The cities in which you battle are enormous, densely-built places. The fact that most of the buildings are destructible helps a lot, too. If you blow a hole in a corner of a building, for example, you'll see shards of glass and steel sticking out around the smoking hole and occasional sparks once the initial explosion clears. There are some spots that are impervious to your weapons, as is always the case, but with so much to blow up those instances can be forgiven.

A new wrinkle to the MechAssault formula is being on foot in the powered suit of armor. It has its own set of weapons and abilities, of course, but it's no substitute for a nice, big mech. So use your boost to jump close to an enemy mech, hit a button, and you'll start a Neurohack attempt. Neurohacking is the process of shutting down the mech from the outside so the driver has to get out – leaving you with a new ride if you want it. Once you start the hack, the screen will prompt you to hit a random series of buttons and if you pull it off, the hack succeeds. It's a fun way to disable the bad guys, but it's a little too easy. There are also times when it's certainly faster and less hassle than actually fighting the mechs.

The single player campaign boils down to taking out all the bad guys in your path – and the strategy for doing so is to become as good at strafing and aiming as possible. Most battles come down to the same thing, and the story of the Mechwarrior (your character), while epic in scope, is fairly run of the mil.

But online is where MechAssault 2 fulfills most of its potential. There are two modes, one of which is traditional multiplayer and includes capture the flag, deathmatch, attacking vs. defending a base, capturing territories, and others. Those who remember the first MechAssault will no doubt also remember a clumsy game lobby and bare bones Live integration. This sequel offers a lot more options, such as clan support, which is a welcome addition that serves to help refine your friends list and turns out to be quite handy.

Just like the first MechAssault, rumbling through the online arenas makes the hours fly by. The battles move fast and with a good sound system you'll be completely immersed in the world of huge mechanical war machines blowing each other up. The controls are as responsive as any shooter. In at least one way, MechAssault is more creative than most shooters because as you take damage, your mech will start to spark and show signs of wear. In addition, the destructible environments never seem to get old. If you sneak behind a building to avoid fire, don't be surprised to see the building get blown to smithereens or, if your opponent knows what he's doing, knocked over on top of you. The weapons and the results of impact are a joy to see, and a healthy sound effect accompanies each. In a crowded arena, the battles become downright chaotic, in a beautiful sort of way.

The other online mode is an original concept called Conquest. There are several planets in the galaxy, and each one has a disputed territory. You choose a side and duke it out with everyone else online to see which side can control the most areas at once. The rules of the game change from planet to planet, so you'll play through all the variations of the multiplayer modes eventually. It's a neat way to offer a more complex version of multiplayer and gives you a bigger picture to shoot for if you get tired of the one-and-done feeling of most online battles.

Another big change from the first game is the mechs involved in each battle. Instead of picking your mech at the beginning, the map decides which equipment will be available. There's a nice variety of size and weapon loads, so you never know what you're going to get. And because any mech can be hijacked, you have to pay attention to who is doing the shooting in your direction. There's also an aircraft for dropping off reinforcement players and supplies if you have someone on your team charitable enough to drive.

Most of us have grown spoiled with Halo 2, Crimson Skies and a slew of other excellent online shooters for Xbox, so it's easy to look past MechAssault 2. There aren't really glaring flaws in the game, the bar has just been raised to such a height that it's hard to stand out. At one time, MechAssault was one of the few and probably best ways to play online with your Xbox. This sequel takes several steps forward for the series, but during that time other games have caught up. At the moment, MechAssault 2 is a fun, exciting game. It's just a little bit behind the pack.