Games

MIDNIGHT CLUB 2

Publisher: Rockstar Games

Developer: Rockstar San Diego

Platform: PS2

Genre: Racing

Rating: Teen

Anyone who plays games knows that you always need at least one really decent racing game in your collection. But it’s an overpopulated genre, and depending on your system, you have a huge choice from a bunch of titles that are all pretty similar in design and gameplay, with the only difference being whether they go for a realistic simulation-style game or all-out arcade action. Simulation racing games are boring and gay, and Midnight Club 2 definitely falls in the arcade action category. It also kicks almost every racer for the PS2’s ass. Like its predecessor, the game revolves around underground street races through various cities. In MC2 you get L.A., Paris, and Tokyo. The single-player mode has you racing against other characters to win cars and progress through your career. R* is really good at creating virtual cities, giving you a feel for these locales, but maximizing on fun racing. As far as other racing games go, the difficulty level is way up there. That’s fine, since you get a real sense of accomplishment when you win. You will suck at this game unless you take time to learn the quickest route possible, as each city offers many different shortcuts. The other racers’ AI will keep you guessing, in that they don’t follow a predetermined course through the cities. Instead they make choices at each turn, so you never know where they’ll end up. This makes for some fairly unpredictable gameplay, especially when you’re right on another guy’s tail. Aside from the basic street racing there are some other modes, like capture the flag and racing with powerups, but purists will probably ignore these. A really nice touch is the addition of a race editor so you can design your own courses in any of the three cities. Also cool is the replay feature, so you can watch your last race. The game is so fast that once you’ve really mastered a particular track, it’s neat to see how you pulled around a sharp corner or avoided a bus at the last minute. It makes you feel pretty elite. You can only view a replay right after a race, though, and it would have been nice to have the option to save those replays.

The graphics are gorgeous. The city graphics are on par with, if not nicer than Vice City, and the cars look amazing. Right up there with GT3 A-Spec, they have that cool reflect-y thing going on. MC2 is one of the fastest games I’ve played; so many details whiz by so quickly. Combined with the oncoming traffic and the pedestrians flying past you, you actually can’t blink while you play this game. One blink and it’s smack, right into a bus for you. I’m serious. I wear contact lenses and I needed eye drops for this game since my lenses kept drying out. The sounds of the cars’ engines revving is pretty heavy-duty, but unless you’re a big house fan you’re not going to dig the tunes. Lots of Felix Da Housecat and that kind of stuff. It goes good with the game, though, so even if you hate that stuff, it’s not a total loss.

At this point I usually complain about the lack of online play, but lo and behold, MC2 comes through with some awesome multiplayer. Reason enough to get your PS2 online, MC2 really gets going once you play against other people. Sure you get your basic two-player split-screen action, but those with high-speed connections can test their skills and see how they measure up against everyone else. Winning a race online against real people is like having a gun pointed at you after doing a huge line of blow laced with meth: a real rush. I can’t think of another game in recent times that has gotten my heartbeat and adrenaline levels up so high. One thing, though: Don’t bother playing this with a modem. I’m not sure why Sony even made it an option on the network adapter, but it’s as useless as tits on a bull. I saw guys racing who where obviously using dial-up modems and their lag was so bad they just kept flickering in and out of view. You don’t really have any business playing with the big boys unless you’ve either got a DSL or cable modem.

A few nitpicky things: There’s no traffic in the multiplayer games. I can understand the strain that that would put on the network, but still. R* also should have made it possible for players to join in a queue for a race. Too many people sketch out early on in the races (pussies) so if you’re hosting a race you are usually left with about two or three players after a few races. If there was a queue, other players could wait while a race is in progress to join in next and fill the empty spaces. Also, the ability to use the voice-command thingie would be sweet. After I’m done kicking everyone’s ass I want to be able to rub some salt in those wounds. Throw in player stats and rankings and you’d have a near perfect racing game.

THX1138