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Midnight Club II
Developer(s)	Rockstar San Diego
Publisher(s)	Rockstar Games
Series	Midnight Club
Platform(s)	Xbox, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 USA April 8, 2003 PAL May 2, 2003 Xbox USA June 3, 2003 PAL July 20, 2003 Microsoft Windows USA June 30, 2003 PAL July 11, 2003 Steam: January 4, 2008
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T OFLC: G8+ ELSPA15+
Media	DVD, Steam download

Midnight Club II is the first sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing, published for the Xbox, Microsoft Windows, and PlayStation 2. Players race through cities inspired by Los Angeles, Paris, and Tokyo. The game also features an online multiplayer component.

Cities

Dry, hilly suburbs and congested interstates can be found throughout Los Angeles, and just like Midnight Club: Street Racing, the city contains many landmarks, as well as numerous shortcuts and jumps. Paris is the home to cobblestone alleyways, monumental roundabouts, and the Paris Catacombs. Also featured are a lot of jumps taking you across the river of Paris and into an alleyway. Tokyo is a city of neon-glittering avenues and tight alleyways, and contains an equal array of tourist sights and attractions.

Gameplay

Races consist of a series of checkpoints, represented by columns of light. In some races, the order in which the checkpoints must be cleared is prescribed. In this case, a transparent, glowing arrow points to the next checkpoint. In other races the checkpoints may be cleared in any order. In that case, the arrow points to the nearest checkpoint.

It is up to the player which route to take from one checkpoint to the next. There are no artificial barriers in the game's open world environment that force the player to stay on a specific course. Any area that is drivable or jumpable in the free-roaming cruise mode between races may be used to get to the next checkpoint.

Some areas can be driven upon that are not intended for such use outside of a computer game. Examples are escalators, roofs, railways and riverbeds and many ramps. However, many areas that would be drivable in reality, for example entrances and some stairs, are fenced off with invisible barriers. In some areas, the player can jump or drop down. Using this to the player's advantage can be necessary in order to win a race. If the car falls into deep water,the damage meter goes to its maximum stage and the car starts to overheat and the race is immediately lost.

The game features a damage model. The amount of damage inflicted upon a car is indicated by both an HUD indicator and visual damage to the car. The performance of a car does not degrade with damage. When the damage limit of a car is exceeded, the car explodes or stalls. After a delay of a few seconds, the player can continue with a new car.

Multiplayer

Although the game is a few years old now, many fans of the franchise still play it via multiplayer. CTF (Capture the Flag) was the most appreciated (and still is) form of racing within the game.

Cars

The vehicles in Midnight Club II all resemble real life vehicles eg. the Interna resembles the Honda S2000, the Knight resembles the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, the 1971 Bestia resembles a 1965 Pontiac GTO, the Jersey XS resembles a Dodge Viper, the Victory resembles the Aston Martin Vanquish, the "Monstruo" resembles a Mazda RX7 (without the flip up headlights), the "Alarde" resembles the Lotus Elise, and the "Torque JX" resembles a Nissan Skyline R34.

External links

• Midnight Club II official website
• Midnight Club II at MobyGames
• Midnight Club II at the Open Directory Project
• Midnight Club II community