Gina

Gina is a character in Midnight Club II. Her role proves to be amogst the most influential within the game, as her presence is constant throughout each city. Upon contacting her, she is first percieved as a mere acquaintance, acting rather contrary to the protagonist. However, with each race that one completes, her fondness of you increases. After earning her pink slip, she supports the player throughout Paris and Tokyo, offering advice and general encouragement.

Biography

Gina is recommended to bethe fifth challenger you should visit in Los Angeles. She is always found in the vicinity of south Hollywood, circling around a block that includes a Mexican restaurant, a roadside motel, a row of palm trees and an elevated cobblestone walkway. Flashing your headlights, she then attempts to leave you in her wake, darting through turns deep within Hollywood before doubling back into downtown. Be cognescent of her sharp turns, as you can easily fall behind after failing to follow suit. Her sprint ends in front of a mall in the centre of downtown.

Her first race, 'Unexpected Guests', leads us to understand what is about to ensue. Bursting out of the aforementioned mall are an unknown group of bikers, which are having a simultaneous bout proceeding to the same destination as Gina's crew, albeit through alternate means. A relatively straightforward course, there shuld be no problem navigating through the checkpoints. As part of the scripted traffic, there is only a bus, preceeded by a small adaptation of a Toyota Tacoma leaving a motel. The finish is located at a small gathering space, near a Cloak shoppe south of Hollywood.

'Showdown', the hosts second race, has you against four others. However, Gina is replaced by Mauro as the main character (which is proved as his name is marked in red for the end statistics). For the first time, we hear Gina encouraging the protagonist, as though she is not fond of the lead in this motorcycle club. This race has you spearhead down the Walk of Fame, onwards through a series of reoccuring checkpoints within the downtown core. The race concludes in a stunning fashion; that is, leaping off of Palisades Park in Santa Monica onto an oceanside parking lot.

In Gina's third race, properly entitled 'Weight Training' you are subject to a time trial. Though you must return to the start position within the time alotted, this course is mainly geared to allow the user to familiarize themselves with their new motorcycle, the Cohete (Kawasaki Ninja). The lone checkpoint is located at the far outskirt of the city, in the industrial park. Whether attempting some new manouvers, or simply putting oneself to the task of completing the race, head back to the Santa Monica beach for the well deserved finale.

In her fourth and final race, 'Flight to Finish', you compete against Gina and four Monstruos. This track spans across most of the city, and is riddled with potential hazards, so it is advised that you compete with your newly given motorcycle. As with many other races, the scripted sequences found within are abundant, and described in the following: a bus and a van both cutting into the middle lane on the fist leg of the upper LAX Airport, a Lincoln Town Car Limousine lookalike pulling out from a departure gate, a mail truck and another limousine on the final leg, an idle police vehicle eyeing for illegal activity at the entrance of the Watts district and a selective spawn of vehicles within a curved parkade. The finish is located at said parking lot, directly past the crane in the construction site. You have the opportunity to make use of the crane, ergo jumping from its foundation (as the title of the race suggests) or you could simply enter the tunnel underneath the overpass, which is marked by several signs bearing flashing red lights. Upon completion, the pink slip to Gina's Citi Turbo (Honda Civic Si) is yours to keep.

From this point forward, Gina serves to both assist and motivate the protagonist, first heard when against Dice. After dethroning the previous champion, she offers an escort to Paris, where she is known to travel, thus hinting at the second location for which competition is to be found. When familiarizing youself with the foreign city, she will offer her knowledge, which is worth listening to to ensure an edge against the competition. When the protagonist faces the likes of Primo, and earns first place in 'Seine Insane', instead of keeping the resulting prize, the Vortex 5 (Toyota MR2), he hands it over as a gift, keeping the Schneller V8 (BMW M5) instead.

When granted access to the third and final city, Tokyo, we learn that she has been thouroughly duped by Ricky, a shifty scumbag with ties to the Yakuza crime syndicate. The Vortex 5 is now in his possession, and she is in debt to an alleged gang leader, Ken'ichi. To prevent her from harm, you must first beat Ricky, and then pursue the representative, where a unique challenge is in your midst. In order to repay her outstanding debt, you must arm yourself with a police cruiser (Nissan 300ZX), and eliminate every racer who has disrespected him, who are conveniently all present in one very race. If successful, you will be graciously thanked.

When you advance far enough to meet Savo, the world champion, she appears again as a source of encouragement, as her frequent busrts of energized motivation help carry you throughout each subsequent race. Having beaten Savo, you have one last look at Gina, who commends you on your achievement while synonymously demonstating her profound affection. She leaves the protagonist with a small laugh, and with the thought that he will see her again sometime.

Trivia

• She is of unknown oriental decent.
• Gina loosely resembles the 'raver' stereotype. This is seen through her style choices (unmarked white tank top, full black headphones), her mannerisms (use of word 'jockey', use of other modernized sayings or phrases), her profiles background noise (sounds of partying, cheering), and through her song ('Timeshift' - Subtech, a vastly unknown late nineties house/trance song, whose genres were popular choices for then contemporary raves and parties)
• It is possible that her and Moses are related, as they are both oriental, drive the same make of car (Citi/Citi Turbo), and incidentally and uniquely befriend the protagonist. They could be cousins.
• She is shown to have a temper at the beginning of your encounter, defending the running over of civilians and generally mocking the player.
• Gina is voiced by Leyna Weber. Her voiceover appears in another Rockstar title, that being Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, as Amy Sheckenhausen, the host of K-Chat.