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RATING: (weak) 1 2 3 4 5 (awesome) (No Rating Assigned)
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IN BRIEF
Pros: Solid gameplay, great graphics. Cons: Too difficult at times. In a nutshell: An awesome racing game worth a play. Multiplayer: Up to 8 |
FACTS
Game Title: Midtown Madness 2 Platform: PC Developer: Angel Studios Publisher: Microsoft Release Date: September 2, 2000 Price: $49.95 |
THE REVIEW by Steven Kent for Gamers Today
The Madness Is Back
Remember when Microsoft games meant cheesy entertainment packs for Windows 3.0? Remember when Win 95 came out and Microsoft tried to make it a gaming platform with games like Deadly Tide, Hell Bender, and Gex? I've got two words for you: Ed Fries.
Ed Fries took over the games division just as Deadly Tide and Microsoft Soccer went on their boring way. Though work started on the game before he arrived, Fries oversaw the launch of Age of Empires. During his tenure, Microsoft dropped its lamer games and started concentrating on products with the word "Madness" in their name-Big Truck, Motocross, and Midtown, to be exact.
It's been a welcomed change!
Midtown Madness 2, Microsoft's latest arcade auto racing game, borrows very heavily from Midway's San Francisco Rush. This is a game in which you zip by recognizable San Francisco and London landmarks while racing across reasonably accurate but highly scaled down maps of both locations.
Derivative as it is, it's hard not to like this game. Yes, Angel Studios seems to have designed this game by taking elements out of San Francisco Rush and the latest Need for Speed with a dash of Sega's Crazy Taxi for spice, and no the game does not deliver on any one element as well as any of the above mentioned games; but the final mixture is quite good.
Midtown Madness has great speed, vibrant virtual cities through which you can
race or explore, and one really honking London taxi. One really nice touch
is that you can use the game's overview maps of San Francisco and London to
chart out your own race tracks.
Microsoft has beefed up Midtown Madness's single-player side by adding 18 "crash course" missions in which you hunt, hit, dodge, and chase down targets. You can never pass final judgment on preview versions of games, but if this Madness stays on course, it will definitely be worth the insanity.
*For a complete explanation of ESRB ratings, check out the official ESRB Web site.
