Time to make an even bigger indent in your favorite easy chair.

Take a minute to get comfortable and don’t forget to load up on your favorite beverages and candy bars — “Midnight Club II” is a great game, and you might not be getting up for awhile.

Rockstar Games’ already solid library of titles has just received another boost. After scoring a mild hit with “Midnight Club: Street Racer,” and huge blockbuster hits with “Max Payne,” “Grand Theft Auto III” and “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City,” Rockstar Games strikes back with a fistful of speed and a plethora of cool cars.

“Midnight Club II” is loaded with features, and the overall game has become much more user-friendly. The Xbox version looks absolutely gorgeous. The characters and car models have been updated from their already realistic versions in the first “Midnight Club.”

Rockstar paid attention to every detail, right down to the shadows cast by the cars and the corpses of innocent bystanders who fly like Superman, only to feast on asphalt and motor oil seconds later.

Gameplay involves cruising the highways and byways in search of arrogant, pin-headed street racers who are willing to give up their cars in order to hold onto their pride.

You can test your skills on the streets of Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo, all of which have different obstacles and loads of sweet cars. The city models are very detailed and very similar to their real-life counterparts.

It doesn’t matter who you race against or what order you race them in; just keep in mind, you have to beat them all in order to obtain a faster car and progress further in the game.

You begin on the streets of Los Angeles, where there is nothing but speed and ambition separating you from street racing’s elite. All you have to do is win.

This is where the gameplay becomes slightly tainted. Winning is not easy, nor are the other street racers pushovers. If you defeat a clan of racers, you must then beat their fearless leader in order to obtain his or her car.

These dudes and dudettes stop at nothing to keep their egos and reputations from being shattered.

The computer opponents know every loophole and secret. They will even drive through buildings and police barricades to gain an edge, which puts your sorry butt at a huge disadvantage.

The racing seems easy at first, but just as you start to think you have the upper hand, you find yourself racing against a clan or their leader repeatedly in order to learn the short cuts that lead to your victory and their bitter defeat.The cops give chase constantly and are very hard to shake. There are some missions where you have to outrun them in order to proceed.

For me, these races led to several late nights, as well as many ibuprofen tablets and Red Bull drinks being consumed.

Although tedious and challenging at times, overall, this game is a winner. If you are a bonehead who enjoys wallowing in laziness and always getting your way, don’t buy this game.

But if you are a hard-core racing game junkie or just looking for a challenge, playing this game will definitely keep you entertained — and possibly lower your driving skills.