All of these factors work together to make winning a race a challenge.
Winning takes work - you'll lose a lot as you learn the best routes through a
course, and even then you need to run a good and near-flawless race. Since
the races play out differently every time, you won't feel stuck in a deja
vu-like rut. Each race is an exciting challenge and victories are very
exhilarating because you have to work for them. That being the case, if
you're an impatient, instant gratification kind of gamer you may find the game
frustrating at times.
The excitement generated by the races is furthered enhanced by the game's
graphics. The game does a fantastic job of giving you a real sense of
speed as you go tearing down the streets. The animation is very smooth as
buildings and other vehicles go flying past you. You can fill a turbo
meter by drafting other racers, and when you unleash it the world around you
warps slightly and you go absolutely flying down the road. It's a very
cool effect. There's just no
other racing game out there that can give you the adrenaline rush from speed
that you get from playing Midnight Club II.
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| The cops don't appreciate your street racing. |
The realistic look of high-speed racing is thankfully tempered with arcade
controls and handling. Your control is very tight and responsive, and
quickly swerving around a car at 120 MPH won't send your car flipping down the
road. It certainly takes some skill to take corners or make quick
maneuvers at high speed in the game, but a very forgiving physics model lets
you concentrate on finding your way to the next checkpoint while keeping an
eye on your opponents. Even the crashes are forgiving - the game has a
damage model but it takes a lot of collisions before your car starts to look the
worse for wear and you really have to abuse it to knock it out of commission.
Even if you do you total your car you are given a replacement on the spot, although the time it
takes to get going again will almost certainly cost you the race.
The game keeps things further interesting by providing several different
types of races and modes. In addition to making your way through a series
of checkpoints, you'll face races that allow you to hit the checkpoints in any
order or that require you to make it between each checkpoint in a finite amount
of time. There are also two battle modes, Capture the Flag and Detonate.
In Capture the Flag the first car to take the flag to the goal wins, while in
Detonate the first car to take a detonator to a trigger point will blow up all
other cars. The primary difference between the modes is that in Capture
the Flag you are trying to steal the flag for yourself while in Detonate all
cars are trying to destroy the one with the detonator before it reaches the
trigger point. Both modes feature eleven different power-ups that allow
you to mess with your opponents by reversing their steering, disabling their
brakes, or making them drive as if on ice.
In addition to the career mode the game lets you roam the cities on your own
so that you can scout out the shortcuts or just take in the sites. You can
also create your own races, setting the type of the the race and placing the
waypoints. There are so many possible routes in the city, you can
theoretically create an infinite number of different tracks to keep things
interesting. Midnight Club II also supports multiplayer online play
through the Network Adaptor, although it is for broadband players only. Up
to eight players can compete in a race online, and if you think the AI in the
game is full of surprises you should try racing against other people.
Getting into races is easy and your races will be wonderfully lag-free,
preserving the game's great high speed look and feel.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
93%. High speed and high thrills
racing action in a great looking game. Midnight Club II is the most
enjoyable arcade racer to come along in quite some time. It's not an easy
game though, and the easily frustrated may give up on it.
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