Review NaN of 29
Price Paid:
$6.00
from (rental) Summary:
From what I’ve seen, games about cars seem to only exist in one of two extremes: they’re either incredibly realistic in their content (Need For Speed, Test Drive, anything named after the car, etc.) or they just blow reality out the window and focus on acrobatics and violence (Twisted Metal, F-Zero, anything named after an automotive injury, etc.). That way, the gearheads are happy because they have something to do when they aren’t putting gigantic spoilers and stickers that say “formula” on their Ford Escorts, and the automotively-retarded can feel special because they can pull off a 140-foot jump while doing a 720-degree spin and land on the wing of a flying plane even though they’ve never changed a tire in their life.
Thank God for video games.
Anyway, it was bound to be tried and failed at, but Rockstar took a stab at making a pretty even mix of both extremes in their Midnight Club series. The games have you competing in illegal street racing in three cities across the world: Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo. To the winner: fame, glory and the keys to your opponent’s wheels. To the loser: a long walk home, and the knowledge that somewhere, somehow, Vin Diesel knows and is very disappointed.
This game was a surprise to me. The controls were solid, the visuals had some very sunny points, and the races were fun as all hell, no matter how badly you got your ass kicked. The trick here is the variety, another point that many racers lack. All of the modes offer decent diversions, but the levels and cars are strong enough on their own to make cruising around in the free-ride mode worth your time. I was happy enough with that, but the sickos even added a bit of the Twisted Metal to it: type in “savethekids” in the password screen and any car you play in the arcade mode will have machine guns and missiles standard. An hour or two in the cruise mode will easily vanish with this kind of mayhem.
If this makes the Greatest Hits, I would definitely buy it. Even after you milk it dry, it’s a solid two-player game to have in your library. Report this review >>
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