Midtown Madness 2

Midtown Madness 2 is an arcade racing title from Angel Studios that in 2000 followed up on the first installment and brought open-world city racing to London and San Francisco. Players could drive through streets, parks, tram tracks, and even inside subway stations in any order they liked, knocking over traffic cones, scattering pedestrians, and ramming into oncoming cars, without the game punishing reckless driving in any way beyond bodywork damage. Compared to the first installment, a motorcycle vehicle category was added along with the ability to freely switch between cars, which heightened the sense of freedom in an open world that was still a fairly unusual concept at the time. Alongside time-based races, the game also offered free-roaming drives through the city with no set goal.

Technically, the game benefited from colorful, clear graphics and a smooth sense of speed, though the models of both cities were, understandably, heavily simplified and served mainly as a backdrop for spectacular chases. The sound design was rounded out by roaring engines, screeching tires, and opponent voice lines, which made the game feel lively even in one-off practice sessions outside of career mode. The behavior of other traffic and pedestrians, who tried to dodge out of the way of the speeding car, contributed to the chaotic but entertaining feel of driving through the city. Network or internet multiplayer was one of the features valued at the time and contributed to the impression that this was entertainment meant more for competing with friends than for a perfect driving simulation.

At the time, the game was seen as a successful sequel that expanded the successful formula of the first installment with new settings and vehicles without fundamentally changing its character. In the arcade city-racing genre it left its mark as one of the titles that foreshadowed later open-world racing games, even though it itself remained more lighthearted fun than a technological milestone. Many players still remember the series today as a pioneer of open-world city racing. Today, Midtown Madness 2 feels like a pleasant retro reminder of a time when an open city, a handful of cars, and no rules were all it took for a game to entertain for hours on end.

Why play: As a pleasant retro reminder of a time when an open city, a handful of cars, and no rules were enough for fun, Midtown Madness 2 still entertains today, even though it was more lighthearted fun than a technological milestone.