Windows

Midtown Madness

This is the most original PC racing game I’ve ever seen. With a fully-rendered three-dimensional city, the courses you can take are virtually limitless. The innovations, such as the non-linear aspect to the racing, add an interesting, challenging and constantly changing environment. I especially appreciated not having to tweak or upgrade the vehicle at all, and that the main focus is not on carnage. With its innovations and broad audience, this game should appeal to drivers of all ages, which is why I give it a score of 95.

Maybe I'm just a complete simpleton who gets a kick out of watching cars collide - I don't know, nor do I care. All I know is that my Beetle is calling me for one more spin around the Windy City before bedtime.

If you're a racing fan that is craving something really different, then Midtown Madness is certainly worth your time. The 3D engine is fantastic, downtown Chicago is rendered extremely well. If you're familiar with the Loop, you'll be all the more amazed. The game is very reasonably priced - so you can't afford to miss this excellent title. Bottom Line: Downtown Chicago is very realistically recreated. The 3D engine is well up to the task; the surroundings, vehicles, and objects all look great. A single racing area can get a little boring after a while, and you do have to "unlock" cars to get to some of them. If you're looking for something different in your racing game - this is it.

Midtown Madness is anarchic fun, plain and simple, as well as being on the right side of challenging. The balance of vehicles is superb, and some ingenious design has gone into the courses. And if you're thinking that the game looks a bit like the forthcoming Driver, you'd be absolutely right, and the inclusion of a classic muscle car provides a further parallel.

Sans être révolutionnaire, Midtown Madness bénéficie d'une réalisation impeccable. Les graphismes sont fins et très jolis, du moment qu'on a une machine puissante (Pentium 2 350 et carte 3D puissante fortement conseillés). La maniabilité est impeccable quand à elle, et on s'amuse comme un fou à foncer dans les rues de Midtown Madness. Vous allez voir, bientôt certaines associations "bien pensantes" reprocheront aux jeux vidéo d'encourager la conduite dangereuse :-)

Car racing games just don't get much better than this, folks. If you enjoy car games at all, you absolutely can't go wrong by picking this game up. Heck, even if you don't like car games you'll probably enjoy Midtown Madness, our newest Editor's Choice game. Now check out the many other screenshots we took. Yeah we went nuts but it's awesome to just look at shots of this game.

Had Microsoft de moeite genomen om meerdere steden op te nemen in dit spel en bovendien voor een grotere verscheidenheid aan opdrachten gezorgd, dan had Midtown Madness een absolute topper geworden. Nu moet Midtown Madness met iets minder genoegen nemen, wat niet wegneemt dat het nog steeds een echte aanrader is.

At first glance I was very impressed with Midtown Madness, I even enjoyed it. However, it did get old. There are only so many times you can plow through Chicago even with seven of your closest friends. Midtown Madness is really a game for the non-hardcore gamers. Lots of folks will get a blast out of this game, but for those of you with more sophisticated tastes look elsewhere. My final thought, why Chicago?!

Ну никак ММ не влезает в стандарты. Игра оставляет двоякое впечатление. С одной стороны, потрясающая графика и отсутствие всяких тормозов в системе; блестящий компьютерный интеллект и голодный разбуженный азарт. С другой — нелогичность происходящего. Вот только пристрастия у всех разные. Кому-то нужна кровь на лобовом стекле, а кто-то будет счастлив просто покататься по городу. И не вина Microsoft, что она не сделала очередную Карму. Выбор за вами.

The best part about Midtown Madness is that there is no set path or course you must take. Players are free to roam out and about the city and the developers have designed modes that take advantage of that. For example, "Cruise" mode allows players to freely explore the city and 'Blitz' mode requires players to race across check points (placed throughout the city) in any order they see fit. The second best thing about Midtown Madness is the sensation of racing through active traffic. The physics engine is well tuned; striking a good balance between realism and arcade fun. Few driving experiences will compare to the rush of jumping a draw bridge or driving against oncoming traffic (especially on highways)! Frequent car wrecks and pileups are also quite a sight to behold.

