Club II, but I’m sure your anxiousness to play the game will prevent you from
paying attention to it. The whole plot revolves around you, the player, who
must cruise around town, find some street racers and show ’em what you’re made
of. The goal is to make it into "the club," which entitles you to drive with
the best, win new rides and evade the local law enforcement without even
thinking twice. Once a new opponent has been found, he or she will try and
discourage you by talking trash. The characters’ voice-overs are really good,
and their CG models are well animated. Aside from that, there isn’t much else
to the story. Does anyone care? Of course not — we all came for the thrills
the first time around, and that’s why we’ve returned for the sequel.
Midnight Club II’s three
worlds — Paris, Tokyo and Los Angeles — give new meaning to the word, "Brobdingnagian."
These worlds aren’t just huge; they’re jam-packed with detail. Not just
graphical detail either. There are more passageways, more shortcuts and more
hidden areas than one person could ever find in a week or even a month. The
career mode will help you out a little; many of your opponents will use
shortcuts in order to win. All you have to do is follow them, memorize the
location (which is not always easy) and use that information to your
advantage. Regardless of how well you know the area, it’s rarely easy to win
a race in this game. The first few are easy enough for a video game novice to
complete; the remaining 90% will test many of your past gaming skills and
require you to learn some new ones. I really hate to use the word cakewalk,
but rest assured, that is something this game is not.
Back to the subject of
the game’s size, LA’s freeway is incredible! You could get on it and drive
forever without ever coming to a dead end. Eventually you will hit an exit,
but there are so many paths to take along the way that you could feasibly
cruise the freeway without ever exiting or making a U-turn.
The controls are
super-tight. Every car varies in its handling, acceleration and top speed,
but all of the controls are highly responsive, enabling you to weave in and
out of traffic without batting an eye. Think Crazy Taxi, only better.
Most-definitely the
coolest thing about The Fast and the Furious was its speed. The vehicles in
that movie got its speed from NOS (nitrous oxide), which, at the press of a
button, would give their vehicles an unbelievable burst of speed. The same is
true for Midnight Club II. Nitrous is in short supply, but when you have it
in your vehicle, one tap of the R2 button will send your vehicle flying past
its opponents. During this cool sequence, the screen appears as if it’s being
sucked in, giving the illusion of intense, super-high speeds. These are just
words though. This is one effect that you’ve got to see, especially if you
like racing games, racing movies or have any interest in cars whatsoever.
Most racing games have at
least one cool car, but Midnight Club II has several. The designs look like
they were taken from the streets of LA (where real street racing occurs), or
perhaps The Fast and the Furious.
Midnight Club II’s
graphics are at least a few steps ahead of every other PS2 racing game out
there (except for Gran Turismo 3, of course). The lighting and shadow effects
are a few notches higher than Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, and the city
designs will blow you away. Every car, every building, every traffic light,
etc., are filled with as many impressive graphic techniques as the top-tier
Xbox games. You really won’t believe your eyes at first. The
computer-generated intro movie is currently and being used to promote the game
on national television. As cool as it is, the in-game graphics are more
impressive; they show off the PS2’s true polygon-pushing power and give owners
of the system faith that its technology hasn’t been maxed out yet. Clearly it
hasn’t, and I only hope that more games follow in Midnight Club II’s
footsteps.
Midnight Club II is a
must-play racer. The first game was fun, but it feels so dated when compared
with this next-generation sequel. Yeah, they’re both next-gen games, but
there weren’t any racing games on the market like this two and a half years
ago. Midnight Club II built on the "find and challenge a driver, win the
loser’s ride" gameplay style of the first game and turned it into so much
more. Don’t feel left out if you don’t have a PlayStation 2, because Xbox and
PC versions are on the way. However, if you do have PS2, don’t let anything
stop you from playing one of the season’s best racers.
Gameplay: 9
Fast, intense
racing is the name of this game. Speed freaks will go nuts for Midnight Club
II, as will anyone who loves cars, street racing or just enjoys playing really
good games. The improved controls, the overwhelmingly huge cities and the
extreme (but not cheap) challenge make this a must-play game for everyone who
has a PlayStation 2.
Graphics: 9.2
Stunning
reflections, excellent car damage and amazing real-time lighting are just
three of the many graphical wonders you’ll see in this game. Keep your eyes
open at all times! Blinkers will miss out on too much.
Sound: 8
Midnight Club
II’s sound is a mixture of good music, good voice-overs and great sound
effects. The soundtrack is predictably filled with techno/rock tracks, but
they’re very enjoyable to listen to. There are also some licensed rap songs,
which seems to fit this kind of game.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Finally, a racing
game that can’t be beaten in a weekend! Sure, you probably could beat it that
fast, but the superb challenge will most-likely keep that from happening. One
thing is for certain: this game’s computer-controlled opponents don’t mess
around. They know every shortcut, they’re good at evading traffic, and the
cops rarely ever catch them! They make mistakes, too, making them seem that
much more realistic.
Concept: 8.8
Midnight Club
II’s tagline is, "The future of illegal street racing." That might not be the
most accurate tagline (after all, Midnight Club III will be here someday), but
for the time being, Midnight Club II is the best game of its kind.
Multiplayer: 8.8
If you weren’t
considering cable or DSL before, you probably will consider it now. Everyone
can access the two-player split-screen mode, but if you have broadband
Internet access, you can experience the online multiplayer mode. Up to eight
gamers can cruise Paris, Tokyo or Los Angeles together!
Overall: 9
Something doesn’t
make sense. There’s this great game, Midnight Club II, sitting on retail
shelves right now. But yet for some strange reason, you are still here,
reading words on a computer screen that are not nearly as exciting as the game
I’m talking about. It’s weird how people want great things, but fail to
embrace them when they arrive, isn’t it?
Translation: go buy the
game already!
