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Midtown Madness 2 has got a lot of fun but you need a lot of very
powerful hardware to enjoy it to the fullest. Read on or see
the screen shots.
With all its options turned on, the vehicles look nice and shiny
although at times a little too flat. They get damaged when they
run into things, although this effect isn't entirely convincing
either. Other details really stand out, like the bright traffic
lights and the different weather and time conditions that manage
to evoke a particular beauty about the city through their sheer
variety. But while it's great to see Chicago's landmarks and its
smaller streets modeled so carefully, it's too bad that most of
the storefronts in the game are generic and often repeated, even
on the same block. Thus Midtown Madness approaches, but doesn't
actually reach, that meticulous level of realism and detail that
driving games must necessarily strive for.
Nevertheless, it's fun to be able to drive like a maniac and beat
up a Beetle while racing the city cops. If you feel there's some
scathingly detrimental social undercurrent to this game's affording
you the freedom to drive however you like, then by all means keep
off the road. But Midtown Madness doesn't present itself as some
sort of perfectly realistic simulation: Pedestrians deftly dive
out of the way of traffic, cars that are struck and sent airborne
safely return to their routine, and mailboxes and parking meters
that are uprooted eventually regenerate in their rightful places.
Midtown Madness lets you safely run amok, because you know you can't
in real life.
There's a lot of running amok to be done. The cruise mode just
lets you drive wherever you like without restriction, but a number
of other modes, including checkpoint races, larger-scale circuit
races, timed races, and even a multiplayer-only cops and robbers
game add a lot of value as you try to beat your rivals, the clock,
or both. Your computer-controlled rivals drive aggressively and
seek out shortcuts, while you yourself must choose to either adhere
to the rules of the road or take some serious risks in reaching
your destination before the other cars do. Even in these more straightforward
racing modes, Midtown Madness lets you drive however you want. Add
to that a fairly realistic physics model, good graphics and sound,
and a lot of variety, and it's easy to see why Midtown Madness is
so much fun. You'll find yourself wishing it was even more detailed,
but all the same, you'll wish all other driving games paid as much
attention to detail as this one.
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