by Vinson Chen

Created on: July 23, 2010

Midnight Club: Street Racing is a racing game for the Game Boy Advance. It was developed by Rebellion Developments in 2001, but the game itself was originally made for the PlayStation 2 in 2000. Midnight Club: Street Racing was also rated E for everybody on the Game Boy Advance which is not surprising at all. The game lacks a legitimate story plot that the PlayStation 2 version of the game very readily held. It seems assumable that the plot would carry over from game to game. 

To begin with the story telling of the plot of the game, Midnight Club must be defined. This club is a group of mysterious street racers with fancy sports cars for racing. The main character begins as a taxi cab driver and must use his very slow taxi to defeat other racers in order to win faster cars for future racing. The goal of the Midnight Club is to defeat the world champion racer. The main character does not discover who this mysterious world champion is until after defeating her. And furthermore must defeat her in order to become the world champion racer of the Midnight Club himself. 

All of this may sound very intriguing and exciting, but once the racing comes down the gamer will probably change his mind immediately. Midnight Club: Street Racing features a bird's eye view of the racers which makes the cars very hard to control. The gamer must maneuver in the perspective of the car and not of the gaming screen. Oftentimes turning right on the directional pad makes the car turn left because the car is heading downwards and not moving forwards. It provides a strange feel for the game and not a very good one.

A good thing about the game is that it features an incredible variety of cars and maps. There are around thirty or so unique cars for the gamer to unlock as he progresses through his racing missions. The maps are featured in both hot spots in New York and London. Racers and visit Time Square for a quick race or even travel to Madison Square Garden for a competitive run. 

However, when all is done, Midnight Club: Street Racing is a rather disappointing game. Its bird's eye view of the game makes the gamer lose focus on the racing. The game should have stuck to a third person view like most other racers. This is a game to be tossed aside to make way for Mario Kart.

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