Midtown Madness
Description official description
Drive around the streets of Chicago in a series of races, or just try the various timed challenges! The entire city is recreated, with more landmarks and major streets drivable, complete with pedestrians and traffic cars! Drive your "common" cars like Cadillac Eldorado or Ford Mustang, or go superexotic like Panoz Roadster, or drive a super-though F-350 HD pickup... Or even the Detroit City Bus and/or a Freightliner truck... Lots of variety, lots of scenary to admire, lots of challenges to attempt... And when you get bored, try the multiplayer, including tag, football, cops and robbers, and many more modes.
Spellings
- 疯狂城市飙车 - Simplified Chinese spelling
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Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Windows version)
92 People (54 developers, 38 thanks) · View all
Project Director | |
Game Designer | |
Producer | |
Technical Lead | |
Graphics Lead | |
Business and Tequila | |
Vehicle & Pedestrian AI | |
Vehicle Simulation & Physics | |
Networking & Game Logic | |
Graphics Engine | |
City Construction | |
UI and Input Devices | |
Audio | |
Biped Art & Animation | |
2D/3D Art (Vehicles) | |
Chicago City Design | |
3D Art (City LOD) | |
3D Art (City) | |
3D Art (City and Vehicles) | |
2D/3D Art (All Areas) | |
Sound Designer/Composer | |
Composer for Tracks 14-16 | |
Lead Tester & Prod. Assist. | |
Tester & Production Assist. | |
[ full credits ] |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 84% (based on 35 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 43 ratings with 9 reviews)
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.
Windows · by Steve Hall (329) · 2000
Fun game, but something is really missing... The rewards
The Good
Variety of vehicles, authentic environment (Chicago actually is mostly there), lots of AI cars following traffic rules on the streets, multiplayer racing and other games
The Bad
AI cars looks far too bland, you can NEVER flip over (you always fall right-side up), some vehicles are just there as novelty factory (like the bus and the Freightliner), AI too brutal in some challenges, improper reward (spend all your time and you only get a few vehicles unlocked), lousy physics model
The Bottom Line
Midtown Madness is a game that is initially fun, as you get to play with cars that you'd never have chance to driving. But as time wore on, and you've tried all the different scenarios and challenges, you realize that the designers does not really seem to understand how to reward the players properly for their achievements. While there are lots of vehicles, most of them are not fit for racing. The only cars suitable are Ford Mustang, Ford F-350 Truck, new VW Bettle, and Panoz Roadster. The othere vehicles are useless (city bus, Freightliner, etc.) This then begs the question... Why are they even included? Just for the novelty factor? There's a few cars you can unlock by winning, but that doesn't really add much to the game.
As a single-player game, MiM is quite boring. However, in multiplayer, when you have plenty of opponents on the map, then things become more interesting. Not all the multiplayer involves racing, and there, the innovation shows through.
Overall, if you get this game, then you HAVE to go online and play. If you don't, you'll be bored with this game in no time.
Windows · by Kasey Chang (4598) · 2000
The Good
If you have a force-feedback steering wheel, this game is an absolute blast!
The ability to drive wherever you want. Sprawling pedestrians trying to get away from my driving. Smacking into other cars as you race through soldier field or a shopping mall. Flipping over police cars as they try to spin you out or chase you down.
Technically the game has "good" graphics, but see below for more on this topic.
The sound is really good, and the music can really put you in a mood. You can also play your own CDs (try popping in Rage Against the Machine or Nine Inch Nails while playing) just like a real car. It's a nice feature that is totally appropriate.
The challenges and races are really good at the beginning. They don't require a professional race driver, yet they aren't so easy they're boring.
There's actually some places you can interact with by driving on or through.
The Bad
Rule number one: Don't attempt this without a steering wheel. It adds a whole other dimension to the game. You can play the game without a steering wheel, but you just won't get the right amount of control over the car, and you'll wonder why it's so difficult to steer.
The graphics had some problems. Glitches and skipped frames are the norm on slower PCs, and even sometimes on faster PCs.
The later races get really tough, and the rewards you get for completing them is sometimes an after-thought.
How long can you drive around Chicago before things get a little old?
The Bottom Line
This is a blast of a game, and if you can find it at a discount, go all out for it. It's not worth $40 (the original price) because there isn't a lot of replay value, but it's always fun to sit someone down at a steering wheel for the first time and watch them struggle to go straight, let alone avoid other cars.
If you have a force-feedback steering wheel, and can't find Midtown Madness 2, this will wet your whistle until you can find it.
Windows · by Cyric (50) · 2001
Trivia
Inaccuracies
There is an error when referencing one of the vehicles on the North American (and some European) cover art. (See extra cover art for example.) It states the Classic Ford Mustang Fastback as a "67 Mustang Boss 302". However, the Boss 302 did not enter production until 1969. It is correctly stated what Mustang it is in the game.
Pricing
In the Netherlands Midtown Madness got sold for the half of the normal retail (like $20) price to see if this could reduce the illegal copying. Afterwards they didn't try this with any other game, so probably it didn't work.
Awards
- GameSpy
- 1999 – Racing Game of the Year
Information also contributed by DOS Boot
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Related Sites +
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Angel Studios
Developer's Web site -
IGCD Internet Game Cars Database
Game page on IGCD, a database that tries to archive vehicles found in video games.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Thomas Backman.
Additional contributors: Erwin Bergervoet, Brolin Empey, Unicorn Lynx, Patrick Bregger, Victor Vance.
Game added October 3, 1999. Last modified January 29, 2024.