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Dom Robinson reviews
Sony
- Price: £39.99
- Players: 1-2
Midtown Madness was a favourite PC game of mine two years ago and in the PS2’s short life so far, this is the closest thing we’ve come to it, even though it doesn’t feel quite right in comparison.
Like Smuggler’s Run, you can drive around different locations (eg. New York and London), drive through checkpoints, get from A to B, choose from several cars, play against the PS2 or a friend, etc. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
There are several ways to play the game :
- Arcade Mode:
- Cruise Mode: Pretend to be one half of a famous divorced couple, or is it just a fancy name for ‘practice mode’ ?
- Head 2 Head: Race through checkpoints up against one other bad driver called Emilio. Be the first to reach the end or you’ll lose and may need to complete the race before being allowed access to other tracks.
- Waypoint: The same as Head 2 Head, but Emilio gets his henchmen in and you’ll be racing against 4-6 of his men.
- Capture the Flag: Compete against a friend, or just enjoy playing with yourself, as you zoom around town doing what you did in Smuggler’s Run with the contraband, ie. pick up a flag in one place and drop it off elsewhere.
- Career Mode: You get to work for Emilio and his cronies, earning some money and pretty much doing a combination of the above, whether you initiate it by calling Emilio on his cellphone and challenging him to a race, or just cruising the streets for action (oo-er, missus!)
Or you can ignore these modes and enjoy two extra games I made up :
- Reverse-cam: Watch only through the camera looking back on where you’ve been and see how far you can go before you hit something.
- The Long Goodbye: Pretend to be Elliot Gould from the 1970’s film in which his car has been tampered with, the brakes don’t work and the speed is increasing. How long before you crash?
Speed is of the essence and the graphics excel in getting the game moving, unlike a horrendous game like Need for Speed: Porsche 2000 or Ridge Racer 5. The cities are well-enough detailed and it doesn’t look a great deal different from the aforementioned Midtown Madness, but the AI isn’t as good when enemy cars, or others simply driving about, start to get in the way.
No surprises sound-wise and Emilio’s chatty behaviour does become irritating.
Overall, it’s another racing car game and they’re two-a-penny, or rather £39.99 each, but I’d advise a rental first to see if you get more than a couple of days entertainment out of it.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
PLAYABILITY
ORIGINALITY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL 
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.