Juiced Preview

Currently scheduled for release on May 10, Juiced is a street racing game in which you'll be able to purchase, race, and customize more than 50 different licensed vehicles. The game is set in the fictional city of San Ricardo, where you (and eventually your own crew) will compete against eight racing crews on streets that are strangely devoid of traffic. We recently had the opportunity to do just that with work-in-progress versions of Juiced for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and we're pleased to report that the game has definitely benefited from the extra development time that Juice Games was afforded by the whole Acclaim bankruptcy deal. It's proof (if any was needed) that even the darkest clouds have a silver lining.

Specifically, the development team at Juice Games has used the extra time not only to revamp existing features, but also to add all-new content. The Angel Super Speedway circuit that now appears in the game was not present in Acclaim's version, and with the introduction of additional point-to-point races, the total number of routes in the game has been increased from 64 to 108. All of the sound effects in Juiced have been redone, and its all-new soundtrack features tracks from the likes of Xzibit, Paul Oakenfold, TV on the Radio, Talib Kweli, Nas, and Lemon Jelly. All 53 of the cars in Juiced now use their own unique driving models, and to make the game more accessible, you'll have access to driver aids such as ABS brakes and traction-control systems. The early portions of the career mode also have been made noticeably easier, which is definitely a good thing given the highly competitive nature of your opponents.

Before we talk about our own experiences with the game in more detail, the first thing you need to know about Juiced is that, although it obviously has a lot in common with games like Electronic Arts' Need for Speed Underground series, it also boasts more than enough new features to make it stand out from the rest of the street racing crowd. Earning the respect of other gangs, for example, is the only way to gain access to new circuits and events in Juiced. You'll also find that many events are team-based, which means that you won't be eligible to enter them until you've assembled your own crew (which you'll be able to control even when you're driving in the same race using a simplified version of the system found in Gran Turismo 4's B-Spec mode). Other Juiced features worthy of note include betting on races (even those that you're not competing in), pink slip races, and show-off events that challenge you to perform controlled 360-degree spins, bootleg turns, donuts, and other such maneuvers in front of a crowd.

Many of the aforementioned features are exclusive to the Juiced career mode, which is where we've spent the vast majority of our time with the game. You'll start your career with $40,000 in your pocket and only a single contact on your cell phone--a guy named TK who is the leader of a local racing crew. TK invites you to prove yourself by loaning you a car and offering to race against you, and he will also attempt to relieve you of some cash by betting on the outcome. Once your first race is over, your first job will be to purchase a car for yourself and, if you have any money left, start improving both its performance and appearance in the workshop. The cars available to you at the start of the game will vary each time you play, but you can basically expect to be choosing your first ride from a selection of new and used (and often beaten up) vehicles that would look more at home parked outside of a supermarket than lined up on a race grid. That'll change soon enough, though, since you'll unlock new parts for your car of choice practically every time you race in it.

Although you'll often only have around three different versions of each part to choose from when customizing the look of your cars, creating great-looking rides in Juiced can be almost as much fun as the racing itself. Aesthetically pleasing rides also become important as you progress through the game, because certain racing crews won't respect you unless your cars are as great to look at as they are to drive. We've not had an opportunity to play Juiced online to date, but it goes without saying that you'll want to be lining up against other players in a car that looks as far removed from the basic showroom model as you can possibly make it. That means a pearlescent paint job, neon lights, decals, tinted windows, body kits, alloy wheels, and maybe even a new horn with which to psyche out opponents directly in front of you.

Racing for Pinks

The handling of the cars in Juiced varies noticeably between different models, and you'll definitely notice any improvements that you've made in the workshop when you take a newly pimped ride onto the streets. The handling of all of the cars in Juiced is realistic in so much as you'll win races by braking for corners rather than by sliding around them. But the latter approach is certainly an option, and you'll certainly find that your rides are far more forgiving than those in a true simulation game.

The environments that you'll be racing in are surprisingly varied given that they're all part of the same city, and the location of any race will basically be the turf of the crew hosting the event. You'll have to play the game for a good number of hours before some of the crews are impressed enough to invite you to compete. You'll have the option to attend races as a spectator (and gambler, if you wish) long before that, which gives you a great opportunity to get a feel for the different track layouts. As crews become even more impressed with you, you'll be invited to put your best cars on the line in pink slip races and even host events of your own via a simple calendar interface.

The differences between the PS2 and Xbox versions of Juiced that we've been playing are pretty much what you'd expect. The PS2 game is no eyesore, but the Xbox game's visuals have a much more polished look about them, which is especially noticeable if you take the time to inspect roadside buildings and such. The other main difference between the two games is their default control schemes, which can make certain actions more difficult to perform on one console than on the other. On the Xbox, for example, you'll manually change gears (which is compulsory during sprint races) using the X and B buttons, which can make holding down the Y button for a nitrous boost a little tricky. The button layout on the PS2 is completely different, and the four shoulder buttons on the Dual Shock 2 controller make sprint events much easier to handle. On the other hand, we found that performing donuts and 360-degree spins using the Xbox controller's right trigger (to accelerate) and A button (to apply the emergency brake) was a little easier than using the PS2's X and O buttons.

We've had a lot of fun with both the PS2 and Xbox versions of Juiced to date, and we're very much looking forward to the day when we can take our fleet of cars (and our crew of drivers) online to compete with other players. Participating in team races and exercising a small amount of control over our crew members' behavior while driving has undoubtedly been one of the most enjoyable features of Juiced for us. Though, ironically, the crew members are also one of the only aspects of the game causing us any concern at this point. The problem with the crew members is that their skills appear to improve quite dramatically every time they race, to the point that if you stick one of your drivers in a fast enough car it's very easy to have them win races for you. The first driver who joined our crew, for example, was a guy named Vito. Vito won his first race, placed third in his second race, and hasn't failed to be first across the finish line in a race since. Vito has proved to be such a good driver, in fact, that we've often allowed him to race in our place, which is perhaps an option the game would be better off without. Vito's success rate could be due to the fact that we invariably have him drive cars that are among the best in their class, but the end result is the same either way: we're watching the CPU drive for us instead of doing it ourselves.

We look forward to bringing you a full review of Juiced as its May 10 release date closes in.