A reboot of Rockstar's iconic racing game is unlikely as it "still stands up today"

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A man driving towards the camera in Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete.
(Image credit: Rockstar)

Midnight Club, Rockstar's series of street racing games from the 2000s, is an unlikely candidate for a remaster. Look, if Red Dead Redemption isn't getting one, the odds are practically zero for Midnight Club.

But if we were to imagine a return for the series, what could that look like? We need imagine no longer, as Darren Chisum, designer of the first game in the series Midnight Club: Street Racing, reveals what he thinks would be included in a reboot.

Speaking to Retro Gamer in issue 249, Chisum's vision of a reboot would focus on increasing the game's scale, he says, "like bigger cities, more detail in the traffic and more breakable environments". He also suggests "more complex HUD elements" to help guide the player.

Even if there are things a re-release could improve by taking advantage of improved technology - whether that means graphics, physics, or just some simple quality of life stuff - Chisum doesn't think Midnight Club necessarily needs it. "I think the original still stands up," he says, stating he continued to play it "many years after it launched" and still found it fun to play.

Chisum admits it's been a few years since he last played Midnight Club: Street Racing, which has only been released for PS2 and Game Boy. A reboot would help in terms of game preservation and making it more accessible to those wanting to play it.

Liv Ngan
Freelance contributor

I'm a freelance writer and started my career in summer 2022. After studying Physics and Music at university and a short stint in software development, I made the jump to games journalism on Eurogamer's work experience programme. Since then, I've also written for Rock Paper Shotgun and Esports Illustrated. I'll give any game a go so long as it's not online, and you'll find me playing a range of things, from Elden Ring to Butterfly Soup. I have a soft spot for indies aiming to diversify representation in the industry.