In the end, Midtown Madness is an entertaining racer that will keep you glued to your screen in a mad dash to the finish. The best thing about this game is the feeling that you're racing in a real city instead of just driving around on a flat circle. Midtown Madness comes highly recommended.

Met Midtown Madness heeft Microsoft een zeer uitdagende arcade-racer geproduceerd, die dankzij een aantal kleine minpunten net geen topper is geworden. Maar mede gezien de aantrekkelijke prijs, mag niemand daarover zeuren.

Die aberwitzigen Verfolgungsjagden durch die vollgestopften Straßen Chicagos gehören zum Adrenalinförderndsten, was ich in letzter Zeit gespielt habe. Am besten gefallen mir die Checkpoint-Rennen, bei denen ich verzweifelt die schnellste Route suche, während ich gleichzeitig dem dichten Verkehr ausweiche und Konkurrenten anremple. Überall ist was los, es kracht und scheppert an allen Enden. Dabei wird die Großstadthatz nie langweilig, weil die "neutralen" Computerwagen bei jedem Neustart woanders auftauchen. Bei aller Euphorie: Microsoft hätte noch mehr draus machen können. So fehlt mir eine Tuning-Option ebenso wie Extras - warum darf ich der Polizei keine Reißnägel vor die Reifen schleudern? Und trotzdem ist Midtown Madness das bislang beste Spiel der Madness-Reihe. Wenn Sie einfach nur hemmungslos Gas geben wollen, führt an der spaßigen Downtown-Raserei kein Weg vorbei.

Die Angel Studios haben die dabei anfallenden Probleme (der Computer hat Schwerstarbeit vor sich, da er neben den Rennteilnehmern eine komplette Stadt simulieren muß) überzeugend bewältigt. Es soll bloß keiner kommen und über die Grafik nölen; unter diesen Voraussetzungen ist sie wirklich schön genug. In Multiplayerschlachten wurde völlig auf Großstadtverkehr verzichtet, dort geht viel Flair verloren. Der deshalb zu bevorzugende Einzelspielermodus bietet 32 Rennen, die relativ schnell absolviert sind - einige sind auch sehr kurz. Doch was soll's, so mancher wird sich sicher in eine einzige Strecke verbeißen und immer wieder versuchen, seine Bestzeit für jeden einzelnen Wagen zu verbessern. Die sind sowieso ein großer Pluspunkt - selten hat ein Rennspiel so unterschiedliche Fahrzeuge unter einem Dach vereint.

Niestety wygląd naszych "bolidów" nie został dopracowany do perfekcji. Możemy, co prawda rozpoznać markę samochodu, ale Midtown Madness to nie to samo co Need for Speed. Z resztą sam styl gry jest zupełnie odmienny i nie należy się spodziwać taki wrażeń. Strona dźwiękowa gry stoi na przeciętnym poziomie. Przeciętne mruczenie silników, odgłosy uciekających spod kuł ludzi - słowem "normalka". Muzyka także nie zachwyci i nawet jeżeli ją wyłączymy, stracimy niewiele.

Midtown Madness probably won't go down in history like Pole Position, Cruisin' USA or Daytona, but all in all, this is a good game; the city in which it's set is large enough to be interesting, the crashes are satisfying, the racing is exciting. Just don't integrate it into Windows2000, ok Microsoft?

The city lives and breathes rather like the real thing, with variable traffic and weather conditions, pedestrians, traffic lights, cops, and freeways. And you get to drive wherever you want within the windy city, and however you want. Although its driving mechanics aren't terribly sophisticated, it can be a lot of fun because it affords you that very freedom that all driving games should but rarely deliver.

Internet play is a saving grace for this game—a multiplayer-only "cops and robbers" race variant makes up for a lot of shortcomings in the single-player races. Players choose teams (cops or robbers) or go it alone in a race to recover a bar of gold and carry it back to their headquarters. It has all the excitement and chaos of a downtown car chase, with less of the frustrating randomness of the single-player race modes. It is a pity that this variant is not present in the single-player games—it might have brought this title closer to the greatness it deserves.

Overall, Midtown Madness is an interesting variation and arguably a unique racing style on the PC. If you fancy racing cars with a difference, it's well worth a look.