Customer Reviews

Midnight Club: Street Racing

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(34)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

Midnight Club is a console version of Midtown Madness with more style and attitude. I thought the graphics, particularly the lighting effects, were great, but they are even more impressive when you consider the tradeoffs that had to be made given the enormity and complexity of the cities. The Midnight Club representation of the frentic, neon-lit Times Square in New York is a sight to behold.

If you've played Midtown Madness on the PC, you have a good idea what to expect from the gameplay. It's wheel-to-wheel racing in a huge, totally represented city with cars, people, and all sorts of crud to run into on the sidewalks. Most games block off certain sections of track with invisible walls or barricades, but these cities are totally free to explore, even in a race. Having played Midtown, I think the cities in Midnight Club were somewhat better designed to have more shortcuts, more interior driving and more hidden surprises. One other huge factor is being able to replay your race to see all the accidents and chaos you might've missed the first time around.

I score this game 1 star short of a perfect 5 because of some embarassing stereotyped dialogue of the in-game characters, the monotonous irritating music, and some frustrating game design decisions (like having to chase around the computer players all around town just to initiate another race. Isn't that what the cell phone is for?) Another factor is the cars you get to race. It would've been a big plus if there were real cars in the game, like the actual street racers use.

Angel Studios, the developers of Midnight Club, also did Smuggler's Run. Smuggler's Run, thanks to early in-store exposure, seems to be the more popular title currently, despite being a bit repetitive and not quite as deep or original as Midnight Club.

There are many modes of play in Midnight Club, the bulk of which is the Career Mode. You start out with the bottom-of-the-heap Taxi, and use it to roam the city looking for "hookmen." Once you find one, he will acknowledge you, and then you must tail him as he speeds around the city. If you successfully keep up with him, then you will enter into a race (that takes place at midnight, thus the title) against that hookman and any number of his "homeys." The objective of this race is to hit various checkpoints in order, and then reach the finishing point first. If you are successful, the hookman will reward you with his cellphone. When you get a hookman's cellphone, you can then call him, challenge him to a one-on-one race (no marauding "homeys" to help him out this time) which, if you win, you get to use his car. Each "hookman" has a different type of vehicle (sport truck, Latino low-rider, Honda Civic, etc) and each has strengths and weaknesses. The taxi is very maneuverable, but slower than molasses, therefore you will want to challenge immediately in order to gain access to better cars.

There also a Cruise Mode, where you simply take a car and drive around the city, no purpose or objective required (basically to learn the map of the city), as well as an Arcade mode, where you just race against other hookmen for their cars (but you can only use cars gained this way in Arcade mode). The various "hookmen" are all very colorful and have a lot to say when you race them (including a dash of the old profanity), the cars are well-rendered in the style of San Francisco Rush, i.e. sorta arcade-ish, but detailed enough to know what they are. There are only 2 environments in the game, New York City, and London. Both have been replicated in detail from real city maps, lending a very authentic feel to the locales. And both cities are HUGE.

I enjoyed the multi-tiered gameplay that almost forces you to run the gauntlet before you can get the prize (new cars). It shows some creativity and plot-development on the part of the developers. Is this game like Driver? Yes and no. The free-roaming environment is definitely similar, but Midnight Club is essentially a racing game, and not an "evade the cops" game (though the cops do show up in Midnight Club and will chase you). Midnight Club is a very smooth, very laid back game that will challenge even the most hardcore gamer (especially on the later levels). Once you start getting cars, you have to know which ones to use in certain situations (Straight course? Use something with speed. Circuitous path? Get something with handling.)

Not the "killer-app" launch title that SSX is, but still Top-5.

Ok, so you can see this has gotten mixed reviews. Dailyradar.com and ign.com both liked it. Well I was actually on the wild side, bought it without even renting it. Listen carefully. The graphics are not nearly the potential that the ps2 can perform, the control is nothing ordinary and the game is quite similar to Driver concept. So why give it 4 stars? My friend and I played the capture the flag level, and it was 2 hours before we stopped.

Now don't you dare classify this as a racing game. If you want a true racing game, wait for Grand Turismo 3. This is more of a chase game. It has a police chase section similar to Need for Speed and Driver. The maps of New York and London are amazing. I have been to New York and it is very much to scale. You recognize many of the familar spots. You play the capture the flag feature with a friend, and 3 CPU opponents, you will be very entertained. The replay value on this is quite good. This is certainly one I would get.

The learning curve on this game isn't that high so it makes it easy to just pick up and start playing.

The physics are at just the right level of realism. They aren't as realistic as Grand Tourismo but I actually prefer them not as realistic as that.

The maps of the cities are huge with lots of secrets here and there.

The two player capture the flag mode is great. My friend and I play it for hours on end.

There is a cruise mode which is fun to just drive around and see how fast you can get your car going in the middle of New York.

The career mode is at just the right difficulty. All of the races are possible to defeat but it may require a flawless run.

You can unlock cars and drive as patrol cars, ice cream trucks, buses (a double decker one too), and, my favorite, a modified taxi with a snow plow on the end. That makes pushing cars around a blast.

Now I will go off on things I don't like about the game. Sometimes the game can't keep up with painting the buildings as they come up. Of course, that could be because I was going 170 MPH but you would think that the playstation 2 would have enough power to be able to do this correctly.

