Midtown Madness is finally here | | Well we have been playing the beta of this the mother of all road games for some months now. We knew the game was good, but we now have got our hands on the real thing and it sure brings a smile to our faces. The graphics are state of the art, the physical
modelling of the cars and the world they drive around in is extremely accurate. We have never been to Chicago but after a few hours play we all feel as we have been driving there for years, one of our testers after a few minutes of play proclaimed to the rest of the team "the airport is over to the left" and promptly drove over to it. We were very impressed, and asked him how he knew about the airport. He just pointed over to the Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 box. Of cause the penny dropped he is the number one fan of flight simulations here and Flight Simulator 98 models Chicago and its surrounding area to a high detail. He then proceeded to drive round Chicago and point out the landmarks to the rest of us. We cannot say if a manual comes in the box as we have been sent the " Gold Version ". We would expect the retail version boxed and all to be available to review in a few weeks, as soon as we can we will let you know what comes in the box. Please note the game we have reviewed here is the official final "gold" code. |
Minimum system requirement | | Should be read as just that, the minimum the game will run on. A Celeron 333 is needed to bring the game to life and needless to say a PIII/500 just blows your mind. After giving the game a try on a number of PCs we would personally recommend the following: | | | Recommendation 1: Intel Celeron 333 or above combined with 64MB ram and a 8MB AGP video card. However even with this
set-up compromises will have still to be made with graphical setting within the game options, even so Midtown Madness plays extremely well on this
set-up. |
Recommendation 2 | | Intel PIII/500 or above combined with 128MB ram and a 16MB AGP video card. This is a no compromise setup, just get on with playing the game. | | | Force Feed Back Steering Wheel, the game supports this device at least that's what it says in the control options. Unfortunately Microsoft where unable to supply one for us to test, even so we feel that this game would benefit from this device. We have requested one and as soon as it arrives this section of the review will be updated. |
Sound | | As always games benefit from care and attention being lavished on this aspect of the game. The time and effort spent by the programmers on Midtown Madness sound was time well spent. Have a good sound card linked to a competent speaker set up and your ears will be as happy as your eyes are with the graphics. We have requested the Microsoft Digital Sound System 80 as we are sure this will only increase the overall gaming experience. |
| | The following are extracts from the Microsoft own Midtown Madness Web Site. | | | With comments added by us in italics. |
Adrenaline-Pumping Game play | | Midtown Madness is the first vehicular racing game to render a "virtual Chicago," including over a 100km of roads, city landmarks, pedestrians, changing weather conditions, a 'live' police system, dozens of shortcuts and hundreds of interactive objects (from working bridges to parking meters). Five types of racing scenarios, including Explore/roam, Waypoint, Blitz, Circuit and Online Cops & Robbers provide hours of game play. "Now if only Microsoft would release add on packs for other cities from around the world, say Monte Carlo then one could drive the same route as the formula one guys. Given time and scope perhaps the area covered could be increased, thus one could drive from one side of the U.S.A. to the other side." | Wide Assortment of Cars | | Race in a cool collection of 9+ licensed vehicles - from exotic race cars to semi-trucks - each with incredibly accurate physics, damage modeling and unique strengths for navigating city streets. We would have liked to have seen more vehicles and the option to customize them, wider tires, different transmission ratios and so on. |
Wide Open Racing | | Midtown Madness features exciting racing scenarios with no fixed tracks to restrict you. Create your own best course with virtually unlimited shortcuts and routes through the city. Ok but I hope an add on pack is in making, or dare I say a city editor!. |
Multiplayer Capability | | Challenge up to 8 opponents online via the MSN Gaming Zone (msn.zone.com) or race on your own against an intelligent AI in single play. The computer driven opponents and their associated artificial intelligence is well up to the job. But you can never beat playing head to head with other humans, they may not be able to drive the cars and trucks as well as the computer, but they sure do things unexpectedly and add a whole new dimension to the game. |
System Requirements | | Multimedia PC with Pentium 200 or a Pentium 166 with 3D accelerator | | | Microsoft Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows 2000 operating system | | | 16MB of RAM for Windows 95 or Windows 98, 32MB recommended; 32MB of RAM for Windows 2000 | | | 300 MB of available hard-disk space | | | Double speed CD-ROM drive, quad-speed recommended | | | Super VGA 16-bit color monitor | | | Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device; joystick or steering wheel recommended | | | MS DirectSound 6.0 API compatible sound card with speakers or headphones for audio |
Requirements for multiplayer play | | 28.8Kbps or faster modem, local area network with TCP/IP or IPX protocol or a null modem cable required for connection to other systems | | | To play on the MSN Gaming Zone, you need to have one of the following web browsers: Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.02 or later or Netscape Communicator 4.0 or later |
Acknowledgments | | Portions of the text are courtesy of Microsoft. | | | © Blenheim House Network . Com 1999. England |
| | The Computer Guys Award 91% |
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