Summary
At last... freedom to drive wherever you want.
The Good
The graphics are beautifully slick, and they run so well. I can run this game at 1600x1280 res with no problems, whereas most driving games get run at 640 or 800 if I'm lucky.
You can tell this game was designed with the MS Sidewinder wheel in mind. It's absolutely perfect with the wheel. You get a gte sense of feel and control, with the ability to precisely place your car on the road - damn handy when you're tanking down the freeway at 120mph.
The racing games are fun, and they are enough of a challenge to make it worthwhile. The cruise mode is stunning, allowing you the freedom of the city. You can either play your own games in this mode, My favourite is Speed. Get the bus, start out on a loop of the city, and keep your speed above 50 - see how many laps you can do. It's amazing that stuff like this doesn't even get boring.
The Bad
The car handling is a little suspect. If you turn down the physics realism, the the Mustang becomes a real handful. Turn a corner too hard and you're on two wheels every time. Although the cars themselves can take damage, nothing else does, except cops.
And speaking of cops, when cruising around obeying the rules, they'll come at you for any minor infraction and try and destroy you (a bit like Driver). Break the speed limit by 1mph and they try and kill you? Hmmm....
The network game is a joke. The collision detection is atrocious, and the way the other cars jump around the track shows up some bad coding. The set races are OK, but there's no league so you have to keep starting new races. The other games are really lame - the cops and robbers games get really dull after you realise there's only a few places the 'gold' will appear.
The Bottom Line
As a network game it sucks, which is a pity because it could be really good. As a single player game, it is fun, but the races/leagues don't last that long. This game would have a lifespan of a few weeks, if it weren't for the fact that it is so wonderful to drive.
Here's hoping they fix all this for the up and coming Midtown Madness II.
