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92%
PROS
Excellent game modes, good graphics! Multiplayer is INSANE.
LOWS
Checkpoint and blitz racing modes are almost the same. A few sound bugs and sometimes graphics can get messed up.
OVERALL
A more relaxed racing car driver will completely adore this wonderful game. Highly recommended!
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I have always enjoyed various racing titles, but none as much as the Midtown Madness series. In the original Midtown Madness, you get some amazing gameplay with some cool cars that you can drive around with in the Windy City. The mod community has also chimed in, and now we have GREAT cars and cities available for download.
There are a bunch of modes that you can do in Midtown Madness. When you first enter the main menu, there are options for a quick race, single player, multiplayer, and race records. A quick race has you select a vehicle, a color, how real you want your physics to be (cool) and if you want Automatic Transmission (as opposed to manual.) Another option in the quick race (or any race) screen is a ‘Vehicles Showcase' button. When you click this button, a picture of the car comes up with stats such as Engine Displacement, Horsepower, Torque, and Weight. When you are racing a quick race, you can only use the cars that you have unlocked (you can unlock races by racing against other cars…. read on to find out more.) Under a vehicle picture that is currently locked, it tells you how to unlock it; I liked this.
The next mode is single player. In single player mode, you first create a driver profile, and chose either an amateur or professional ranking (professional is a lot harder!) and than select a race. You can also check up on your driver stats to see your best times. There are four different race types: cruise, blitz race, checkpoint race, and circuit race. In a cruise, you simply drive a car that you have unlocked around Chicago. It is basically a test drive with no time limits, and can be used to explore the beautiful city.
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You are also allowed to change the weather, and change the time of day, traffic density, pedestrian density, cop density, weather, and the ability to hide pedestrians. This ability is very cool because even though you are in the same place every time, it feels different because of the weather settings. In a blitz race, you race other cars by running through checkpoints all over town. You have to finish all the checkpoints before time runs out, and before the other cars finish. There are no ‘laps' like in a normal race, so you don't have to repeat the same checkpoints over and over again. In a checkpoint race, you have to go through checkpoints, but can go through in any order! You are timed, and have to beat your opponents. There are also no laps in this mode, The last type of single player race is a circuit race in which you have to finish laps on charted courses through the city. You have to be able to beat your opponents to the finish. This is more of a traditional racing game mode, but Midtown Madness still makes it fun. When you win blitz races, checkpoint races, and circuit races, you can unlock more cars
The circuit race mode includes 10 tracks, the checkpoint race has 12 tracks, the blitz mode has 10 tracks, and the cruise mode is just the entire Chicago map. Each one of the tracks for the modes are all in Chicago, but still feel very different. All have different weather settings, but only in cruise mode can the weather be changed. I found that all the single player modes are very cool. One thing that was a little stupid has the fact that blitz and checkpoint races are almost the same thing. The only difference between them is that in a checkpoint race you are not timed, while in a blitz race you are.
I favor the multiplayer mode the best in Midtown Madness. You can play on the MSN Gaming Zone, and IPX connection, TCP/IP connection, Serial Cable connection, or a Modem connection. I usually play on TCP/IP on my home network, because it is the best to play with people that you know.
