When Acclaim first revealed they were set to publish a new racer by a new UK developer the gaming community held its breath and eagerly anticipated 'the next Burnout'. After all, Acclaim was the publisher to pick Criterion's racer out of obscurity and turn it into one of the biggest console franchises of the last few years.
Then Juiced was revealed and it was clear this was a different beast to Burnout. Let's make that clear right from the start: Juiced is a different game from Burnout in almost every way. This is a racer with Xbox Live at its centre and a modding simulator that surpasses anything found in EA's Need For Speed: Underground. Juiced is a game that aims to embrace the underground race and modding scene from the ground up. Where as EA offered glitz and no real meat, Juiced aims to make gameplay the priority.
Juiced immerses you in the world of street-racing and car modding, it makes developing your average Fiat Punto into a car the whole gaming community will be jealous of - but we'll discuss this later. The main game mode offers you the chance to become a crew leader in the slightly camp world street racing. You begin with a bog standard hatchback, in this case a Corsa, and start touring the circuit. A calendar screen allows you to see forthcoming meets and so plan your month's racing. Many meets will be off your radar until either you've got the right class of car or you've earned enough respect to take part. Some meets are invitation only and some can even be organised by you. Basically, even if you have the right car, you can't race the big names until you've proven your worth.
There are three main classes of meet, the circuit standard race, where you face five other cars; a drag mode in which you have to time manual gear changes to beat the opposition and, finally, the show-off mode - this is the hardest of the lot and takes it cue from PGR2's Kudos system. You will need to perform various tricks (360, J-turns and doughnuts) in order to earn respect points. Be warned, though; get it wrong and you lose respect. Boom! And if you don't have enough respect, you won't be allowed to race, you could watch and have a flutter on the other drivers, but not race.
Written By: Ian Dean
Score: 90%
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