RPM Tuning

RPM Tuning is a racing game developed by Babylon Software. The game was first published by Wanadoo (MC2) for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox only in Europe. A North American version was published by Kemco for the Xbox renamed as Top Gear: RPM Tuning. A Microsoft Windows port was released in 2005 titled Midnight Outlaw: 6 Hours To Sun Up.

Plot
The plot takes place in 2003 and is about Vince, an underground driver who is looking for a car. A GTSR model (the best in the game), its only clues are the RedSet name and a mechanic's place, a reference point for car enthusiasts in the area. Vince enters. The mechanic tells him to leave if it's for an oil change, but Vince explains to him that he is looking for a car and the mechanic replies that then it is different and makes him choose the car from three models: the Hatchback si, the Pickup 150 or the 322ci. Then he meets Rick, an underground pilot with his two minions: Mac and Dante. After a few races, he meets Carmen, the mechanic's daughter and Lewis, his brother. The mechanic offers him an exchange with the GT coupe since his car is still new. After some time Rick introduces him to Mike, Lucy and later Donny, his mechanic who offers him an exchange with the Horse V8, the second-fastest car in the game. After the thief, it turns out to have been Rick, who was trying to sell her to a cop named McCullen with a plan not to get caught. In one part you fight with Dante, then with Rick. After Carmen, who used to hate Vince, has now fallen in love with him, she shoots Rick, and it turns out he was the one who wanted to sell the GTSR, right from a briefcase full of money that Vince will find in the trunk of Rick's car.

Why It's Not Tuned Up

 * 1) The criticism of the game is that it is completely unfaithful and insulting to the main entries, even more so than Dare Devil and ruins a lot of the charm of the Top Gear franchise in general.
 * 2) This game doesn't feel like every Top Gear game despite the North American title with Top Gear name, instead, unlike other Top Gear games, it feels like a mh:awesomegames:Need for Speed: Underground rip-off due to the open-world with a night sky and Midnight Club's style.
 * 3) The trouble with the game is largely with the save/restart method. Missions often come to a large, but you can only save after a set of them. But if you fail in a later mission, you have to start over with the first one. This is very frustrating, because the races tend to be a matter of luck whether you win or not.
 * 4) * What's even worse is, that saving comes before modding the car. So you have to re-mod the car every time you reload.
 * 5) Poor graphics. Graphically the environments are simplistic and boxy, the tracks are thoroughly dull, the buildings are low res and the incidental traffic is composed of unbelievably ugly looking vehicles. In fact, they almost look like a Dreamcast game or mh:awesomegames:Nintendo 64 game, and almost even worse than Spirit of Speed 1937.
 * 6) Ear-bleedingly horrible sound effects. The sound effect for the turbo sounds like a drill, and crashes are dull thuds, the engines sound very generic, and the braking noises are almost non-existent.
 * 7) * Similarly, the sound effects for the music menu are also annoying.
 * 8) Bad voice acting.
 * 9) During the race if you find yourself at the rear of the car it's almost impossible to take the lead regardless of what you do.
 * 10) The damage does not affect the performance, but it was nice to see a street racing game that included this feature. Unfortunately, unlike other midnight / underground racing games (such as Need for Speed: Underground), with very unspectacular crashes, this really takes away any excitement from the damage effects.
 * 11) If you win the championship but then have to evade the cops that are chasing you in the next segment and fail, you have to start the championship all over again.

The Only Redeeming Quality

 * 1) Despite the most of the vehicles are poor, the main and unlicensed vehicles don't look nearly as terrible.

Reception
The Xbox version received generally unfavorable reviews, on Metacritic, it holds a rating of 45/100.

Trivia
It was the last Top Gear game officially released by Kemco, a cancelled sequel by release date, Top Gear: Downforce, was developed by Tantalus Interactive and scheduled to be released in 2006, but due to the closure of Kemco's North American division in 2007, then sold to Bold Games and D3 Publisher, released in Japan as Drift Rally and produced by Kemco themselves, (Which the title screen showed Kemco as a copyright text), the game was stuck at publishing hell and never saw any outside Japan releases until Majesco Entertainment picked it up as Super Speed Machines in 2010, it never released in Europe, as Midas Interactive Entertainment cancelled it despite having European publishing rights, the franchise eventually rebooted into Horizon Chase.

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