Call me crazy, but I have a difficult time imagining any game with the Microsoft label being “over-the-top” or “hair-raising.” Both of those popular Madison Avenue phrases (along with "madcap," a stilted adjective best confined to demented Syd Barrett tunes and old Dudley Moore movies) were prominently used in the PR materials packaged with the company's Midtown Madness 2, a sequel to the popular arcade racer from 1998. So, has staid, “employees must wash hands before returning to work” Microsoft acquired a new image?

Not for me. Especially after spending the past week yawning through the game in question. Despite all this nitro-burning manipulation of the English language's sillier side, I'm still not buying it. As much as those oh-so-trendy marketing people want us to believe that Midtown Madness 2 is some wah-wah kooky excursion to Faroutsville, it's really one of the safer "extreme" driving games that you'll ever play. All the carefully massaged verbiage this side of The New Yorker can't disguise the fact that this game lacks the thrills and spills of a Driver or a Carmageddon.

Midtown Madness 2 is essentially a fuller version of its predecessor. Where the original featured just the city of Chicago, the new release lets you cause mayhem in both San Francisco and London. The 11 cars featured in the first game have been upped to a total of 20. Interesting numbers like the Aston-Martin Vantage DB-7 and a Freightliner fire truck now join the Cadillac Eldorado, Volkswagen Beetle, and Ford Mustangs. The same racing modes are also back for more. Blitz, Checkpoint, Circuit, and the multiplayer games return for a second round. One noteworthy addition is Crash Course. This is essentially a mission-based mode where the gamer assumes the role of either a London cab driver or a movie stunt driver in San Francisco. It's quite a bit like the Factory Driver mode in Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, although it doesn't feature too many different objectives, and isn't quite as engaging.