Midtown Madness: The 1999 Chicago Street Racer That Built an Open City

Angel Studios built this 1999 Windows title, which Microsoft published around a recreation of Chicago. Players can race through the streets, win races and unlock new cars. It stood apart from many racers of its time, which kept players on closed circuits.

What is Midtown Madness?

Midtown Madness is a 1999 Windows racing game made by Angel Studios and published by Microsoft. Its open world recreates Chicago, and the goal is to win street races and gain new vehicles. It is also known as Midtown Madness: Chicago Edition, and two sequels followed in 2000 and 2003.

Instead of confining the player to a track, the game lets them roam the city and pick their own routes. Project director Clinton Keith argued that an open world makes the gameplay more varied and adds moments of discovery, such as finding a shortcut. Reviewer Gary Whitta described it as open-world racing, where checkpoints must be hit but not in a fixed order.

A 1999 Chicago sandbox that let players trash a city at speed and gave street racing a template to follow.

What modes does the game offer?

Midtown Madness has four single-player modes: Blitz, Circuit, Checkpoint and Cruise. Blitz asks the player to pass three checkpoints and reach the finish within a time limit. Circuit closes off most of the city and turns its streets into race tracks, pitting the player against other cars.

Checkpoint blends the two, with a race to a destination through traffic, police cars and pedestrians. Cruise is the exception to the mission structure: the player simply explores the city at their own pace. That makes Cruise the least structured option, so players choose between challenges and free exploration. Missions structure every mode apart from Cruise, and beating one opens the next.

Conditions can be changed in each mode. The weather can be sunny, rainy, cloudy or snowy, the time of day can be sunrise, afternoon, sunset or night, and the density of pedestrians, traffic and police vehicles can be adjusted. A replayed race can also change its duration and weather once won.

How does damage work?

Vehicles pick up damage from collisions, and a car that takes too much is disabled. In Blitz and Checkpoint, a disabled car ends the race early. In Circuit and Cruise, the player loses several seconds before the car is restored automatically.

The streets are full of things to hit, including trash bins, parking meters, mailboxes and traffic lights. Checkpoint traffic follows the lights, but the player is under no obligation to do so.

Sound was another strength. IGN noted some glitches among the otherwise distinctive engine and horn sounds, while GameSpot praised the variety of car noises, such as the reversing beeper on the bus.

Which cars and landmarks were included?

The player begins with five vehicles, and five more can be unlocked. The line-up includes a Volkswagen New Beetle, a Ford F-350 pickup, a bus and a heavy Freightliner truck. Unlocking a car usually requires a goal such as finishing in the top three of two races.

Recognisable sites include the elevated L trains, the Willis Tower, which was called the Sears Tower at the time, Wrigley Field and Soldier Field. Reviewers singled out the downtown area as the most detailed part of the recreation.

How was the game developed?

The idea reportedly came to two Microsoft employees while they tried to cross a crowded Paris street. They pitched it to Angel Studios, which had earlier tried to sell Microsoft a 3D vehicle simulator. Angel was cautious about the scale of the task, but it signed a contract on 3 July 1997.

Development of the prototype began in September 1997 and finished in January 1998. A preliminary design document followed on 6 February 1998, and the final version was completed on 2 March 1998. The Blues Brothers and other films with famous car chases helped make Chicago the obvious choice.

The team asked Chicago residents to playtest the recreation. PC Gamer later reported that the city was mostly accurate, though some landmarks had been moved to suit the gameplay. Between eight and 15 people worked on the game at any one time.

Angel and Microsoft included ordinary cars alongside the overpowered Italian sports cars common in racing games. Volkswagen authorised the New Beetle, and Ford provided the Mustang and the F-350 Super Duty. Only half the cars were available at the start, which was meant to build a sense of competition.

Microsoft asked the developers to stop players hitting pedestrians, so Angel built 3D pedestrians that could run and jump out of the way. An option removed them entirely, which helped performance when many were on screen. A request to add Taco Bell restaurants for a promotion came too late to be included.

The full game reached shops on 18 May 1999. A demo appeared on 5 August 1999 and offered a Mustang, a Panoz Roadster and a bus. Volkswagen released a second demo featuring its New Beetle. A vehicle creation kit arrived in March 2000, but a race designer that had been considered was never added.

How did critics respond?

Reviews were favourable, according to GameRankings. IGN said the game was about fun rather than driving authenticity, and it praised the accuracy of downtown Chicago. GameSpot said the game let players drive like a maniac in a way real life never allows.

AllGame said the game was a must-buy for driving enthusiasts and would also appeal to people who do not usually enjoy racing games. IGN also praised the simplicity of picking a real-world car and going.

Not every reviewer was happy. Total Video Games criticised the presentation and the AI, noting that some cars drove without noticing the player at all. Next Generation said the game was not innovative but would keep players hooked for a while.

Next Generation found the graphics impressive, with random moments such as cars hurtling past the player and pedestrians cringing when the player mounted the pavement. GameSpot liked the mix of third-person, first-person dashboard and widescreen views, although it complained of choppy frame rates.

The game sold 100,805 copies in the US by April 2000. PC Gamer nominated it for its 1999 Best Racing Game award, which went to Re-Volt, and it also lost two other awards to Need for Speed: High Stakes.

What was its legacy?

Midtown Madness spawned a three-title series, and Microsoft had planned related Madness titles such as Motocross Madness and Monster Truck Madness. Midtown Madness 2, developed by Angel Studios, arrived in September 2000. Digital Illusions CE handled Midtown Madness 3 for the Xbox, which arrived in June 2003. The detailed open-world environment, its visual presentation and its artificial intelligence were the most praised parts of the series.

Midnight Club: Street Racing, a PlayStation 2 release from 2000, came from Angel Studios and Rockstar Games. That game also used open-world recreations of cities, and its success started the Midnight Club series of street racers.