You can play with eight people over a LAN or the Internet and, while we did run into a few lag issues where what we saw on one screen didn’t necessarily happen on someone else’s screen, the game is extremely fun nonetheless. The multiplayer aspects of this game are absolutely superb and Midtown Madness has been the cause of several sleep-deprived nights for the IGN staff because we’ve been too busy playing to go home and bed down for the night. Angel Studios has also included variable weather and time options so you can race at night in the snow if you wish, and snow will actually accumulate over time so your driving dynamics will change as more snow builds up on the roadways. And those of you worried about violence in video games will be glad to hear that the pedestrians always dive out of the way of oncoming cars, so no blood is spilled in Midtown Madness. Other cars will stop at red lights, use their blinkers when taking a turn and even put on their hazards when they get in a wreck. The city of Chicago is populated with pedestrians as well as other cars who are going about their daily business as you speed around them. There are unmarked alleyways, tunnels and even a few storefronts that you can bust through.

And there are plenty of shortcuts to find in Midtown Madness.

Except for the circuit races which make you stay on a charted course, you have free range in the city streets, so it’s not always about who has the fastest car, but who can find the quickest route to the finish line while still passing under all of the checkpoints. You can take a leisurely cruise through the city, checking out the sites, or you can compete in either a checkpoint, circuit or blitz race throughout the streets of Chicago. There are four different ways to drive in single play. The Mustang and Panzoz types are fast but fragile, the bus and trailer truck are slow but can bust through traffic jams with ease, and the Beetle and Eldorado fall somewhere in between. Each of the vehicles drives as you would imagine they would. Depending on your performance during the race, you can unlock even more road-ready vehicles, like a Panoz GTR-1 racer, a classic ’68 Mustang, a Mustang Police Cruiser and even a behemoth Freightliner Century Class C120 trailer truck. In the early races you can pick from a brand-spankin’ new Volkswagen Beetle, a stylish Cadillac Eldorado, a city bus, a super-fast Panoz Roadster, a powerful Mustang GT or a meaty Ford F-350 (which I hear is built Ford tough). Instead you just pick a real-world car and go. There are no gear ratios to mess with, no tires to pick from, no shocks to adjust. While the landscape is realistically modeled, Midtown Madness doesn’t rely heavily on driving authenticity this game’s all about fun. Admittedly, some portions of the city do look very generic, but overall the downtown portion of Chicago is portrayed very accurately and the designers did a great job of mixing authenticity with smooth gameplay. Those of you familiar with Chicago will have no problem making your way from Wrigley Field to Soldier Field, and you may even want to make a stop at Navy Pier on your way.

and I-90 forming the borders of the playing field, and there are lots of famous landmarks on the map. Angel Studios has done a great job of portraying a decent portion of the downtown area, with Lakeshore Dr. Midtown Madness takes place in the windy city, Chicago.

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