Juiced was meant to compete with EA`s Need for Speed: Underground 2 but its late arrival means that Underground 2 has enjoyed tremendous success on its own.
And it`s not hard to see why - gamers were hooked on the Fast and the Furious theme and EA obliged at just the right time with a game that offered thousands of modding possibilities and relentless arcade racing.
Juiced wants a piece of that pie, but I have a feeling that now it might be too late. One would`ve imagined the graphics to be polished during the game`s side-line period, but in fact they`re worse than NFSU2`s. I can`t see why gamers would choose this over other arcade style racers currently available.
Juiced offers no hectic traffic-dodging available in Midnight Club 3 and NFSU2 and the driving dynamics are not realistic. When travelling at 100km/h in a little Honda CRX, it feels like the car is actually doing twice that speed. The cornering speeds are ridiculous - I doubt even F1 cars can take tight, right-hand city bends at 160km/h.
So, there`s no traffic dodging, just normal track action, which means this game should essentially compete with Gran Turismo 4 and the upcoming Forza Motorsport. Pleeease!
It offers many cars, much more than NFSU2 and millions of different customising possibilities. But I don`t get a kick out of designing a "pimped-out" ride with pearlescent paint, neons under the skirts and chrome wheels. I like to drive fast realistically, so you can imagine why this didn`t quite appeal to me.
I have no doubt that the game will sell well. I can understand that to the right person it offers a tremendous amount of fun. The career mode is really long, taking quite a few weeks to complete and even then there is online play and arcade racing.
I got the most fun out of Juiced when playing against friends. The damage model is definitely a welcome feature as many other titles do not have visible damage on cars.
The music score is one of the plus-point with many well-known artists and rappers making a contribution and there are no pesky "po-lice" to ruin the fun. Racers drive at any time of day, on dry or wet tarmac, which is something NFSU2 doesn`t offer gamers.
Juiced has a lot of enjoyment to give but I would recommend trying NFSU2 and Midnight Club 3 before splashing out the cash for it. As for me, you won`t get me away from my GT4.
Share