Downtown Run is a new racer from Ubi Soft, promising easy to grasp game play, a frantic pace and plenty of excitement.

The game will span some 26 courses, set in cities across Europe and North America, from New York and Montreal to London, Lisbon, Paris, Rome and Moscow. Whilst these cities will not be accurate representations of the real world cities, they will be plausible, with the focus more on exciting courses than accurately capturing the cities.

So, exactly what will you be racing around these cities? Ubi Soft have obtained licenses for 14 different cars, including the Audi TT, Ford Mustang, VW Beetle, Peugeot, Renault, Saab, MG, Mitsubishi and more.

Of course, not all of these cars and courses will be available from the start; they will have to be earned. The way you do this in Downtown Run is through earning points on the 'prestige' system. This awards points for your driving ability; it's not just a case of winning races. If you can perform dangerous maneuvers and avoid crashing, or drive with a certain style, then you'll gain more points.

So you have the courses, you have the cars, what can you do with them? Downtown Run boasts 8 different play modes, some of which seem self explanatory, others, well I'm not sure exactly what they'll entail! The play modes are; Quick Race, Countdown, Championship, Time Attack, Last Man Standing, Sudden Death Chase and Bet Races. What pleases me about these is that they seem to be more geared towards multi player gaming. If these modes can provide plenty of variety for 4 player gaming, then it could well be right up there with the best racers.

But how does Downtown Run hope to appeal to gamers out there before the likes of Burnout 2? Well, not only does it have a variety of tracks, licensed cars and a 'prestige' system, it also litters the course with a range of 12 power-ups. Some of these power-ups will improve your car, speed-boosts for example, whilst others will be used against opponents. Exactly what these power ups will be has yet to be revealed, could they be Mario Kart style projectiles? James Bond-esque oil slicks? If these power-ups can add significantly to the game play, it will certainly boost its appeal, adding some variety into the genre.

Downtown Run certainly does seem to have a great deal going for it. If Ubi Soft can get the control and the level of challenge right, then they could well be onto a winner.