Midnight Club II is a racing game with an edge. It pits you in the driver's seat of a tricked out car, and throws some of the toughest underground racers your way. The only way to compete with better racers is to acquire new vehicles, including both car and motorcycle. This is the sole purpose of racing on these mean streets, as your victories will grant you a new and better set of wheels each time.
MCII appears to be slightly linear at first. You race against an opponent, you win and get his car, or you lose and try again. However, after the first few races you'll find yourself cruising around the streets looking for other drivers to race. A convenient map on your screen will tell you where some of these racers are, and to challenge them you simply give a quick flash of your brights, and then you're off.
Well, maybe it's not that simple. You have to follow your challenged opponent to a specific location on the map (which can be quite a drive in some cases). Here you will take part in one of a variety of races. Each race will have you hunting down check points, whether they are set up sequentially or they are scattered around, and it is up to you to find the fastest path. There are also one-on-one battles where the situation turns mono a mono. Whatever the challenge, there is enough variety here to keep things fresh.
A career in illegal street racing is not the only option you have in MCII. There is also a handy Arcade mode which allows you to race at any location you have unlocked. Accompanying this is a race editor that gives you the chance to set up specific types of races and alter the checkpoints on them. You can take on these custom tracks with either AI opponents, or other friends in online play.