Midnight Club II

Midnight Club II
Developer(s)	Rockstar San Diego
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Series	Midnight Club
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Xbox, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	April 9, 2003 (PS2) June 2, 2003 (XBOX) July 9, 2003 (PC)
Genre(s)	Sandbox, Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	PEGI: 16+ ESRB: T OFLC: G8+ ELSPA15+
Media/distribution	DVD, Steam download

Midnight Club II is the first sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing, published for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. Players race through cities inspired by Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo. The game also features an online multiplayer component.

Cities

Dry, hilly suburbs and congested interstates can be found throughout Los Angeles, and just like Midnight Club: Street Racing, the city contains many landmarks, as well as numerous shortcuts and jumps. Paris is the home to cobblestone alleyways, monumental roundabouts, and the Paris Catacombs. Also featured are a lot of jumps taking you across the river of Paris and into an alleyway. Tokyo is a city of neon-glittering avenues and tight alleyways, and contains an equal array of tourist sights and attractions.

Gameplay

Races consist of a series of checkpoints, represented by columns of light. In some races, the order in which the checkpoints must be cleared is prescribed. In this case, a transparent, glowing arrow points to the next checkpoint. In other races the checkpoints may be cleared in any order. In that case, the arrow points to the nearest checkpoint.

In-game screenshot of Midnight Club 2.

It is up to the player which route to take from one checkpoint to the next. There are no artificial barriers in the game's open world environment that force the player to stay on a specific course. Any area that is drivable or jumpable in the free-roaming cruise mode between races may be used to get to the next checkpoint.

Some areas can be driven upon that are not intended for such use outside of a computer game. Examples are escalators, roofs, railways and riverbeds and many ramps. However, many areas that would be drivable in reality, for example entrances and some stairs, are fenced off with invisible barriers. In some areas, the player can jump or drop down. Using this to the player's advantage can be necessary in order to win a race. If the car falls into deep water,the damage meter goes to its maximum stage and the car starts to overheat and the race is immediately lost.

The game features a damage model. The amount of damage inflicted upon a car is indicated by both an HUD indicator and visual damage to the car. The performance of a car does not degrade with damage. When the damage limit of a car is exceeded, the car explodes or stalls. After a delay of a few seconds, the player can continue with a new car.

Cars

The vehicles in Midnight Club II all resemble real life vehicles but have subtle differences to their counterparts, such as different headlamps or tail lights. Also, most of them have aesthetical modifications commonly found in the street racing and import scenes, e.g. spoilers and body kits.

In the car selection menu, descriptions and stats of each vehicle can be seen, along with the option to choose among 4 colors. Once a car is viewed a sound effect is played in the background, which is unique to each one of them.

The SLF450X is the only original vehicle in the game. Although no stats are seen of this vehicle, practical exercises show it has the highest performance capability of all vehicles previously listed. It's capable of reaching 400KM/H+ without nitrous.

Since the game is not capable of replicating AWD vehicles, they are only available with RWD or FWD setups. An example of this is the Knight (based on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII, with an AWD system in real-life), which only has the power driven to the front wheels. Moreover, the Stadt has a FWD setup instead of the MR layout of the real-life Renault Clio V6 that is based on. The reason for this is that FWD cars usually offer a more stable driving in-game with less risks to spin out, and thus its description available in the menu states that it has formidable handling.

Characters

Each character will cruise around the city waiting for a challenge. This excludes Moses, who begins the Career Mode, and the four champions who will seek you out after all predessors are beaten. They will talk to the player or 'think loudly' during pre-race cutscenes during which you can discover their motives, learn statistics of their vehicle, and preview their theme song.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	85.85% (PS2)[1] 87.45% (Xbox)[2] 84.88% (PC)[3]
Metacritic	85/100 (PS2)[4] 86/100 (Xbox)[5] 81/100 (PC)[6]
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	B+ (PS2) B- (PC)
Allgame	[7]
Eurogamer	9/10 (PS2) 8/10 (Xbox)
GamePro	[8]
GameSpot	7.3/10 (PS2) 7.9/10 (Xbox) 7.2/10 (PC)
IGN	9.1/10 (PS2)[9] 8.8/10 (Xbox) 8.8/10 (PC)

The game received positive reviews from critics. For the PS2 version, IGN called it "An excellent online game that offers an ostensibly limitless amount of replay value, given the range of courses and numerous race alterations and variations".^[9] In contrast, GameNOW, grading it a B- for the PS2 version, states "One thing about the game will really piss you off, though, and that's the difficulty. In plain English, the A.I. is freaking brutal, and if you make one mistake in most courses, you may as well restart the race".

For the Xbox version, GamePro rated the game a 4.5 out of 5 stars, stating "Visually, the game doesn’t disappoint—lots of shiny cars, detailed environments, and lighting effects that prove crucial during these after-hours races".^[8] In contrast, Allgame stated "The online component is addictive and is almost reason enough to purchase Midnight Club II, but solo players will be yearning for things to do in the cities outside of competing in more checkpoint races".^[7]

The game has sold 1.28 million copies worldwide on the PS2.

References

1. ^ "Midnight Club II for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/ps2/561391-midnight-club-ii/index.html. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
2. ^ "Midnight Club II for Xbox". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox/562561-midnight-club-ii/index.html. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
3. ^ "Midnight Club II for PC". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/562560-midnight-club-ii/index.html. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
4. ^ "Midnight Club II for PS2". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/midnight-club-ii\. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
5. ^ "Midnight Club II for Xbox". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox/midnight-club-ii. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
6. ^ "Midnight Club II for PC". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/midnight-club-ii. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
7. ^ ^{a b} Marriott, Scott. "Midnight Club II". Allgame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=42161&tab=review. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
8. ^ ^{a b} Elektro, Dan (2003-06-03). "Midnight Club 2". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/article/reviews/29610/midnight-club-2/. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 
9. ^ ^{a b} Perry, Douglass (2003-04-08). "Midnight Club II". IGN. http://uk.ps2.ign.com/articles/392/392925p1.html. Retrieved 2011-10-16. 

External links

• Midnight Club II official website
• Midnight Club II at MobyGames
• Midnight Club II at the Open Directory Project
• Midnight Club II community