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Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights
Published by: THQ |
Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights - Game Review (PC)
By Flaviu Volosciuc
Published: January 8, 2008
Print Customization
If the car number is getting impressive (71 cars available at League 4), more than 2000 decals are available from which you can choose almost unlimited combinations for 50 layers of decals for each car. All these and lots of cool parts and engine upgrades are part of the modding process, the key feature of this game. You can spend a lot of time and money only by customizing your car in each way you want. The editing tool used to customize your car is very intuitive and gives the player a high control on almost any aspect of the process. Either you change bodyparts, or upgrade the engine, either you paint the bodywork in metallic, pearl, matt, gloss, flake, or thin film, or put some decals, everything is done very simple. To unlock upgrades for the engine you need to complete different objectives such as complete a lap within the given time, score a given number of points in a drift race, complete a lap within the given speed, etc. So you don't have only to earn money to buy them, but also to "work" for them. The developers tried to go even further by giving the chance to actually see how the bodykits are attached to the body (through an Explode View), and to view the interior of the car (similar to Test Drive Unlimited). A plus for the fact that you can add steering wheel, and racing seats to every car, so the interior view is not just a widget.
Locations
As wide the offer seems to be, the locations are not very varied. Most of the races take place in cities : Paris, London, San Francisco, Tokyo, Sydney, Rome, and in a reasonable priced winter resort in Germany. Every location has several track variations. The layout of each track is similar to what Need for Speed Underground had to offer us back in 2003. Lots of square curves and walls to hit. Unlike NFS, there is no traffic here, the explanation being that you take part in legal championship: Hot Import Nights. As legal as it may seem, races take place only in the night and your income will be raised not only by winnings but also by betting. At the start of each race, you can choose one of the competitors and bet against him.
Betting
Betting was something new from the start of Juice series. And something useful in the whole mechanics of the game. You won't have enough money if you don't bet. Now you can either bet against another competitor whom you'll have to beat, or as a spectator. As a spectator you can watch the whole race from the view of the most high rated driver. If this is the one that you bet on, you can cheer him so that he drives more aggressive. If he is not the one, than you can use the three "boo" so he can be scared and make mistakes.
Every driver has a stake. It's logical that you can't win enough money if you bet on the best driver, but unfortunately most of the time he will win, so in general your chances to have a bigger profit with a slower driver are not so high.
Game for farmers
As you begin racing in the first league you will be surprised by how many type of races you have to complete so that you can unlock new engine upgrades and win the league: eliminator championships, crew races, drift obliterator (win the race while earning a given number of drifting points per lap) championships, muscle car events, prototype events, beat specific drivers, bet against different drivers, spook a specific driver, etc. But every type of race resumes to circuit and drift races. As you progress further in the championship the number of races is increasing make it much harder for anyone to complete the game. The whole game gave me the feeling of a farmer's game. For every little reward you have to race. You will also spend a lot of time in the garage tweaking and customizing your car. If you are truly a farmer in online games, Juiced 2 gives you the opportunity to prove yourself that not only RPG's can be demanding but also racing games.
Online mode
Online feature is integrated in the Career mode. The Online Career and Crew offers the possibility to trade cars and DNA with other online users. Based on the log book specifications, the value of a car can be increased. This log book is actually a record which tells the current owner how many people have owned the car and what races had participate. There is also the Online betting system which allows the player to bet during the race, see how many people are betting on and against them and what are their odds. Juiced 2 is Games For Windows certified so the online feature will be common for PC and XBOX 360 users.
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