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Midnight Club 2


Buck

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Being reported here.

 

Anyone else picking this up tomorrow?

 

Oh shit. Already got it for PS2...but if this is true, I can almost hear the $20 bills begging to get out of my wallet.

 

Although, it's only going to make a big difference if the textures are bigger...'cause the textures in the PS2 version are blown up all to hell.

 

EDIT: Scratch that, it will help with the aliasing in any case...which can be downright distracting on the PS2 version.

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So is the 720p thing confirmed?

 

I picked it up at lunch, but have not been home yet to play. One thing, it does not say 720p on the case. However, World Series Baseball 2K3 does not say it either. I will check first thing when I get home and report back.

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No 720p support and no custom soundtracks :evil:

 

I could let the 720p slide if Microsoft didn't have it on their site, but the soundtracks :roll:

 

Buck,

 

I'll be grabbin' this bizatch on my way home from work, as well. We might need to take a break from MotoGP2 to try it Live...

 

Just let me know what time, I'm hoping I don't get called into work tonight so I can join everyone for some racing.

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I got it too. I hope I get out of work on time, which is looking iffy right now. But if so, I'll be on with MGP2 for a while, and then MCII.

 

Do realize that, if it's like the PS2 version, you can only play this online with cars that you have unlocked in career mode. Which means anyone who's further into career mode than you will have a better car, since in almost every case the latest car is better than the previous one.

 

I could let the 720p slide if Microsoft didn't have it on their site, but the soundtracks

 

I'd be willing to bet that whoever does these web pages simply copies another one, renames it and plunks in new information/images...they probably forgot to change that info from the 'original' page. In any event it's very sloppy work.

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The Xbox version of MCII looks better than the PS2 version. It's been a while since I played the PS2 one, but if memory serves, the textures on the Xbox are smoother, and the aliasing is reduced. I also sense that the gamma is a bit brigther, as I remember the PS2 version being darkrt, but I'm not sure about that.

 

The controls are on the twitchy side, quite sensitive, but accurate.

 

Based on an hour and a half of play, this game seems a touch better on the Xbox than PS2. I haven't gone online with it yet.

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*repost of my initial impressions from HTF*

 

I have the game for a few days, so if anyone wants to do a little online racing later, send me an invite.

 

Played for about 4 hours tonight, and I REALLY like it. The racing is just a ton of fun at high speeds through the crowded cities. The addition of different tricks, cars and stuff to unlock keeps you going (seeing as you can use them online).

 

The game isn't perfect of course, as I have a few issues with the rather cheesy "storyline" and presentation, the constant taunting of your main rival (who rarely seems to be the best racer in the race, despite what he/she says), the pitiful excuse for a manual, and the missing custom soundtrack feature. But the actual racing is just too fun to dwell on things like that, and it does so many other things right as well.

 

The online options seem to be somewhat plentiful, with simple Cruise mode (pointless IMO), checkpoint racing (of various types), CTF, Demolition (or whatever it's called, it's kind of a tag type mode) and the ability to create your own custom races, which I think is what could really help the longevity of the online game. I played a game tonight one a "map" that the host had created which was very well done and every bit as fun to play as the included ones.

 

The Live interface is very well done, and ranks 2nd only behind MotoGP 2 of the ones I've used. The menus in the game, on the whole, are a tad confusing though, and the theme is carried over to it's Live interface. Once you get used to it though, it's fine.

 

You have the ability to log in and stay logged in even while you're playing single player, which I assume would let you recieve invites while playing.

 

Both Quick Match and Optimatch have a full set of filtering options which allows you to view games that are using certain game types, cities, restricted cars, enforce no voice masks (yes, this is an option to you hosts), game times, etc. Quick Match will of course then find the best room based on those options, while Optimatch will show you a complete list of games currently starting.

 

The optimatch list will then show you what your connection quality is to each game, If no voice mask is enforced, who's hosting, the game type, how many players, and maybe what cars are allowed (can't remember off the top of my head right now).

 

The lobbies feature your basic list of players, with a speaker icon similar to Mechassaults so that you know who's talking. Hosts, I believe, have the option to kick and ban players (I got kicked out of the first room I tried to join).

 

To round out the interface for Live, the Friends list has what you'd expect, but a nice little feature not quite present is any Live title I've seen, shows whether your online friends are joinable or not (in contrast, MotoGP 2 and Wolfenstein would, for the most part, only report when a game is joinable). There are also scoreboards which I have not really taken a look at.

 

Once in the game, things get a tad rougher, but it's still more than serviceable. While each car in the race has the player's name above it, there is no way of knowing who is speaking, nor can you tell who's behind or ahead of you unless you can see their can (and thus the name). It can get a tad confusing when 8 people are trying to trash talk each other and you're not sure who it is that's talking, or who they're saying it to.

 

When the race is over, the leaderboard for that race will be shown, and you then have the option of bringing up the options list while you wait. If someone crosses the line while you're in the options however, it will kick you out of the options and back to the leaderboard, which gets more than a little annoying.

 

At that point the host has the option of restarting the race or changing options for the next race without needing to go back to the lobbies. While the game does inform you if the host changed the game, or just restarted it, there's no way of knowing what was changed until the game actually starts up. In addition, it appears as if you can't change your car (at least not that I could see). On the other hand, if you decide to go back out to the lobbies to restart, you'll all have to meet up again, Mechassault style (or at least how it used to be).

 

The general performance of the game online though appears to be solid. Similar to MotoGP, you shouldn't notice any lag on your screen or in the way your game plays. Lag comes mainly in the form of the other player's cars jumping around the screen a bit if the connection is poor. The little time that I played, I didn't notice the phenomenon much at all.

 

Of the two Live racing games being released in the next month, I had been leaning more towards getting Midtown Madness as I really liked the first game. Having played MC2 now, and reading a few things about MM3 that concern me, I'm right back at being completely undecided.

 

I just wish I could afford both.

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On a side note, I was glad to see that 480P and Widscreen 16x9 were listed seperatly on the back of the box for MC2. I hope that is standard for XBox games now.

 

I wouldn't hold my breath just yet :wink:

 

I just got MCII so im gonna be ona bit tonight to try it out

 

If I don't wind up going out tonight I'll be on for a little bit.

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