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IGN Review of Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
Street racing fans are not in want of game choices on the Nintendo DS. There are titles that feature crashing, customizing, and even the Pussycat Dolls. Unfortunately, there is a lack of really stellar racing titles. Developer Juice Game's recent Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights doesn't add a lot of new features to the genre. It looks great and has some nice customization options, but even with a full load of Nitrous the game can't quite make it to the front of the pack.
Juiced 2 is all about the exciting world of… completely legitimate, perfectly legal closed circuit racing. Okay, so it's not as exciting as illegal street racing, but somebody has to think of the impressionable young minds. Making a street racing game where players actually race in the streets might encourage illegal activities and then parents would make a fuss.
It's doubtful this same thought went into the selection of scantily clad women to adorn every screen in the game, thus earning Juiced 2 a T rating. I appreciate boobs as much as the next guy, but the decision to portray objectified women merely serves to reinforce the stereotype of racing being a misogynistic man's club that doesn't let women in unless it's to stare at their rack.
They are smoking hot, though, especially the loading screen girl.
Beyond the cleavage covered exterior lies a pretty standard racing title. Players compete in events to earn money which can be used to upgrade their sweet rides. There are a variety of racing events, ranging from standard circuit races, to drift events.
Take "spooking," for instance. By building up their ride, players can make their car more intimidating to other players. When the player drives up behind another racer they become "spooked" and crash into the nearest wall. Players can take advantage of the panicky opponents to steal the lead. Of course spooking implies that the opponents are ahead of us, and honestly, we found that rarely to be the case. So any time we had to spook to get a goal we had to handicap ourselves and take it slow. Somehow stop and go racing doesn't fit the theme of Juiced.
The races are pretty no frills for the most part. At most there are three opponents, which really don't capture the feel of a competitive, high-stakes racing league. The tracks are really short, and races don't last very long. This is a blessing and a curse. As a handheld game it allows the players to pull out the game and finish a race in a couple minutes. On the other hand players will blast through the game pretty quickly, especially if they're racing fans.
There are also drift competitions where players rack up points by sliding around corners. These are fun as a diversion, though they can be some of the more difficult parts of the game, and are likely to get frustrating for people not used to drifting. It also becomes very apparent that the cars all handle basically the same. An all wheel drive car like a Subaru Impreza WRX slides just as much as a Ford Focus. In addition, these drift tracks are just as small as the circuit race tracks, limiting the amount of different turns players can try out.
The small tracks are somewhat made up for by the variety of locations and well designed courses. Tokyo, London, Spain and the Alps are just some of the locales that players drift and zoom zoom through. Each track is impressively detailed, complete with specific landmarks to show that we are, in fact, in London and not some generic city.
In addition to the impressive tracks, Juiced 2 has 21 realistically rendered cars. Tons of manufacturers are represented, and it's likely that any racing fan will find one of their favorite cars. Nearly every car can be customized with new hoods, front and rear bumpers, spoilers, and skirts. In addition, a huge selection of color choices, combined with the personalized decals let players make their ride just as bad ass (or really lame) as they want it to be.
This really is a great looking DS games, and is one of the best looking DS racers on the market. The blurring effects during nitrous boosts give a nice feel of speed, and the game doesn't suffer from slowdown issues. The sheer amount of color choices is pretty cool, since it means no two cars will be the same color.
Part of the fun of customizing the cars is getting to show them off. While Juiced 2 does have a multiplayer, it's unfortunately limited. There is no single cart option, so layers can't show their friends how fun the game is. The multicard gameplay is pretty solid, and players can customize the match by race type, venue, and number of laps. The spooking mechanic isn't in the multiplayer, thankfully, so nobody runs into walls for no reason.
©2007-10-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Juiced 2 is all about the exciting world of… completely legitimate, perfectly legal closed circuit racing. Okay, so it's not as exciting as illegal street racing, but somebody has to think of the impressionable young minds. Making a street racing game where players actually race in the streets might encourage illegal activities and then parents would make a fuss.
It's doubtful this same thought went into the selection of scantily clad women to adorn every screen in the game, thus earning Juiced 2 a T rating. I appreciate boobs as much as the next guy, but the decision to portray objectified women merely serves to reinforce the stereotype of racing being a misogynistic man's club that doesn't let women in unless it's to stare at their rack.
They are smoking hot, though, especially the loading screen girl.
Beyond the cleavage covered exterior lies a pretty standard racing title. Players compete in events to earn money which can be used to upgrade their sweet rides. There are a variety of racing events, ranging from standard circuit races, to drift events.
Take "spooking," for instance. By building up their ride, players can make their car more intimidating to other players. When the player drives up behind another racer they become "spooked" and crash into the nearest wall. Players can take advantage of the panicky opponents to steal the lead. Of course spooking implies that the opponents are ahead of us, and honestly, we found that rarely to be the case. So any time we had to spook to get a goal we had to handicap ourselves and take it slow. Somehow stop and go racing doesn't fit the theme of Juiced.
The races are pretty no frills for the most part. At most there are three opponents, which really don't capture the feel of a competitive, high-stakes racing league. The tracks are really short, and races don't last very long. This is a blessing and a curse. As a handheld game it allows the players to pull out the game and finish a race in a couple minutes. On the other hand players will blast through the game pretty quickly, especially if they're racing fans.
There are also drift competitions where players rack up points by sliding around corners. These are fun as a diversion, though they can be some of the more difficult parts of the game, and are likely to get frustrating for people not used to drifting. It also becomes very apparent that the cars all handle basically the same. An all wheel drive car like a Subaru Impreza WRX slides just as much as a Ford Focus. In addition, these drift tracks are just as small as the circuit race tracks, limiting the amount of different turns players can try out.
The small tracks are somewhat made up for by the variety of locations and well designed courses. Tokyo, London, Spain and the Alps are just some of the locales that players drift and zoom zoom through. Each track is impressively detailed, complete with specific landmarks to show that we are, in fact, in London and not some generic city.
In addition to the impressive tracks, Juiced 2 has 21 realistically rendered cars. Tons of manufacturers are represented, and it's likely that any racing fan will find one of their favorite cars. Nearly every car can be customized with new hoods, front and rear bumpers, spoilers, and skirts. In addition, a huge selection of color choices, combined with the personalized decals let players make their ride just as bad ass (or really lame) as they want it to be.
This really is a great looking DS games, and is one of the best looking DS racers on the market. The blurring effects during nitrous boosts give a nice feel of speed, and the game doesn't suffer from slowdown issues. The sheer amount of color choices is pretty cool, since it means no two cars will be the same color.
Part of the fun of customizing the cars is getting to show them off. While Juiced 2 does have a multiplayer, it's unfortunately limited. There is no single cart option, so layers can't show their friends how fun the game is. The multicard gameplay is pretty solid, and players can customize the match by race type, venue, and number of laps. The spooking mechanic isn't in the multiplayer, thankfully, so nobody runs into walls for no reason.
©2007-10-25, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved