Juiced (video game)

Juiced
Cover art featuring Mazda RX-8
Cover art featuring Mazda RX-8
Developer(s) Juice Games
Publisher(s) THQ
Director(s) Tim Preece
Designer(s) Richard Badger
Programmer(s) Rob Anderson
Artist(s) Andrew Bate
Platform(s) Windows
PlayStation 2
Xbox
Mobile phone
Release
  • NA: May 7, 2005 (Mobile)
  • NA: June 13, 2005
  • EU: June 17, 2005
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer, online multiplayer

Juiced is a racing video game by British studio Juice Games for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and mobile phone. The game was delayed for release in 2004 because its original publisher, Acclaim, went bankrupt. Juice Games and Fund 4 Games retained ownership of the property and sold the game to THQ, who funded the project for a further six months of improvements. In early 2006, British software publisher Focus Multimedia re-released the PC version of Juiced at a new budget price as part of its "Essential" games series. The game offers different modes including career and arcade that present the player with challenges of increasing difficulty. The player can customize the car to suit their style and unlock new ones in arcade mode. The game features nitrous boosts, similar to that of other racing games. Juiced went to number one in the United Kingdom MCV sales charts and its first version sold 2.5 million units.

Gameplay

Racing modes

There are four different racing types:

  • Circuit (standard racing in a closed track with a certain number of laps)
  • Point-to-point (standard racing in a track from a point A to a point B)
  • Sprint (drag race, speed race in a mostly straight line in which automatic transmission is disabled by the game so the player must change from gear to gear manually)
  • Showoff (timed event in which the player must do stunts in order to score points; the game includes a tutorial for these events, offered right before entering the car selection for the Showoff event and available in Main menu > Extras)

There are not only races in which every racer is a rival, but also crew races comprising two racers from one crew (2 vs 2 vs 2, as well as 2 vs 2), as well as composed of three members of the same crew (3 vs 3). In these races, all of the racers of one same crew must cross the line before any other crew does to win the race.

Crews and respect

There are eight crews in the game. If a bet is made for the first time with a certain crew, the phone contact of their leader will show up in the player's mobile phone. This is crucial in the game since the crews have a selection of three challenges only accessible through the mobile phone, which are necessary to complete the Career mode.

Each crew takes into account a certain achievement or failure from the player in order to increase or decrease their respect for them:

  • Urban Maulerz (led by T.K.) considers the wins and losses of the player in Circuit and Point-to-point races. The further away from the nearest rival in the race, the more respect acquired or lost.
  • A.W.B. (led by Biggi Mombassa) considers the wins and losses of the player in Sprint races. The further away from the nearest rival in the race, the more respect acquired or lost.
  • Vixens (led by Sue Yen) considers the number of points achieved in Showoff events by doing stunts, from a certain score target. The more points the player gets, the more respect is acquired; if the number of points achieved doesn't reach the score target, respect will be lost.
  • The Wild Cats (led by Maria) considers the wins and losses of the player in crew races.
  • Omega Tau (led by Jack Walker) considers the value of the most expensive car owned by the player.
  • Public Chaos (led by Melody) considers the value of the whole collection of cars owned by the player.
  • The Lordz (led by Poppa Zee) considers the wins and losses of the bets made in races; the riskier the bet according to the quantity of money the player has, the more respect acquired or lost.
  • Legion (led by Carlos Carillos) considers the wins and losses of Pink Slip races; the harder the rival, the more respect acquired or lost.

Also, there are four respect targets for all teams that allow the player to do the following:

  • From 100 of respect, the player will be allowed to witness races that take place in the crew's territory, as well as bet for a racer in them.
  • From 300 of respect, the player will be allowed to run in races that take place in the crew's territory.
  • From 600 of respect, the player will be accepted in pink slip races against the leader of the crew.
  • From 1000 of respect, the player will be allowed to host their own events that take place in the crew's territory.

100% game completion

If all of the eight crews have a respect score of 1500 or higher and the player achieves to complete all of their challenges, the game will be 100% complete, prototype parts will be permanently unlocked for all cars and a bonus Extreme Nitrous Series will be unhidden and unlocked in the Arcade mode.

Development

Juiced was originally intended to be published by Acclaim Entertainment, and released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC in late 2004. However, the game was caught up in Acclaim’s bankruptcy issues and never released by them. Game magazines around the world wrote reviews on nearly finished copies of the game. It was then picked up by THQ and published in 2005. During the development of Juiced, Acclaim filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy before Juiced was set for release in late 2004. It was picked up by THQ and further delayed as Juice Games was given more development time to refine the game.

