There might have been many terrible racing games released for consoles over the past 20+ years, but there have been just as many incredible ones—whether it’s the Gran Turismo series or the Forza Horizon games—but few have been as competitive as Midnight Club and Need For Speed. Midnight Club might not be in contention for best Rockstar game, but it had a major influence on racing games that came after, just as Need For Speed did.
But, neither of those series have hidden the fact that they are so influenced by each other, whether it’s Need For Speed having been influenced by Midnight Club’s open-worlds or Midnight Club taking cues from Need For Speed’s in-depth customization skills. Though Need For Speed might lack Midnight Club’s quality consistency as EA had at one point turned the series into an annual event, the series still arguably has the better games than Rockstar’s only racing franchise.
10 Midnight Club Street Racing (2000) - 78
Midnight Club Street Racing, brought arcade racing to the Sony PlayStation, as it first merged exploration and racing by featuring not just one open world, but two. London and New York City were rendered fairly well, particularly for the time.
However, as the races were based on getting from checkpoint to checkpoint in the quickest way possible, it was more fun than driving along a singular track. On top of that, computer opponents had never had more personality in a racing game, as racers would taunt players throughout the races, and every single boss was so overly obnoxious, albeit equally hilarious in their banter.
9 Midnight Club: Los Angeles (2008) - 82
Midnight Club: Los Angeles marks the biggest departure the series has ever seen, as, instead of having several different open worlds based on major cities from around the world, Los Angeles is based in one city only. Coincidentally, this wouldn't even be the first time Rockstar Games would use the west coast urban setting, having used it before in their Grand Theft Auto series.
Los Angeles was also the first game in the series to feature a narrative, and it was fairly grounded in its gameplay compared to the arcade-style of its predecessors. In fact, Midnight Club: Los Angeles is a completely different game, and it probably shouldn’t have the MC title. However, critics still loved its sleek sheen, but generally admitted it didn’t hit as hard as the previous games.
8 Need For Speed Underground 2 (2004) - 82
Coming just one year after the groundbreaking Underground, Underground 2 made the game even bigger by creating its own fictional open-world city, Bayview, which was based on Beverly Hills, New Jersey, and Las Vegas, among others. This aspect of the game was a big improvement on the first Underground, which had extremely limited and tight street courses.
The game also had some exciting new game modes, but Underground 2 ultimately didn’t fare quite as well as its predecessor due to a lack of innovation in terms of control and presentation.
7 Need For Speed Most Wanted (2005) - 83
By this point in the series’ timeline, open-world Need For Speed games had fully become annual events, as they were hugely successful and the quality was still consistent. But, Most Wanted made a ton of exciting advancements that borrowed from the older games of the series and introduced modes that had never been seen before.
Most Wanted was set in daylight, there was a fully fleshed out story, and the series brought back police chases. When players were chased by the cops, they’d have to hide in dark areas to escape, and it fit in the Need For Speed world perfectly. But, above all else, the vehicle handling was finally fine-tuned, which is what critics and fans had been wanting for years.
6 Midnight Club III: DUB Edition (2005) - 84
The was a big leap in authenticity between Midnight Club II and Midnight Club III: DUB Edition. All of the vehicle models in the second game were based on real cars, but, as Rockstar didn’t have the rights to name them after the real brands, they all had fake names.
However, in DUB Edition, all the cars were now official vehicles. On top of that, it was also the first time the series allowed players to customize their vehicles, and, though it was clearly taking cues from its competitor Need For Speed, the customization in DUB Edition was far more in-depth.
5 Need For Speed Underground (2003) - 85
With the release of Need For Speed Underground, it was the first time EA would use the series to take advantage of the huge street racing trend that was caused by The Fast and the Furious. The publisher dropped the supercars that the series had focused on for so many games and switched it up to Japanese imports.
Underground put a huge emphasis on vehicle customization, which became a staple of seemingly every single racing game that was released in Underground’s wake. The game was massively stylish, and, though it wasn’t open world, a lot of effort was put into how glossy the circuits looked. Interestingly enough, Underground went on to inspire the Fast & Furious games.
4 Need For Speed: High Stakes (1999) - 86
Being such an early game in the series, High Stakes was basically the blueprint for what would eventually become the Underground series. High Stakes is one of the best racing games on the original PlayStation, as it has certain light RPG elements where players decide whether to use their credits to purchase a new car or customize their current car. There are even pink slip races, which was a gaming element that the street racing game Juiced based its whole concept on.
3 Midnight Club II (2003) - 86
With Midnight Club 2, the series continued to feature international cities, as the game takes place in not only Los Angeles, but also Paris and Tokyo. The series went full throttle with the arcade racing, as players could even drive up the Louvre pyramid and jump over the building, and there are so many other hidden fun details about the three cities, as there’s a heavy emphasis on finding shortcuts in races.
The game also introduced 3D animated characters, as the bosses were nothing more than text boxes in the first game. There was so much depth to the cities, loads more vehicles to choose from, and the game even introduced motorbikes. But, best of all, though it’s quite the gaming feat, if players complete the game 100%, then they’ll unlock the SLF450F, which was basically an unlicensed version of the Batmobile.
2 Midnight Club III: DUB Edition Remix (2006) - 87
Ultimately being an expanded version of DUB Edition, which came a year before, DUB Edition Remix has so much more content than any other expanded release of that generation of games. The game not only has an added 26 licensed music tracks, taking the total to 124, and 24 new vehicles, but it also includes the new city, Tokyo, which is a massively updated version of the one found in Midnight Club II.
The Midnight Club series was never just about racing, but aesthetic, and, given the four cities, all of the vehicles, and the musical mesh of hip-hop, rock, and dance, Remix is the ultimate Midnight Club experience.
1 Need For Speed - The Hot Pursuit Series - 88/89
In total, there have been three games in the Hot Pursuit series, the first one in 1998, Hot Pursuit 2 in 2002, and a remake of the original in 2010, which recently got remastered. The first two games both have an average score of 88 on Metacritic, and the remake even has an 89, which means they beat out all of the import street racing games by quite a landslide.
The Hot Pursuit series might have inspired the so-bad-it’s-good Need For Speed movie, but the games are unabashedly fun, as they're less about beating other racers and more about evading police in extremely lengthy courses. The 2010 remake is the crown jewel in the Need For Speed series.
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