Midtown Madness 2 Review

One of last year's pinnacles in car racing action returns, but can it top the madcap antics of its older brother? The boys and girls over at Microsoft were kind enough to send us a copy of Midtown Madness 2 before it hits store shelves later this month - so we'll let you know what it's up to.

Tested and written by Christian Egeland, published 19th September 2000

So, to start with the basics. What's new in this one? Well, nine new cars has been added, a spectre raging from the twin decker London bus and the cherry-red Freightliner fire truck to the Audi TT. In addition to these nine new vehicles you still have all the vehicles from the original game! Then, which city is your victim this time?

Chicago is now "outworn", and therefore removed from the game, but London and San Francisco has been added, and both cities got several articulately rendered landmarks. In London, for example, you can take a snapshot of "Buckingham Palace" as you race through the twisting streets of London, or you can tear across Hyde Park! Both cities got very detailed maps, indeed.

The damage modelling is greatly improved, now allowing breakaway parts, and the damage detail is also greatly improved. One thing that was quite annoying in the original game was that your car wasn't very endurable, a couple of heavy crashes and your car would be a wreck, but now your car can chop trees and break lamp-posts without damaging your car considerably...

Midtown Madness 2 builds upon the original's physics engine, which allows for racing on two wheels, mastering the handbrake, power slides etc. Personally, I wasn't quite impressed, because this stuff makes it almost impossible to make your car tip over, even with the London bus! I tried to speed the bus up to the maximum speed, hit the handbrake, and the bus tipped over, but it kind of like popped up again. But this isn't all but negative. Even if it might seem a bit unrealistic, it adds to the game's "childish charm".

New gaming features is the "Crash Course", where you can choose either to become a cab driver for the "Imperial Cab Academy" in London, or a Hollywood stunt driver. During this "Crash Course" you will have to pass several exams, but after successfully completing each exam, you will unlock a new paint job for one of the cars, and after passing the "Final Exam" you unlock a brand new car! I find this as an excellent way of learning the game - it will teach you everything from turning around the corners in high speed to jumping across the Themsen river. The game features the same racing modes as the original, including Blitz, Check-Point, Circuit and Multiplayer Capture-the-Gold (very funny, actually).

The multiplayer aspects of the game are also supposed to be improved, but I haven't had the time to really check it out. The game is ready for MSN Gaming Zone, which really isn't a big surprise, when you look at the developer...

I think the city cars could have been worked a bit more on, since you see at least one of them all the time. They have no specatacular reflections or effects. The game is also quite unrealistic. The car can chop down trees and massive lamp-posts, and the gravity is somehow not right.

Anyhow, I think MS did a pretty good job with this new version of Midtown Madness. They succeed in keeping the positive aspects of the original, and has creamed it up with some nice new features and fixes that you'll probably enjoy. I'm looking forward to keep on playing it!

	+   Nice graphics +   Extremely detailed cities +   Several different play modes +   Fun and sexy!		-   Poor dashboard look -   Lack of details on cars -   Unrealistic

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