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Disappointing on many levels

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: August 19, 2000
Author: Amazon User

First let me say this: the game will be wonderful fun for about 2 hours after that you may never play it again. Once youve crashed your car ever way, explored every near identical street, and won as many races as you have the tolerance for you may never play this game again. Not only does it have only 10 or so cars (compared to the hundreds of cars offered by other games) but they are modeled unrealistically and unconvincingly. As well as that the city of Chicago itself is modelled poorly especially considering they could have done it so well with the disc space alloted. Think of it as Chicago on a 1/4 scale, both in size and authenticity. The could have done so much with this game but it ended up as so little.

I hate to say this but....

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 4
Date: January 04, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Well, what can I say. They had a great idea over at Microsoft. But, I think they rushed this game into the stores to fast.

The concept is awesome...no tracks, just cruising the city streets. Go anywhere you want !

But, the cars drive like, well, let's just say they're real bad. Such a limited selection too. Although, on an up note, they look really good. But, the AI (computer cars) are stupid.

Congrats to MS for the idea. Rats for the outcome. For driving sims, look elsewhere...(like to Need for Speed 3/4).

There are better racing games.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 04, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Microsoft's Midtown Madness is a racing game based in Chicago. The premise is good. You race around the open streets of Chicago with no closed courses, but the game fails miserably in many key aspects.

Gameplay - The gameplay, at best, is shoddy. There are only a handful of vehicles (some of which you need to unlock), a couple of race modes, and one city - Chicago. To be fair, the city of Chicago is huge. There are numerous landmarks such as Soldier Field, and you can run over a lot of different objects such as mailboxes, streetlights, and garbage cans, but that is where the compliments stop. As you compete in different race modes to unlock cars, you realize just how terrible the control is. Faster cars are almost impossible to get to turn correctly without smashing into oncoming traffic or flipping over. Try to pick a slower car and your opponents whip right by you with ease. On top of that, some of the vehicles are absolutely useless. The bus, for instance, resembles a giant slug. Damage modeling is terrible. Smash head on into an oncoming car going 70 MPH and you'll drive away as though nothing happened. Cops are more reckless than you are. They'll smash into oncoming traffic without hesitation. It's almost funny. Almost. Not to mention they have super cars, which go a good 25 MPH faster than any of your vehicles. Just plain awful. Terrible controls and minimal gameplay options really bury this game.

Gameplay - ** out of *****

Graphics - The graphics aren't much better than the gameplay. Most of the buildings in Chicago look the same; the other cars, which make up the traffic in the game, are dull. There appear to be only about 8 or so different models. These cars show NO damage no matter how many times you smash them. Although the graphics aren't the worst, they are far from the best.

Graphics - *** out of *****

Sound - Sound is nothing special. The engine sounds are good as well as the cops' siren, but there is no in game music. You do however, have the option to listen to your own CD's, but that's not enough to save this game.

Sound - *** out of *****

Bottom Line - Microsoft's Midtown Madness can provide a quick racing fix, but the fun doesn't last. There are plenty of other better racing games out there.

Fun! At first......

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 23
Date: November 18, 1999
Author: Amazon User

When I had just bought this game , I loved it! But then , day by day , it got boring . i really don't suggest you buy this game

Video card warning

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 05, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game would not work right when I installed it (parts of the screen flickered uncontrollably), so I checked the helpfile and discovered that the list of video cards with "known issues" was basically a list of every video card in existance. The solution for me (I have an ATI Rage Pro) turned out to be to disable hardware accelleration functions, which means I have to change settings and re-boot every time I want to play the game. I guess I should feel lucky- some cards don't work with this game at all.

Midtown Madness avrgae but not great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: December 28, 2000
Author: Amazon User

i would say midtown madness isnt graphically superior or the controll isnt great but it is okay. The game is a little fun but if you have a choice choose need for speed 3. It is relatively the same price and is more fun graphically and the sound is bette r. Yes it is not a schaotic but hey it is better why do peopellike this game so much. It isnt superior ad the fun is only adequate

Not So Mad About Midtown

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: January 31, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I think this is a great game but it gets old. I like the consept of driving trought city streets with no tracks and you can go anyware you want. I also liked how you had to earn your cars and you can set time of day, cops, and so on. After a while it gets old and you get sick of the city because you race the same place every day. If your looking for a super racing game i would go look at Test Drive 6.

Good game but gets old

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 8
Date: December 23, 1999
Author: Amazon User

I very good game, but it got old in about a month. I would not recommend buying this.

Boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: August 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I just bought this game 2 weeks ago and I'm already bored with it. If you are going to buy this game I sugest that you dont becaust MM2 is coming out and you should but MM2 instead!

Great Driving Game, but could use some improvement

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: December 12, 2000
Author: Amazon User

I love how this game protrays real life and let's you do things you can never do in real traffic. I love being able to go through red lights, squeeze by other cars, dare to turn down one way streets the wrong way and jump ramps, crash through mall windows, etc. If these are things you'd like to do in real traffic, then this game is for you. This game allows you to check your conscience and manners at the door.

The rally and checkpoint races get exciting because they seem to be a different game all the time. The rally games are great, because the opponent cars seem to run you off the road which is a nice challange instead of just a computer controlled car which follows the track and goes its course without really competing. It makes you feel like there are real human beings in those computer cars.

This game could use some improvement. If you are going to be crashing into all types of objects, how about actually letting the jet land at the airport instead of reaching 3000 feet and then flying away. If you can cause damage on the roads and freeways, then you should be able to cause a disaster on the runway. How about letting you drive into the outskirts of Chicago. The police chases could be better also in my opinion and more realistic. The most the police do is run you off the road and crash into you. Police hardly do that in real life. It would be cool to see a road block or guns drawn. Also, as many times as I crashed into the water, it would be nice to be able to drive out of it instead of "sleeping with the fishes" as they tell you in the game.

I'd say buy the game and since I am from NY City, I cannot wait for them to release a NY City version, since NY City is so much bigger than Chicago and has more vicious cops.

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