A friend of mine once split up with a guy due to his habit of driving too fast. He waited until the very last minute to brake and enjoyed cutting up other cars, driving too close and overtaking in silly places. Eventually he wrote off a six-month old motor and lost the company of one cracking-looking girl. A heavy price to pay for a little adrenaline rush.

If only he'd had a copy of Burnout 2: Point Of Impact, then perhaps his life would still be sunshine and rainbows. Because if you need any more edge-of-the-seat thrills than this game can offer you're on the highway to a heart attack. Let us spell it out for you: five minutes with this game is like a dose of pure adrenaline mainlined straight to the pleasure sensors. It's a full-on white-knuckle ride of teeth-clenching, pad-gripping action and it rocks harder than our Vanessa in a mosh pit. It's that good.

For those unfamiliar with the Burnout series, the objective is very straightforward: race through dense urban traffic to be the first to cross the finish line. To stay ahead of the pack you must build up your boost meter. When it's full, this meter can unleash the race-winning extra speed for you to zip along like you're Marty McFly on a time-travelling mission.

The boost function is essential for both racing success and to underline the point of the game. You can build up your boost meter by performing various hair-raising manoeuvres such as near-misses, driving in the path of oncoming traffic and powersliding around corners. The game rewards acts of reckless driving and, as a consequence, you need to drive like a loon to achieve your goals.

But this is the sequel to the first Burnout title that appeared about a year ago and anyone owning the original will no doubt be wondering what improvements have been implemented to justify shelling out for another game. Well, consider it to be the latest model of your favourite car - it's got a host of new features as well as looking bang up to date and offering even better performance under the hood.

On a purely visual level, the graphics are notably improved. The cars look a lot better, benefiting from a higher polygon count, better lighting and subsequent reflections, higher degrees of texture detail and much more extensive damage. Crash in this game (and we guarantee you will) and kick back while your car disintegrates before your eyes. Bodywork gets tossed like confetti, windscreens smash and wheels decide that they've had enough and are moving on without you. The tracks are also larger with a good range of diversity in locales ranging from mountains and shorelines to city centres and airports.

But that's just the eye candy. The gameplay has also been given a major overhaul. Compared with the first game it's much easier to get a full boost meter, which means there's more opportunity to go hell for leather and get the most from the game. There's also a bunch of new modes, including a Pursuit option where you're in control of a cop car and have to ram another vehicle into submission. It's just like playing Chase HQ from 'back in the day' and offers a nice diversion - as well as the promise of unlocking different vehicles if you're successful.

Another welcome addition is the Crash mode which does exactly what it says on the tin. Drive as fast as you can into a busy junction and see how much carnage ensues. The pile-ups are nothing short of devastating and the sense of achievement that results from causing vehicles to slam into each other is strangely satisfying in a rather masochistic kind of way.

There really is very little to fault the game on. One observation is that you'll occasionally get repetitive traffic configurations, such as encountering the same lorry changing lanes in exactly the same place. It would also have been nice to have fewer invisible walls and greater use of alternative routes around the tracks.

But all things considered they're really very minor quibbles when measuring just how enjoyable this game is to play.

Powersliding massively around a corner, weaving scarily through traffic then boosting to hurtle past two lorries and just squeeze through is a classic gaming experience that you won't forget in a hurry. Racing line enthusiasts need not apply, but anybody with a passing interest in excitement should step right up - you won't be disappointed.

1. Edge-of-the-seat, thrilling driving
2. Excellent graphics
3. Good handling
4. Fun two-player
5. Great game modes

1. Could have made more use of Xbox Live

Power
Zips along like a flaming hotrod and the load times are nearly as quick as the track action.

Style
Sensitive handling allows you to nip into tight gaps. Great damage, improved graphics and sound.

Immersion
Takes more concentration than a chess battle. When's the last time a driving game made you flinch?

Lifespan
It's an arcade racer, but the unique intensity of the driving means it's a game that won't die on the shelf.

Summary
This game breathes new life into the driving genre. A classic arcade racer that makes you sweat and grin.