It is the sequel to Midnight Club: Street Racing, published for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows and first in series to feature motorcycles.

There are no artificial barriers in the game's open world environment that force the player to stay on a specific course.

Dry, hilly suburbs and congested interstates can be found throughout Los Angeles, and just like its predecessor, the city contains many landmarks, as well as numerous shortcuts and jumps.

Tokyo is a city of neon-glittering avenues and tight alleyways, and contains an equal array of tourist sights and attractions.

Also, most of them have aesthetical modifications commonly found in street racing and import scenes, such as spoilers, hood scoops, and body kits.

In the car selection menu, descriptions and stats of each vehicle can be seen, along with the option to choose among 4 colors.

The tracks "Outrun" and "Extra Dry" were featured from the 2002 film Irreversible and produced by Thomas Bangalter.

[43] Entertainment Weekly gave it a B+ and stated that "whether racing against the clock or attempting to beat the other drivers in checkpoint contests, memorizing the maps and finding the many shortcuts is crucial".

[41] The Village Voice gave the PS2 version a score of eight out of ten and wrote that "the only way [Rockstar] could make [the game] better would be to set it in Boston, where drunks get kicked out of the bars long after the T has shut down, flooding construction-choked highways".

[42] Maxim also gave the game a score of eight out of ten and said that "it may not boast garages bloated with the usual name-brand chick magnets you find in other racing games, but the dark racing underbelly of Midnight Club II has every bit as many thrills as the leading grease monkey autopia".