Midnight Club: Street Racing

"It's fabulous, it's unique, and it's challenging."

Ever want to wander around the city and bring fear to the citizens by driving like crazy?, or you would want to just cruise around a city and take a look at the scenery? And on top of of that, there are other peeps out there that will challenge you to street races. You can achieve all of that in Midnight Club Street Racing by Rockstar games. Here' my criteria.

Gameplay/Controls (9): Just as I said, this game is very unique in its own respect. This time, you'll get to cruise around an almost exact replica of New York City and one of the nicest place in Europe, London. Basically, you can always ride in your car and go around. But the main goal of the game is to engage in races in the world of the Midnight Club. These group have members who are law-breakers (in terms of driving) but they are undeniably very good at driving (and a cheater at that). I'd like to remind you then that conventional driving won't work in this game. You'll really see your car speed away and roads isn't the only alternative. In order to have advantage against your rivals, you need to find shortcuts through parts, buildings, underpasses, and even the water. The game implements the Crazy Taxi style where you have to go to all the waypoints in order to win and you'll be aided by an arrow on top of the screen. You'll enjoy every second of it but brace your self since you'll get really annoyed a lot of times.

For the controls, you can easily move the cars around. You only need controls for the basic car functions like acceleration and braking so you won't have to be confused by mastering a lot of buttons. You just have to keep on practicing in order to master your driving.

Storyline (n/a): I won't include the storyline for the point system since this game doesn't delve into a serious storyline. In fact, the (very short) stories doesn't have any connection to the game.

Graphics/Sounds (8): Graphically, this game is astounding. The model of the 2 cities are huge and very very detailed. You'll also see some nice effects such as wet roads and rains. The cars however have simple details (even compared to GT2 for the PS). But all other things are excellent. The sounds are also good, but you really have to get used to hearing the same things again and again. It may annoying some times.

Re-play Value (8): There's actually no point in starting over again since you'll just do everything again and just waste your time. But then, you can always try a new game, after completing one, to test how you've improved in your driving.

As a conclusion, if you want a racing game wherein you have full control of everything (the cars and especially the driving location and waypoints), this is the game to get. This game takes driving to a new level and you'll definitely enjoy it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/23/01, Updated 07/23/01