Like the man on the muddy motorbike says, "Let's offroad!"

As fast and fun as they are, motorbikes are stupidly, ludicrously dangerous. Ask anybody who played last MX game, MX Unleashed, and they'll tell you: for every minute spent pounding round the torturously bendy, motocross dirt tracks, another minute was usually spent picking their crumpled, broken body up off the floor.

Not that that's a bad thing necessarily - seeing your biker fly over the handlebars, arms flailing madly, was always a giggle - but so often an occurrence was it in MX Unleashed that things quickly started to become annoying. It wasn't so much a racing game, as a tedious exercise in trying to keep your balance.

Which is why this sequel is an altogether more forgiving prospect. Not only has THQ tweaked the weight shifting and suspension loading controls so they now sit more comfortably on one instead of two analogue sticks, there's also the added option of racing All Terrain Vehicles instead - and you will be amazed how much more appealing the stability of a four-wheeled vehicle is when you've just suffered your fifth fatal, spine-shattering, infuriating crash of the day.

The game itself is good fun, with plenty of off-road racing and extreme trick-busting stuff to plough through, especially when you consider some of the other vehicles on offer (sand buggies, golf carts, helicopters, monster trucks...). But what really makes this one worth considering is the excellent Live mode, which offers some of the dirtiest online racing for up to eight people. Thought PGR2's online racing could get angry? Wait until you experience the fury of eight, wobbly MX bikers as they pile into each other on that first hairpin turn. Try and play nice? Try and break their legs more like.

Bigger, better and more enjoyable than Unleashed, thanks mainly to the new Live mode and a broader range of vehicles.