Midnight Club: Street Racing

"Let's get racin' vato...."

Street racing. Illegal street racing. Across the world in some of the bigger cities on the map, street racing is a past-time in real life for some adrenaline junkies who race for pink slips, cash and just basic respect of inner circles. Midnight Club delivers the action, but not without it's flaws.

-Visuals 8/10-

Impressive detail, and some sleek looking cars, you'll find that Midnight Club delivers some pretty spectacular eye candy to race along with including lighting effects, awesome car crashes and some realistic spots from New York City to London. Where the problem lies, is with the fact that the cars look tricked out, but they aren't the cars that you'd really be racing, such as Mustangs and tricked out older cars.

-Audio 8/10-

A decent blend of techno and drum beats, but you'll find that the voice overs get rather repetitive after about twenty minutes of play. Over and over, you'll hear that there are the same insults and jabs at you that you heard previously when you didn't do something quite right.

-Control 8/10-

Responsive cars for a change, that really match what the stats on the car select screen tell you they are. With a rather touchy interface, you can perform some pretty daring tricks with nothing left to lose and plenty of hair raising corner to gain. With that being said, the only real problem is with the in-game control, in which some of the tight corner turns take a lot of practice with some of the higher end cars.

-Game Play 8/10-

Street racing at it's best, you're put to the test through 30+ races against some of the toughest racers in the world in trying to get the pink slips of other racers cars. Each car can be customized in terms of color and the stats on each car just get better and better until you meet up against the top racer in the world circuit.

Each race is started by calling up the opponent on the cell phone and challenging them to a race. What make Midnight Club different, is the fact that the track is not linear, and you can go through the city streets, alleys, parking garages and even buildings to get to your goal.

-Overall 8/10-

Midnight Club is a decent racer that gives you plenty of racing and plenty of freedom to drive around the cities that you'll be racing in. You'll find that the sounds get a little on the annoying side, and sometimes, unless your racing is dead on, you'll find yourself on the losing end of any race. Race fans will love this game, while other racers will probably look for something that has more realism to it. Rent first, and ask questions later.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/01, Updated 05/10/01