The Los Angeles Rockstar Games has created for Midnight Club Los Angeles a vibrant and colorful rendition of L.A., rife with detail and life; a familiar, populated cityscape, an intricately resplendent environment stuffed full of gloriously glossy rides like only the new-generation of high-def games can offer.

Controls are smooth as silk, overall, as the physics of it all are more relaxed than truthfully simulated by default, though truly realistic handling options are available.

Ultimately, the Midnight Club Los Angeles driving experience as a whole lives up to franchise expectations: best in empty-headed-fun class, as it were. It's all about exhilarating speeds through crowded city streets racing other fools for some mad cash and the chance to climb the ranks.

The "story" behind the purpose of it all is a weak spot, but the Midnight Club series has never really been about "plot development" beyond an excuse to go driving, or pimping then driving, and so it continues.

Online modes offer a similarly seamless, polished experience where your racing around trying to best actual people, strangers and friends alike, not just the game. With support for up to 16 players, competitive and co-op races abound, giving Midnight Club Los Angeles replay-ability to spare.

Still, it's all familiar, no reinvention or "next level" Midnight Clubbing to be found -- beyond the new locale and a couple of tweaks, anyway. If you're new to the series, Los Angeles is a great place to introduce yourself to it. Midnight Club racing fans, meanwhile, won't be disappointed, but they won't be surprised, either.