Xbox

Midnight Club II

Midnight Club II arrives on the Xbox a bit after its PS2 arrival. The graphics are improved slightly, not too much for you to notice, though. Voice in Xbox Live really adds to the online experience. It is very cool to trash talk to someone as you smoke them and take their ride.

Cancel my membership to the DVD club because this is the only club I’d like to join. Midnight Club II is 2 fast and 2 furious and way 2 fun. Racing fans will find much to love about a game that keeps the excitement going even after your twentieth race and with Xbox Live capabilities there’s no end to the racing action. Start your engines, race fans--this one is HOT.

It's difficult to express just how much fun Midnight Club II on the Xbox really is. I can't remember enjoying an arcade-style racing game this much in a very long time -- not since those halcyon days of Namco's Ridge Racer on the PlayStation. If you're up for a challenge and want one of the best-looking, best-playing racers out there, then you need to track down Midnight Club II today. For me, it doesn't get much better than this.

Career mode is based on trial and error you'll replay each race a few times before winning but the Xbox Live multiplayer games are a great excuse to get broadband, thanks to varied gameplay modes with the same killer sense of speed the single-player game offers. That's probably enough to keep the growing competition at bay. Midnight Club II stakes its turf impressively and should be able to hold its own for a while.

Midnight Club II might be the most complete arcade racer on the Xbox. It's the next generation answer for racing fans who've been waiting for the successor to San Francisco Rush. I can't deny how much pure fun I had blazing through the streets at speeds way too fast to be safe and I'm convinced that other games --not just racers-- need to bite what Midnight Club II did with its single player career mode. The Xbox Live racing is very well done even though I think Midnight Club II's online elements won't be able to match what's coming up in Midtown Madness 3.

Missions are simple enough, get from point A to point B before the opponent. Usually there are checkpoints (well, almost always if not always), which you will have to sometimes go in order or in other races you must find the best route to reach all checkpoints in a random order in the fastest amount of time. I hope you got all that, but if you didn't, just rent the game and find out for yourself (since I promise you won't be disappointed). Xbox Live (though I admittedly didn't have the time to try it out) promises to add a lot of replay value to the title, along with the excellent multi-player addition. Don't you love playing capture the flag with your friends in a decked out vehicle? Thought so.

Als Auto-Fan und leidenschaftlicher Schnellfahrer kommt mir Midnight Club II gerade recht. Vor allem mit Xbox Live gibt’s mächtig viel zu lachen und selten zuvor konnte man so komfortabel gegen seine Freunde antreten, ohne Leib, Leben, Führerschein oder Karosserie zu riskieren. Die schnelleren Fahrzeuge im späteren Spielverlauf hinterlassen ein gelungenes Geschwindigkeitsgefühl, das durch die pfeilschnelle Optik gut rübergebracht wird. Nur sehr selten geraten die ultraflüssigen 60 Bilder pro Sekunde ins Stocken, wogegen der Splitscreen für zwei Spieler an einer Konsole grundsätzlich nur mit der halben Framerate läuft. Die gnadenlosen Computergegner im Karriere-Modus sorgen oft für Frust, da die KI natürlich immer einen guten Weg durch das Großstadtgetümmel weiß und außerdem werden Sie während Ihrer Laufbahn so manches Mal gemein abgedrängt.

S'il aurait gagné à innover un peu plus et à profiter d'un moteur physique un poil moins farfelu, Midnight Club 2 reste pourtant une valeur sûre de la conduite arcade du moment, à ranger à côté de son Burnout 2 ou a considérer comme une alternative à Midtown Madness. LE mode online d'ores et déjà disponible ici est un plus indéniable.

Midnight Club II is undoubtedly a fine game, and is the better of the two versions by virtue of a smattering of extras. But unlike the PS2, Xbox owners have already got a fair selection of top notch online racing games to choose from and many will prefer Midtown Madness 3's approach - particularly as it has been designed from the ground up for the Xbox. Regardless, Midnight Club II is a decent port and has enough going for it in its own right to be considered a worthy purchase, just maybe not an essential one.

While there are definitely a few bumps in the road, Midnight Club II is a fine introduction to auto racing for Microsoft's Xbox Live service. It may not be as visually stunning or control as well as some other racers, but the game does a little bit of everything and does it all well, making it a game worth looking for if you're an Xbox Live user.

The first Midnight Club (PS2) was somewhat underrated, but for some reason Midnight Club II has been overrated to no end, with some magazines calling it revolutionary. Are they trying to overcompensate perhaps? Don't get me wrong, it's a terrific game, but it's really not a whole lot different than the first Midnight Club, which got rather mediocre reviews by comparison.