The game genuinely is addictive and a lot of fun to play. Midnight Club 2 features open-ended tracks through three cities. The cars respond well to control inputs and do not feel "mushy" as in other games, notably Need For Speed, Hot Pursuit 2. The races tend to be well balanced-challenging, but without being frustrating (even though some are a touch easy.) The open-ended tracks allow multiple options during one race: the only goal is to hit all the checkpoints and make it to the finish line. Any way that can be accomplished-driving on the streets, the wrong way down the expressway, making a jump off the top of a parking garage, or taking shortcuts through the plate glass of a store front-is encouraged. Over-the-top arcade controls-handbrakes, special moves, and a nitrous oxide boost that launches your car like a rocket-contribute to the overall fun atmosphere of the game.

Using a steering wheel with the game increases the gameplay further. For under fifty bucks you can get a USB wheel (force feeback for less than 100) and pedals. This game reacts very well with the wheel and the cars steer as they should.

One downside is that the speedometer seems to be miscalibrated to one's apparent speed. When the speedometer says 65 the scenery crawls by as if you're doing 25. Since you're rarely doing less than 100, it's not a problem, but it gives you an odd feeling none the less.

Graphics:

This is possibly the weakest area of the game. Since the racing takes place at night, the textures are primarily shades of grey. The cars look serviceable, but unremarkable. A nice aspect of the graphics is that there is very little, if any, pop-up. The scenery is always fluid and visible. You won't run into any traffic or buildings that come out of nowhere, as sometimes would happen in GTA3. All things being equal, I prefer this environment, where the graphics are a notch lower in quality, but very fluid and instantaneously rendered.

However, the smoothness doesn't carry over to the cutscenes, which play choppy. Thankfully, these can be skipped.

Sound:

Well done. The engine sounds blend nicely with the environment, and the ability to play your own MP3s within the game while driving is a big plus.

Value:

In a world where every new game is $50, this one comes in at $40, so it is reasonable. It is much more fun than a lot of the other driving games out there. If you are lucky enough to have a wheel, this will stay on your hard drive for quite a while.

Reviewer's Tilt:

The bad:

Some stability issues. The game occasionally crashes to the desktop (originally, every time I cranked the resolution up above 640x480, but a new Geforce driver from nVidia cleared that up). The control scheme set up to navigate the menus feels ported directly off of a console, making it counter-intuitive to navigate on the PC. The ability to change to a manual transmission is buried in the menus and can take some time to find. Remapping controls likewise is counter-intuitive. The sound, even when turned up to 10 plays at a low level. The installation crashed twice at the very end; savvy users can create their own menu items and/or desktop shortcuts; otherwise, this could be frustrating.

The good:

Just plain fun to play. The cities aren't that detailed, but I'm driving, not sightseeing. The textures don't seem to repeat (unlike in Midtown Madness, where every block seemed to be a copy of the previous). The races are varied enough to be fun without being repetitive. The controls, either the keyboard or the wheel, are crisp and respond as they should (unlike NFS:HP2). The cops, when present, offer a challenge but aren't ridiculously overwhelming (also unlike NFS:HP2).

A fun game. Not an instant classic (it won't make you sit up and say wow), and not the most polished gem on the shelves (choppy FMV; install, stability issues), but a heckuva lot of fun for forty bucks!

"This game kicks butt ( Don't listen to the other guys)"
This game is really cool it has great graphics and the buildings look really neat. The control is not that hard once u learn how to use a handbrake and the brake itself. These guys did not know how to use a brake so they gave it a bad rating. Maybe there just dumb. The cars are sweat and are completly maxed out to the fullest. I had no problem using the arrow keys on my keyboard again you have to master the art of BRAKING your car to complete the races. Aslo, you can adjust the resolution. Try looking at everything in the game. ( To the guy who said you can't adjust the resolution. )

"unrealistic fun"
This game is very similar to another game in the past called Road Rash. It is extremely fast and wild, and a lot of fun. The courses are very challenging, and it typically takes several attempts to beat a particular map. The only penalty for crashing is that you lose time. If you like extreme speed, this is a great game.

"PC version is really lacking..."
The game itself is a lot of fun - it is extremely fast and wild. It is certainly not realistic - you can crash over and over again at high speeds without getting damaged, but it is an arcarde game and not a simulation. The main complaints I have are with the graphics and the controls. I have a very good graphics card (GeForce 5900), but there are no video options for this game! I'm stuck at a low resolution, and it looks terrible by todays standards. Also, there is no way to adjust brightness or contrast, and in a game that takes place primarily in the dark it is often impossible for me to see where I'm going. I don't appreciate having to adjust the displays on my monitor just for this one game. For the controls, I have a force feedback steering wheel, but for some reason I can't configure the use of the gas or brake pedal! Overall, a very disappointing game.

"Here's an idea -- get a cheap gamepad!"
I thought these controls were awful too until I dug out my old Gravis Gamepad Pro and voila -- perfectly easy to control. This game is a blast. The enemy characters are annoying so you really want to beat them, and when you do, you feel a huge sense of accomplishment. As for the physics, it's an arcade game, so they feel perfect to me. You're doing 90-degree turns at 120 mph, so it better be a little forgiving. The music is pretty good too, though the same songs get old after a while. I thought from the commercial that the soundtrack would be mostly trance, but there's quite a bit of hip-hop. It fits, though. Great game!