I miss a 4 player mode. Granted, I can only imagine at how poorly the buildings would be painted if there were 4 seperate screens to be painting at the same time.

I wish there were more people and cars on the road. I mean, it is New York. The city that never sleeps. Sometimes I am lucky to see a whopping 5 people in Times Square. I want crowds of people to drive through and watch them fly over my car.

I know that this game is not carmegedon but I wish the people would splatter instead of just rolling up and over my car.

As you can see, these complaints aren't that bad but I couldn't give it 5 stars because of them. Maybe 4 1/2 stars if they would let me.

Late night fun or under ground cult, this is the story behind Midnight Club. Suped up cars racing the night streets. Causing havok at 150 mph. With cops on their tail and cars flying through the air, it's your quest to obtain the most cars and become Midnight Club champ. So don't hesitate to hold down the accelerator, it's a close finish for first.

This game takes all the best elements of such games as Driver or Need for Speed and brings them to the forefront of the PS2 library in Midnight Club Street Racing. While the much anticipated Gran Turismo 3 focuses on track racing and car performance, this game is concerned with avoiding the law, keeping your car from getting totalled and beating those trash talking racers (computer or friends). I like the this game. It's street racing at it's best. It should come with a disclaimer, "Please, do not try this at home" but hopefully no one is immitating this game on the streets for real. Graphics are good, the two cities you race on (New York and London) are hugh and the cars you can select from are good. Capture the flag is great. It should have come with race editor. Maybe let you course out your own races for you and your friends to play. All and all, it's a great game and I recommend it to any Driving Game fans. Why is it one away from a 5 star rating, you ask? Because I believe they could have done more to this game, but then I guess what would do for a sequel, huh? I guess they figure (like most game makers) they should only give a consumer so much, so they can make more money for future games. A perfect game? Is there such a thing?

This game is truly a PS2 treasure. Race through either New York City or London (they should have more city/location selections though) and do whatever you want. Ram into cars, push them into lakes and rivers, get chased by the police, etc. This game rocks.

In story mode, I guess that's what you call it (I forgot), you must cruise through New York City and chase yellow dots (special cars) enough times until they're convinced you're material for a race. Once you race them you must follow them and get through their "homies" until you beat the starting race. You win the car they race with after you beat them in each race. Each race contains 3 races within it, and within each, if you win, you win the person's car. Police chase you, as it's an illegal activity to race through the streets of N.Y.C., ram cars inadvertently or intentionally as you roar after the man/woman you're chasing or just speed ahead of him/her. Colorful characters populate the game, such as the funny Emilio, who taunts you as you race him in an accent.As you get higher in N.Y.C.'s Midnight Club rankings you eventually go to London where you continue cruising for some action and racing people.

In 2-player mode I have had a lot of fun. In N.Y., you can visit the U.S.S. Intrepid naval ship docked, and there's a ramp you must cross to get there. Except it's cut off from the ship to the harbor, and you must build up speed and drive off the ramp to the ship. What my friend and I do is build up traffic, take the cars and shove them off the ramp. Buses, garbage trucks, oil tankers, police meter maids, taxis, vans, firetrucks, even Mr. Softee the ice cream man.....they are all victims. In London, there's a building with 3 entrances and my friend and I call it the Wall of Cars and place cars in the 3 entrances and pile them up and eventually they are stuck.

The cities are very accurate, not 100%, but I'd say 89%. The graphics are great, and the soundtrack is pretty good. A very fun game.

i played this game about 3 days ago and i am sold. when this game omes out i am gona buy it couse this game got it all. think of it as driver with racing not cop evading.the grafix are gorgeus and the citys are totaly huge.i totaly love the drive around mode. the citys are about three times the size of ones in the citys in driver. you can also drive a numder of really cool cars. and unlike driver there is a 2 player mode in this one. if u liked driver and u are looking for a nice racing game for the PS2 you should really consider this one.

When I first started playing the game I thought, "Man there aren't very many cars," but after I kept playing, and went really far along, the variety of the cars, that became available, was staggering. There must be close to 50 different cars! My favorite is the Amato Crescendo with 15 nitros! Also the Marauder taxi with the cow catcher is great for tossing cars and pedestrians. I found that car after stumbling across, what looked to be, a magical fountain and driving through it. There are a lot of hidden shortcuts found in the strategy guide. Jumping INTO the aircraft carrier, launching off a super jump in time square, and jumping over the river from a gigantic ramp on a powerplant in London, are just a few of the super fun factors in this game. Buy this game, stick with it, and you'll have the time of your life!

I have Ridge Racer V also, and Midnight Club is much more fun. It's fun to race around the streets of Manhattan (where I live), and the gameplay is fast and furious. My only complaint is that the map of NYC isn't accurate, they've removed a lot of detail. The graphics are cool, and the cars are fun to drive. A very easy game to get into, but it's not easy to win. I played it for about 4 hours after getting it yesterday, and it's a blast to win races and get some of the cool new cars, but it does take time to beat some of the racers.

Reccomended.

This is sweet plus sweet cars. Choose between New York and London to race at or cruise. Hint: go to London in cruise mode.
Go to the skinny part of London where the river curves. Drive around and find a red building with advertisements on it. Drive around and find a ramp drive up it jump it at 35mph try to land. Look at your right see a pink light drive thru it slowly hear a sound you unlocked a new car its Kuruma Faasuto GS.