Midnight Club II

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Midnight Club II
256px
Developer(s) Rockstar San Diego
Publisher(s) Rockstar Games
Distributor(s) Take-Two Interactive
Series Midnight Club
Engine Angel Game Engine
Platforms PlayStation 2
Xbox
Windows
Release date(s) PlayStation 2
USA 20030408April 8, 2003
PAL 20030502May 2, 2003
Xbox
USA 20030603June 3, 2003
PAL 20030720July 20, 2003
Microsoft Windows
USA 20030630June 30, 2003
PAL 20030711July 11, 2003
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer

Midnight Club II is a racing video game developed and published by Rockstar San Diego (formerly Angel Studios). It is the first sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing, published for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows. Players can race through cities based on Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo. The game also features an online multiplayer component. It is the second game in Midnight Club franchise, followed by Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition.

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 alleyways. 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 most 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 a few other races, the checkpoints may be cleared in any order. In that case, the arrow spins randomly without pointing in any particular direction.

File:MClub 2.jpg
In-game screenshot of Midnight Club 2 in Paris.

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 is instantly totaled, the race being immediately lost.

The game also features damage models. 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 like some other racing games. 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 an undamaged version of the same car.

Vehicles

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 street racing and import scenes, such as spoilers, hood scoops, 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 unique to that car is played in the background.[1] Below is listed the original cars, followed by the car that they are based on.

Los Angeles

Paris

Tokyo

The SLF450X seems to be the only "original" vehicle in the game (though it has visual resemblance to the Batmobile). Although no stats are seen of this vehicle, practical exercises show it has the highest performance capability of all of the vehicles previously listed. It can reach more than 400 km/h without any nitrous.

Since the game is not very capable of replicating AWD vehicles, the cars are only available with RWD or FWD setups. An example of this is the Knight (based on the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V, with an AWD transmission in real life), has a FF layout, the power being delivered only to the front wheels. In addition, the Stadt has a FF layout instead of the MR layout of the real-life Renault Clio V6 that it 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.

Soundtrack

Midnight Club II: Original Soundtrack
File:Midnight Club II Original Soundtrack Album Cover.png
Soundtrack album
Released 2003
Length 3:50:00
Label Rockstar Games
Midnight Club soundtrack chronology
Midnight Club: Street Racing SoundtrackString Module Error: Match not foundString Module Error: Match not found Midnight Club 2 Soundtrack
(2003)		 Midnight Club 3: DUB edition Original Soundtrack
(2005)Midnight Club 3: DUB edition Original Soundtrack2005

The album was released at E3 in 2003 as a promotional gift.[2] It consisted of mainly electro and techno music along with rap music.[3] Altogether, the soundtrack contained a total of 38 tracks.[4]

# Title Artist(s) Genre Length
01 "Midnight Club Theme" 8-Off Agallah Rap 04:04
02 "Ride Out" 8-Off Agallah & Ike Eyes Rap 03:46
03 "Elements Of Trance (DJ Kim's Reload Mix)" ACM Electro/Techno 07:46
04 "Jump Jet" Alpinestars Electro/Techno 02:54
05 "Round About Midnight" Antenna Electro/Techno 09:19
06 "Blue Owl'" Art of Trance Electro/Techno 09:04
07 "Stealth" Art of Trance Electro/Techno 07:11
08 "When I Fall In Love (Strike Acid Dub)" Axus Electro/Techno 08:12
09 "Paranoize (Flip Path Mix)" Bipath Electro/Techno 07:04
10 "Midnight Club II" Blue Warta Rap 03:37
11 "Simon and Lisa" Blu Mar Ten Electro/Techno 05:36
12 "Home Videos" Blu Mar Ten Electro/Techno 04:52
13 "Electrified" DJ Robert & Martinez Brothers Electro/Techno 04:40
14 "Brain 26 (Question Non Vocal Mix)" D-Noiser Electro/Techno 06:45
15 "Brain 29 (Demon Of The Church Mix)" D-Noiser Electro/Techno 06:43
16 "Brain 30 Brain Train (Psycho Mix)" D-Noiser Electro/Techno 06:57
17 "Silverscreen (Shower Scene)" Felix Da Housecat Electro/Techno 04:42
18 "Sequel 2 Sub" Felix Da Housecat Electro/Techno 03:50
19 "Nix" (Feat. Miss Kittin) Golden Boy Electro/Techno 06:01
20 "It's Good For You To Meet People Like Us" (Feat. Miss Kittin) Golden Boy Electro/Techno 06:42
21 "Syntrax" Jack Henderson Electro/Techno 04:13
22 "Roccoco" Kansai Electro/Techno 07:49
23 "Space Station" Kinnder Electro/Techno 07:45
24 "Brain 21: Something For Your Mind (Kaylab Remix)" Michael Da Brain Electro/Techno 05:57
25 "Brain 35: Only an Illusion" Michael Da Brain Electro/Techno 08:04
26 "Never Could I Have Your Heart" Mistress Barbara vs. Barbara Brown Electro/Techno 06:38
27 "Mirage" Moogroove Electro/Techno 08:26
28 "Aurora" Nokternal Electro/Techno 06:38
29 "Live 135" Patient Zero Electro/Techno 04:35
30 "Escaping Sao Paulo" Projections House 06:09
31 "Timeshift" Subtech Electro/Techno 13:42
32 "Extra Dry" Thomas Bangalter Electro/Techno 04:57
33 "Outrun" Thomas Bangalter Electro/Techno 05:41
34 "Turbo" Thomas Bangalter Electro/Techno 04:03
35 "What Is It? (Feat. Masta Ace)" Tommy Tee Hip-Hop/Rap 04:19
36 "G's Up (Feat. Doo Wop)" Tony Touch Rap 03:15
37 "Let's Go" Tre Little Rap 04:23
38 "Put Your Top Down" Tre Little Rap 03:23

Characters

Each character will cruise around the city, waiting for a challenge. This excludes Moses, who helps the player begin the Career Mode, as well as the four champions who will seek you out after all predecessors are beaten. They will talk to the player or "think out loud" during pre-race cut-scenes, during which the player can discover their motives, learn the statistics of their vehicle, and preview each character's theme song.

Character List:

Los Angeles:

Moses, Steven, Maria, Angel, Diego (not mentioned), Gina, Mouro (not mentioned), Hector, Dice ( Los Angeles Illegal Street Racing Champion)

Paris:

Blog, Jewel and Julie (twins), Primo, Stephane, Ian, Farid, Owen (not mentioned), Parfait (Paris Illegal Street Racing Champion)

Tokyo:

Ichiro (not mentioned), Shing, Ricky, Haley, Nikko, Zen, Kenichi, Makoto (Tokyo Illegal Street Racing Champion), and Savo (World Illegal Street Racing Champion)

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings 87.45% (Xbox)[5]

85.85% (PS2)[6]

84.88% (PC)[7]
Metacritic 86/100 (Xbox)[8]

85/100 (PS2)[9]

81/100 (PC)[10]
Review scores
Publication Score
1UP.com B+ (PS2)
B- (PC)
AllGame 3.5/5 stars[11]
Eurogamer 9/10 (PS2)
8/10 (Xbox)
GamePro 4.5/5 stars[13]
GameSpot 7.9/10 (Xbox)

7.3/10 (PS2)

7.2/10 (PC)
IGN 9.1/10 (PS2)[12]

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".[12] 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 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".[13] 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".[11]

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

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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