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View Full Version : Feenix Does the 1 Night Midnight Club 2 Review



Brevity
06-05-2003, 02:56 PM
***ME: Got this from a friend on another forum, pasted in full cus he dont care, lol. Put it here for those thinking of buying this. Thanks BREVITY

"right off the bat, after reading all these great reviews (hell, Gamespy said the graphics were awesome,) I was underwhelmed. Don't take this as an insult, but just a statement of fact, this is the least aesthetic racer I've ever had on my XBOX. That is more a testament of how good games likes PGR, Rallisport, MotoGP/2, Apex, Burnout etc have looked than a condemnation of MC2. Frankly, MC2 looks great for what it is; a HUGE environment where you can race anywhere, online with 8 people, without LAG or slowdown.

If you want an accurate idea of the graphics, think Test Drive, in high detail.

Now, now that I am done harping on the completely acceptable, but just not impressive graphics, I will mention the ONLY other thing I find wrong with the game. Lack of custom soundtracks. Ugh, the LA Rap is terrible. The techno is forgettable. I have it turned down. Not a gamebreaker.

On to the goods, yo.

Gameplay is fast, fun, and all about arcadey. Offline is a career mode where you earn cars by competing against some of the most racially stereotyped people ever, and as stupid and cheesy as they sound, you gotta admire Rockstar's gonads. I find them funny, to be honest. But only because I'm not some namby-pambyLiberal Uber-Mensche.

Career is cool, you need to earn cars, avoid ghetto birds, aggressive cop cars, road blocks, traffic, and follow checkpoints. It's fun, the AI is good, and actually thinks on the fly about best possible paths, and makes human mistakes, so it's REALLY satisfying, but overall, I consider offline to be a "Challenge mode" whereby I earn my ride for online dominance.

Cruise mode is all about just pimpin around the city.

Online:

EVERYTHING you can do offline, you can do online:

Here's a list with a little explanation:

Career: race just like the offline game, but you get your opponent's car. Nothing revolutionary, but hella fun.

Cruise: Set a time limit, pick a city, and 8 people can just f*ck around.

Circuit: Follow checkpoints constituting laps. Mad fun.

Battle Mode: CTF: Haven't played it, heard it's really dope.

Battle Mode: Detonator: When you start, there is a waypoint to a bomb. Everyone races for it, when a person gets it, they wanna make it to the delivery waypoint. Success = score. Failure is when someone rams into you and detonates it. Tons of Powerups. Mario Kart eat your heart out. It sounded cheesy, but it's my favorite mode thus far.

I'm not sure, but I *THINK* there is a cop mode.

Race Editor Mode: You can place checkpoints at any intersection, in any order, and up to 64 (!!!) of them. You can play this offline with the AI. (now THAT IS cool AI!) or of course, online. You can save up to 15 custom tracks.

More? Don't know yet.

Lag, Framerate, etc:

I don't know how lag is handled, but aside from seeing a car jitter JUST a little bit at the beginning of a race, I've yet to see anything that even resembles poor performance. Framerate is like, BUTTER smooth. 60fps constant so far. In the rain, in a city, with traffic, pedestrians, and 8 AI racers. 60FPS online too.

There are like, trick moves you earn in the single player, that are kinda butter:

The ability to shift your weight using a modifier button + the Left Analog while in the air to maximize jumps and landings.

Wheelies, endo's and headstands on the crotchrockets.

Nitro boost.

SlipStream Turbo.

and my personal favorite, hitting the Weight Shift button with Analog left or Analog right while driving pulls some 2 wheel dukes of hazzard ****, and I kid you not, last night I was delivering a bomb, and some dude was rushing my car head on, and at the last second I went up on 2 wheels and narrowly missed his little game of chicken. Awesomeness.

Jumps and airtime is abundant, and I've actually cleared entire buildings.


Overall, this game, while a slight *SLIGHT* letdown, graphically, is about the hottest most varied fun I've had on Xbox live yet. Add in the fact that you can add lots of little rules and modifiers to your games online, and you've got a game with f*cking LEGS!

I urge anyone into arcade racing, and a super-well done online experience to get this game so I can stop racing with Hicks and wannabe rap stars.


Thank you, that is all."

carlbme
06-05-2003, 04:47 PM
Sounds like a definate must buy for me then. Now just gotta get internet into the bedroom (wife moved the tv/xbox in the bedroom to make room for my computers in the living room :cuss: :cry: )