midtown madness review

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Average Ratings

Addiction Level	6.7/10
Graphics	5/10
Value for Money	5.8/10
Reviewer Rating	6.8/10
Overall Rating	6.7/10

67% Recommended4 out of 6 Reviews

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By Nick Drinkwater. on 5th Aug 2001

Nick Drinkwater.'s Ratings

Addiction Level	8/10
Addiction Level	6/10
Value for money	6/10
Overall value	6/10
Nick Drinkwater.'s recommendation

Good Points

Midtown Madness Chicago Edition has good graphics, gameplay, massive city, good choice of cars, works on a low end pc.

Bad Points

Unrealistic damage and physics, gets boring

General Comments

When I first played Midtown Madness, I thought "wow", finally a good game from Microsoft. The graphics are excellent (even on my Pentium 1), though it's worth noting that you really do need that 3D card to get the most out of this game.

Unfortunately, although the gameplay is ok, it doesn't live up to the high standard of the graphics. The game lets you choose the realism level, but even on the highest realism level it still feels like you're playing an arcade game.

Interestingly the box claims of a "realistically modelled driving performance". Really? Flying into a bus at 120 mph and not even writing off your car isn't my idea of realism.

Also on the box is the promise of "realistic damage models". I think what I have said above can give you an indication of what to expect.

But enough complaining. Now onto the game's strong points. First, the gameplay. Ok, it might not be realistic AT ALL but at least its fun. There is loads to explore, and the chance to drive around a whole city is made even better by the excellent graphics. The only gripe I have about the graphics is that the traffic cars are very simple. They are extremely simple and have hardly and detail, which is a disappointment after games like Need for Speed 3/4 and Driver.

The selection of players cars, though, is good. There is a good variety of cars, from a Panoz GTR-1 Le Mans Racer to a chicago city bus. You can even drive a police cruiser.

Also good is the way you can change traffic and police density. So you can either go for a quiet sunday afternoon drive or burn down the freeway in an articulated truck in evening rush hour.

The game works on lower spec pcs, though the frame rate can suffer if there are too many vehicles on the screen at one time.

You can also get this game cheaply if you shop around, and it is available in a three game bundle with two other microsoft games.

Overall, while not realstic MM is at least fun and is good for a laugh after playing Gran Turismo or another "serious" racing game.

Total Respect: +2