Juiced has been given an extreme makeover
The first iteration in the Juiced series received average reviews amongst the media due its lack lustre approach towards car customisation, a poorly designed career mode and a slew of repetitive courses. The relatively poor game sales of Juiced came at a time when the video game industry was suffering as a whole from low consumer spending and whilst many publishers only just managed to keep their heads above water, Juiced publisher, Acclaim Entertainment filed for bankruptcy shortly before the game was released. THQ stepped in to acquire the Warrington firm and set them back on track, giving the firm the freedom to spread their wings and tap into THQs' resources and studio support.
The security of having such a financially stable publisher in tow has allowed Juice Games to expand on the series and concentrate fully on improving flaws that they openly admit to in the original title. In addition, Juice has been able to beef up their existing team of designers and animators to create a much improved sequel which is almost unrecognisable from the original Xbox game.
Times have moved on and the videogame market is buoyant once again after the introduction of next-gen consoles, so Juice Games have stepped up to the challenge once again and will be competing with other racing titles such as PGR4, Forza Motorsport 2 and Burnout 5 in 2007. I wasn't a huge fan of Juiced first time around, but Juiced 2 has been given an extreme makeover in almost every aspect and this time they're ready to take on the big boys.
Click for larger imageFirst off, the sequel has been given a flamboyant new name, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights. The name derives from the male-orientated extravagant auto show that travels across the US showing off the best modified cars against a backdrop of scantily clad women and DJ's who pound out the latest dance tracks. Juice Games have drawn their inspiration from this stimulating mix of babes, music and cars and now claim that Juiced 2 will be 'the evolution of the street racing genre'.
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