genti Mon Aug 24, 2009 9:42 am
It can be a damn shame when there's something that could've been cool, but with the fickle nature of fate it has been given a metaphorical kick to the curb. That may a bit melodramatic, but it's pretty much what has happened with Juiced. While the game isn't spectacular it would've received a much warmer welcome last year when the game was going to be released by Acclaim. Well, Acclaim bit the dust and THQ has picked up the game, but in the past year other titles have raised the bar and Juiced is looking even worse in comparison.
Since last fall we've seen the releases of Gran Turismo 4, Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed Underground 2, Burnout 3: Takedown, and Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition. These are all fine titles that cover the spread from simulation and realism to arcade and over-the-top action. Some of these games cover extensive street-style modifications on the cars such as body kits and decals aplenty. So now with Juiced entering into the street-racing fray it looks more and more like the little brother that's trying to be cool, but still needs some time to grow up a little.
To provide some flavor of the street culture, Juiced starts out with players choosing their name and group name as well as their cell phone. After that, there's a quick race against T.K., the leader of the Urban Maulerz crew. Win the race and a bet against him and players can start the game off with $47,000 in their pocket to buy a car and get going in their new life. The initial selection of a Volkswagen Beetle GLS 1.8T, a Honda CR-X, or Peugeot's 206 GTI is a little small at first, but more cars get unlocked as the game progresses.
After this initiation to the game the career mode is set up around a calendar that's filled up with different races on about half of the days. Some of these races are free , but most of them have an entry fee. Each race has a purse that can be claimed by the winners, but the bigger money can be made by making side bets against the other racers. So even if the player doesn't come in first, they can still clean p by beating the one person they bet against. Of course, they can also lose quite a bit of money and if players get stuck in a position with very little cash it can be hard to get out of that situation and one of the game's crucial flaws appears.
The cars can take damage in the different races and as such there is almost a tax on entering races due to the cost of repairs. By not winning a few races, losing a bet or two, and banging up the cars a bit, players can see their savings get close to zero. While mysterious strangers will always come in to help fix the cars if the player doesn't have enough money for even that so they can keep racing it's easy to get into a vicious cycle of not having enough money ever. Even worse is that later on in the game the free races get rarer and rarer so that once the player can't afford any of the races the only option is to skip through the whole calendar, day by day, and pray that a single free race will come up in which to get some cash to afford a much-needed upgrade. If that race gets shot, then it's another long wait.
http://rapidshare.com/files/236262442/Juiced-RIP.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/236280144/Juiced-RIP.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/236291286/Juiced-RIP.part3.rar
pass: dotcomwarez.com
