM achieves this with not a competitor even coming close to it's realism, stability and sheer fun. MM gives you a whole city to drive in-no limits to where you can go, no wrong way, no out of bounds... other games give you 10 or 11 tracks. MM gives you a whole city-and with MM2, they gave you 2! NFS V loses out here. MM has only a few cars (in MM2, they added more) but even with those, the realism of their handling, bumps, engine trouble, noises, damage... is wonderful. Both NFS V and Driver's graphics are better than this, but Driver only gives you one car, so... And besides, you can always download other cars. The competition in MM races is fierce, with the competitors using their cars against your weak points, fishtailing you, bashing you up, cutting you off... The only thing is that the police are *really*, *really* dumb-even the ones in Driver are better Overall, this game passes with flying colours in other fields, but the big test is stability. On my P-III 550 with 64 MB, the game flew, with no crashes and no dropped scenes. On my P-II 450 laptop with 32 MB, the game was only a little worse, with a few pauses and dropped scenes, but nothing major. Compare this to NFS V on the laptop, which crashed the system every time I started it, and Driver, which would freeze after about 1 hour, and the results look good. So, my verdict would be 9.5 on 10, but I gave it a 5 star rating, because there is no option for halves or quarters. I say buy it; I have had it for 6 months and am *very* happy.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If icould give it 6 stars I would, September 6, 2000

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Microsoft Midtown Madness (CD-ROM)

This is one of the best simulaters ever. It just blows Need For speed and other games out the window! There are so many tracks, about 30, then there is cruise mode were you get cruise around chicago, while pedestrians and other drivers coment on your driving. If you got a new PC (NOT A LABTOP!) this game is a dreamboat. Tires burn and engines smoke if yoou crash to much. number of cars are ok but the ones they do give are awesome. They give you: VOLKSWAGEN NEW BEETLE, cadallac eldorado, FORD MUSTANG GT, ford mustung fastback, Freightliner Century (flatbed truck), Ford F-350 superduty, Panoz Roadster, Panoz GTR-1, Ford mustang police cruiser, City bus, and i must have forgoton something. If your wondering you can't jump the highway boards theres a invisible wall there and the tops of the buildings are liquid. There are some graphics glitches like disapearing traffic and ghost cars , but who cares with a game like this.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Game, November 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Microsoft Midtown Madness (CD-ROM)

THis game is so cool, you can ride around down town Chicago, smashing cars and doing lots of other damage, or you can drive safely and see all the things you can do on the streets of Chicago. MIdtown Madness is a great game and I recommend to anyone who likes fun games.