It is surprisingly GOOD!
The graphics are decent
The cars are nicely rendered with somewhat accurate dashboards.
The trafiic and pedestrian AI is above average - certainly better than
Carmageddon
The geography is very accurate - I'm in Chicago almost once a month
and this game is very accurate for major roads and buildings.
Back in 1989 Spectrum Holobyte had a little EGA game called VETTE
where you raced around the streets of San Francisco going from
checkpoint to checkpoint. The cool part was that you got to plan your
OWN route through the maze of downtown streets.
MTM is very similar to this except the checkpoints are much close
together so there isn't as much freedom to plan your own route. It is
fun to see ALL the checkpoints on the map but not know which one is
going to light up next until you pass through the current checkpoint.
Also - the checkered flag is randomly placed somewhere on the map
after the final checkpoint and it usually is far enough away that you
get to plan some strategy on the best route to get there.
There is a pretty good selection of cars but I've been sticking with
the VW Beetle for now since it dodges in and out of traffic pretty
well and can go down narrow alleys.
The damage model is good - the cars get dented, glass breaks, rims get
bent and wobble and tires come off. Wreck too many times and your car
is totalled and you are out of the race. Your car's handling with get
worse as your car becomes more damaged.
There are good time-of-day effects including headlights and night
driving and weaving through downtown traffic at 80mph just has to be
expereienced to be believed. All non-racing traffic is pretty good
about obeying traffic lights and using turn signals, etc. Pedestrians
will leap/dive out of your path which makes it very fun to drive down
the sidewalk.
The COP's AI isn't very agressive and when I finally did get caught
after about 6 red lights, 4 hit and runs and 3 pedestrian kills (note:
the object of this game is not to KILL people) they only gave me a
SPEEDING TICKET. Of course I had also totalled my car which is why
they caught me in the first place so I don't know if you can continue
the race if you get pulled over under other circumstances.
MTM was only $29 at EB (marked down from $34). Don't let the low
price fool you into thinking this is a sub-standard game. While it's
not as accurate as the *** sims and there isn't the carnage of
Carmageddon it IS WHAT IT IS.....
...a fun checkpoint sprint racing game in downtown Chicago with heavy
traffic and lots of pedestrians to AVOID. I am anxiously awaiting
future CITY updates - hopefully San Francisco will be next, followed
by New York and LA.