Midnight Club: Street Racing
The game's cover art featuring a Mazda MX-6, a Toyota Supra and an NYPD Chevrolet Caprice.
Developer(s)Angel Studios (PS2)
Rebellion Developments (GBA)
Publisher(s)Rockstar Games (PS2)
Destination Software (GBA)
Director(s)Michael Limber
Producer(s)Glen Hernandez
Designer(s)Darren Chisum
Fredic Markus
Programmer(s)Dave Etherton
Santiago Becerra
Artist(s)Jennifer Terry
Scott Stoabs
SeriesMidnight Club
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance
ReleasePlayStation 2
  • NA: October 26, 2000
  • EU: November 24, 2000
  • AU: November 30, 2000
Game Boy Advance
  • NA: November 14, 2001
  • PAL: February 8, 2002
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Midnight Club: Street Racing is a 2000 racing video game developed by Angel Studios and published by Rockstar Games. The game focuses on competitive street racing and the import scene. The game was released for the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance platforms, the former being a launch title for the platform. It is the first game in Midnight Club franchise, followed by Midnight Club II.

The PlayStation 2 version received "generally favorable reviews", while the Game Boy Advance version received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Estimated sales of the game were 1.5 million units, with series sales reaching 2.5 million.

Gameplay

Midnight Club features racing in two fictional representations of real-world locales, New York City and London.

Midnight Club: Street Racing is a racing video game that focuses on the import scene and illegal street racing. Players can explore the open world or race in organized street races. A career mode has the player working their way up in the street racing world, defeating named opponents in various races, ultimately resulting in pink slip races to win the opponent's car. The game features 17 cars for the player to win throughout the career mode, ranging from taxi cabs, buses and other city vehicles to fictional representations of vehicles resembling famous Toyota, Nissan and Honda tuner vehicles.[1]

Arcade mode allows players to compete in various game mode challenges, and to play in two player split-screen multiplayer. This features four modes: Capture the Flag, Cruise, Head to Head, and Waypoint. Players can again compete for pink slips from various racers. Each named racer has three variants of the same car, and the player earns these with successive wins. Each new version of the car is an improved version of the previous car. Environments have many destructible objects such as trees, bushes, lampposts and trash cans. Each locale features police cars that will attempt to arrest the player based on their illegal actions.[1]

Along with Turbo Esprit and Midtown Madness, the game pioneered the use of an open world environment design instead of predefined circuit tracks. Two locales are available to players, New York City and London. Each city contains landmarks from their respective real life counterparts. Some of London's visible landmarks include Trafalgar Square, the Palace of Westminster and its Big Ben, and the Tower Bridge. New York includes such landmarks as Times Square, the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center,[2] Rockefeller Center, United Nations Plaza, Plaza Hotel, Madison Square Garden, Washington Square Park, the Wall Street Bull, Battery Park and Central Park.[1]

Plot

A mysterious group of urban street racers known as the Midnight Club race for pride, power, and glory in sleekly customized, enhanced sports cars. As a regular New York City cab driver, the player learns about this secret club and decides to join.

The player begins with a relatively unmodified and slow vehicle, that being the Taxi. Through a series of races, each with different goals, they defeat other racers and win faster and more expensive vehicles. The goal is to defeat the world champion, who is revealed to be a young Japanese woman named Anika whose father manufactures concept cars in Japan. Being the only person to beat her in a race, the player is the only one who sees her identity and become the World Champion of the Midnight Club, along with winning her concept car. Anika returns to Japan afterwards.

Development and release

Midnight Club was unveiled in January 2000 in a press release.[3] The PlayStation 2 version was developed by Angel Studios and published by Rockstar Games. The Game Boy Advance version was developed by Rebellion Developments and published by Destination Software. They were released on October 26, 2000 and November 14, 2001, respectively.[4] As part of promoting the game Rockstar Games received permission from the City of New York to shut down Times Square in order to photograph promotional material and box art for Midnight Club.[5]

The game's soundtrack features house and techno artists Derrick May and Surgeon and drum 'n' bass band Dom & Roland. Terry Donovan, COO of Rockstar Games said that "their passion for creating superior music versus conforming to the industry standard is what makes them and their music truly unique" and further stated that the music represents the "dark" motivation of the members of the Midnight Club.[6] Gameplay is locked to 30 frames per second.[7]

Reception

The PlayStation 2 version received "generally favorable reviews", while the Game Boy Advance version received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[8][9] In December 2000 it ranked fifth in total PlayStation 2 game sales.[24] In February 2001 the game placed ninth in overall sales.[25] By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version sold 1.5 million units and earned $43 million in the U.S. NextGen ranked it as the 32nd highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of Midnight Club console releases reached 2.5 million units in the U.S. by the latter date.[26] The PS2 version was a runner-up for GameSpot's annual "Best Driving Game" and "Best Game No One Played" awards, which went to Test Drive Le Mans and Samba de Amigo.[27][28] The game won the award for "Racing Game of 2000" in both Editors' Choice and Readers' Choice at IGN's Best of 2000 Awards for PS2.[29]

Douglass C. Perry of IGN was positive to the PS2 version of the game, citing the car selection, level design of the cities, graphics and "fun" gameplay in single and multiplayer.[1] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot called it a "fun" arcade-style racer.[18] Shawn Sanders of GameRevolution however was less positive to the game and cited the graphics as "bland".[17] Kevin Rice of NextGen called it "addictive" arcade racer with "excellent" graphics and a "rock-solid" framerate.[20]

