This time the action takes place in the streets of San Francisco and London. As expected, San Francisco sports its many landmarks and famous rolling hills, which offer plenty of chances to build up speed for ludicrous stunts. Keep an eye open for the Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts. London's tight turns and twisting streets put the emphasis on driver skill rather than flat-out speed. Landmarks include Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, and Trafalgar Square. Of course, the secret to success in the Midtown games is to find unconventional shortcuts that can bring about a quick victory.

For the most part players will be racing in standard circuit and checkpoint races. Interestingly, you must unlock most of the 20 cars in the game by finishing a series of races or completing the two in-game driving schools. You can't drive our favorite car--the Aston Martin DB7--until you finish British cabby school, but once you do get it, you'll be a terror on the highways. We only wish more automobiles were available right from the start, as the performance of the cars varies as wildly as their makes and models.

While the cities are interesting to look at and many of the structures contain shortcuts and other secret passages, the overall look of the game is more cartoony than realistic. While the graphics don't stand up against the Need for Speed games, they are more than adequate in their own right. However, you will need a fairly powerful machine to see them in all their cartoony glory. --Mark Brooks

Pros:

• Fast-paced driving action
• Easy to play with a wide variety of cars
• London and San Francisco look just enough like their real counterparts to be worth exploring even when not racing

• Too many vehicles need to be unlocked by completing various tasks
• Graphics, while decent, aren't the most up-to-date
• If you've played the first game, there really isn't a lot here you haven't seen already