Midtown Madness
was a favourite PC game of mine two years ago and in the PS2's short life so
far, this is the closest thing we've come to it, even though it doesn't feel
quite right in comparison.
Like
Smuggler's Run,
you can drive around different locations (eg. New York and London), drive
through checkpoints, get from A to B, choose from several cars, play against
the PS2 or a friend, etc. Stop me if you've heard this one before.
There are several ways to play the game :
Arcade Mode:
Cruise Mode: Pretend to be one half of a famous divorced couple,
or is it just a fancy name for 'practice mode' ?
Head 2 Head: Race through checkpoints up against one other bad
driver called Emilio. Be the first to reach the end or you'll lose and may
need to complete the race before being allowed access to other tracks.
Waypoint: The same as Head 2 Head, but Emilio gets his
henchmen in and you'll be racing against 4-6 of his men.
Capture the Flag: Compete against a friend, or just enjoy playing
with yourself, as you zoom around town doing what you did in
Smuggler's Run
with the contraband, ie. pick up a flag in one place and drop it off
elsewhere.
Career Mode: You get to work for Emilio and his cronies, earning
some money and pretty much doing a combination of the above, whether you
initiate it by calling Emilio on his cellphone and challenging him to a race,
or just cruising the streets for action (oo-er, missus!)
Or you can ignore these modes and enjoy two extra games I made up :
Reverse-cam: Watch only through the camera looking back on where
you've been and see how far you can go before you hit something.
The Long Goodbye: Pretend to be Elliot Gould from the 1970's
film in which his car has been tampered with, the brakes don't work and the
speed is increasing. How long before you crash?
Speed is of the essence and the graphics excel in getting the game moving,
unlike a horrendous game like
Need for Speed: Porsche 2000
or
Ridge Racer 5.
The cities are well-enough detailed and it doesn't look a great deal different
from the aforementioned Midtown Madness, but the AI isn't as good
when enemy cars, or others simply driving about, start to get in the way.
No surprises sound-wise and Emilio's chatty behaviour does become irritating.
Overall, it's another racing car game and they're two-a-penny, or rather
£39.99 each, but I'd advise a rental first to see if you get more than a
couple of days entertainment out of it.
GRAPHICS SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC PLAYABILITY ORIGINALITY ENJOYMENT
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Midtown Madness
was a favourite PC game of mine two years ago and in the PS2's short life so
far, this is the closest thing we've come to it, even though it doesn't feel
quite right in comparison.
There are several ways to play the game :
Speed is of the essence and the graphics excel in getting the game moving,
unlike a horrendous game like
Overall, it's another racing car game and they're two-a-penny, or rather
£39.99 each, but I'd advise a rental first to see if you get more than a
couple of days entertainment out of it.