For the GBA version, Nintendo Power called it a "decent" if not "repetitive" drive.[21] Skyler Miller of Allgame felt that Midnight Club's GBA version was "a slow, confusing" version of Grand Theft Auto, but without the crime and the fun.[10] IGN's Craig Harris noted that the top-down perspective, while efficient use of the GameBoy Advance's limited resources, made gameplay difficult, but due to this perspective he noted that players will never know where the track is going.[19] He felt this design choice forced trial-and-error gameplay and was very frustrating for players. Harris gave poor marks for the very basic AI drivers. Lastly, he criticized the password save system, with particular emphasis on the fact that if a player does not write down the password while on screen there is no way to recover that password, effectively causing players to lose progress.[19]

Notes

  1. ↑ Three critics of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the PlayStation 2 version each a score of 9/10, 8.5/10, and 7/10.
  2. ↑ In GameFan's viewpoint of the PlayStation 2 version, three critics gave it each a score of 74, 55, and 47.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Perry, Douglass C. (October 24, 2000). "Midnight Club: Street Racing (PS2)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on August 26, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  2. ↑ This game came out almost a year before the September 11 attacks.
  3. ↑ IGN Staff (January 27, 2000). "Rockstar Reveals Two New PS2 Games". IGN. Archived from the original on October 6, 2018. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  4. ↑ I. G. N. Staff (October 28, 2000). "The PS2 Launch Titles". IGN. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  5. ↑ IGN Staff (October 18, 2000). "Rockstar Shuts Down New York". IGN. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  6. ↑ Ahmed, Shahed (October 11, 2000). "Midnight Club Soundtrack Set". GameSpot. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  7. ↑ IGN Staff (September 27, 2000). "Midnight Club: Street Racing". IGN. Archived from the original on August 24, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  8. 1 2 "Midnight Club: Street Racing for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  9. 1 2 "Midnight Club: Street Racing for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on March 8, 2016. Retrieved March 6, 2012.
  10. 1 2 Miller, Skyler. "Midnight Club: Street Racing (GBA) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on November 17, 2014. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  11. ↑ Hicks, Cliff (December 18, 2000). "Midnight Club: Street Racing - PlayStation 2 Review". Gamecenter. CNET. Archived from the original on January 24, 2001. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  12. ↑ Edge staff (December 2000). "Midnight Club [Street Racing]" (PDF). Edge. No. 91. Future Publishing. p. 106. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  13. ↑ Sewart, Greg; Dudlak, Jonathan; Funk, Joe (December 2000). "Midnight Club [Street Racing] (PS2)" (PDF). Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 137. Ziff Davis. p. 231. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  14. ↑ Reiner, Andrew (December 2000). "Midnight Club Street Racing (PS2)". Game Informer. No. 92. FuncoLand. p. 89. Archived from the original on February 23, 2005. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  15. ↑ Van Stone, Matt "Kodomo"; Weitzner, Jason "Fury"; Ngo, George "Eggo" (December 2000). "Midnight Club [Street Racing] (PS2)". GameFan. Vol. 8, no. 12. BPA International. p. 24. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  16. ↑ The Freshman (October 21, 2000). "Midnight Club: Street Racing Review for PS2 on GamePro.com". GamePro. IDG Entertainment. Archived from the original on March 9, 2005. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  17. 1 2 Sanders, Shawn (November 2000). "Midnight Club [Street Racing] Review (PS2)". GameRevolution. CraveOnline. Archived from the original on September 24, 2015. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  18. 1 2 Gerstmann, Jeff (October 17, 2000). "Midnight Club: Street Racing Review (PS2)". GameSpot. Red Ventures. Archived from the original on December 10, 2000. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  19. 1 2 3 Harris, Craig (November 20, 2001). "Midnight Club: Street Racing (GBA)". IGN. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on May 17, 2013. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  20. 1 2 Rice, Kevin (January 2001). "Midnight Club Street Racing (PS2)". NextGen. No. 73. Imagine Media. p. 83. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  21. 1 2 "Midnight Club: Street Racing". Nintendo Power. Vol. 154. Nintendo of America. March 2002. p. 137.
  22. ↑ "Midnight Club: Street Racing". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 39. Ziff Davis. December 2000.
  23. ↑ Kent, Steve (October 27, 2000). "Game stars light up PlayStation 2 rollout: Of the 26 launch titles, chosen few impress with style, graphics, humor". USA Today. Gannett Company. Archived from the original on June 12, 2007. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  24. ↑ IGN Staff (December 22, 2000). "Take-Two Sees Strong PS2 Sales". IGN. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  25. ↑ IGN Staff (February 28, 2001). "Take-Two Bodes Well With Gamers". IGN. Archived from the original on December 20, 2022. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
  26. ↑ Campbell, Colin; Keiser, Joe (July 29, 2006). "The Top 100 Games of the 21st Century". NextGen. Future US. Archived from the original on October 28, 2007.
  27. ↑ GameSpot staff (January 5, 2001). "Best and Worst of 2000 (Best Driving Game Runners-Up)". GameSpot. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 7, 2001. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  28. ↑ GameSpot staff (January 5, 2001). "Best and Worst of 2000 (Best Game No One Played Runners-Up)". GameSpot. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on February 11, 2001. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
  29. ↑ IGN staff (January 29, 2001). "Best of 2000 Awards (PS2: Racing Game of 2000)". IGN. Snowball.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2001. Retrieved June 7, 2022.
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