Those should be the underpinnings of a successful title, yet oddly enough, they aren't. All of these elements combine to form something that just isn't very engaging. If you're looking for a challenging arcade racer that will keep you coming back for more, you'll find Midtown Madness 2 lacking. The biggest enjoyment obstacle is a certain vague sameness that pollutes every game mode. I developed a sense of déjà vu after just a couple of hours with the title, and this didn't dissipate as I proceeded through all the Crash Course scenarios and race modes. My biggest beefs involve the lack of different driving environments and a shortage of new cars. While you couldn't pick two better cities to cruise than San Francisco and London, they're still just two cities. After a while, all those hills and foggy nights start to get to you. Only nine new vehicles have been added to the lineup of the first game, and two of these are merely variants on the new Volkswagen Beetle.

Another significant problem is the mushy driving model. All of the cars feel nearly the same on the road. There are acceleration differences, but all handle very similarly. This wouldn't be too much of a problem—this is an arcade racer, after all—if all the vehicles handled well. They don't. Every single car in the game, from the English cab to the supposedly hot rod Panoz Roadster, slips and slides into turns. It's far too easy to lose control of the back end, or simply be unable to bring the wheel through a curve properly and slide into a wall. This provides the gamer with a lineup of frustrating autos that haven't been satisfyingly designed as either arcade or simulation racers. It seems like the designers at Angel Studios couldn't decide which way to go, and ended up adding elements of both worlds to satisfy both gearheads and action fans.

Finally, the extreme difficulty may be hard for some gamers to get past. Crash Course is tough right from the second or third event, and I took a good hour to successfully complete the first mid-term in London. This has to be pretty daunting for some people, particularly casual gamers looking for quick hits of adrenaline. The Blitz, Checkpoint, and Circuit racing modes are problematic as well, though mainly because they're too easy. If you go through Crash Course and release some of the locked "supercars," you'll have no trouble wiping the field with your foes or burning to the different checkpoints in record time.