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
mobilePCPS2Xbox
EdgeN/A6/10[1]
5/10 (Beta)[2]		6/10[1]
5/10 (Beta)[2]		6/10[1]
5/10 (Beta)[2]
EGMN/AN/A6.83/10[3]6.83/10[3]
EurogamerN/AN/AN/A6/10[4]
FamitsuN/AN/A29/40[5]N/A
Game InformerN/AN/A7.5/10[6]
5.75/10 (Beta)[7]		7.5/10[6]
5.75/10 (Beta)[7]
GameProN/AN/A[8][8]
GameSpotN/A6.1/10[9]6.3/10[10]6.3/10[10]
GameSpyN/A[11][12][12]
GameZoneN/AN/A6.5/10[13]7.4/10[14]
IGNN/A6/10[15]6.5/10[16]6.8/10[17]
OPM (US)N/AN/A[18]N/A
OXM (US)N/AN/AN/A8.1/10[19]
PC Gamer (US)N/A68%[20]N/AN/A
Detroit Free PressN/AN/A[21]N/A
The TimesN/A[22][22][22]
Aggregate scores
GameRankings77%[23]67%[24]68%[25]71%[26]
MetacriticN/A63/100[27]68/100[28]68/100[29]

Juiced received "mixed or average reviews" on all platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.[27][28][29]

Right before the bankruptcy issues by Acclaim, Lisa Mason of Game Informer gave the beta version of the game a score of 5.75 out of 10 in its October 2004 issue, stating that it "falls to the lower end of the goodness scale. [...] Depending on what I am doing, I yearn for any of the more-polished (and more playable) racing titles that it tries to emulate. Juiced's particular mix of sim and arcade racing is best summed up as a failed experiment."[7] After the THQ acquirement and redevelopment of the game, however, Mason raised the rating to 7 out of 10 in her Second Opinion in the magazine's July 2005 issue, calling it "an exponentially better game than it was when I reviewed it many months ago. Does that mean that it's a super awesome, edge of your seat thrill ride? Not so much, but it does have its charms and is a nicely varied street racer."[6] Matthew Kato of the same publisher agreed, giving the game a better score of 7.5 out of 10 and saying that it "certainly has the makings of an average street racer, with lots of customizables and affected street appeal."[6]

The Times gave the game four stars out of five and stated, "The gameplay is varied enough to maintain interest, and its clutch of quirky distractions adds to the experience. After all its development setbacks, it's definitely worth a spin."[22] The Sydney Morning Herald gave the PS2 version four-and-a-half stars out of five and said that it was "instantly approachable".[30] However, Playboy gave the same version 70%;[31] likewise, Detroit Free Press gave the similar version two stars out of four, criticizing the costly upgrades, but praising the musical selection that "features a nice mix of techno, rock and hip-hop."[21] In Japan, Famitsu gave the same console version a score of one eight and three sevens for a total of 29 out of 40.[5] James Farley regularly mentions Juiced on weekly podcast The Computer Game Show (Episodes 43, 44, 47, 52, 63, 64, 65, 66, 69, 98, 99, 101, 111 and 113, as of October 2018).

Sequels

In 2006, Juiced: Eliminator was released for the PlayStation Portable and mobile phones. Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights was released in 2007.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Edge staff (June 2005). "Juiced". Edge (150): 95.
  2. 1 2 3 Edge staff (November 2004). "Juiced [Beta]". Edge (142).
  3. 1 2 EGM staff (July 2005). "Juiced (PS2, Xbox)". Electronic Gaming Monthly (193): 110.
  4. ↑ Reed, Kristan (June 17, 2005). "Juiced (Xbox)". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  5. 1 2 "Famitsu #910 review scores". NeoGAF. May 10, 2006. Retrieved 2016-04-25.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Kato, Matthew (July 2005). "Juiced (PS2, Xbox)". Game Informer (147): 116. Archived from the original on November 11, 2005. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  7. 1 2 3 Mason, Lisa (October 2004). "Juiced [Beta] (PS2, Xbox)". Game Informer (138): 129. Archived from the original on November 21, 2007. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  8. 1 2 Funky Zealot (June 23, 2005). "Juiced (PS2, Xbox)". GamePro. Archived from the original on October 25, 2005. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  9. ↑ Navarro, Alex (June 13, 2005). "Juiced Review (PC)". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  10. 1 2 Navarro, Alex (June 13, 2005). "Juiced Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  11. ↑ Osborne, Scott (June 27, 2005). "GameSpy: Juiced (PC)". GameSpy. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  12. 1 2 Leeper, Justin (June 16, 2005). "GameSpy: Juiced". GameSpy. Archived from the original on January 8, 2006. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  13. ↑ Wrentmore, John (August 7, 2005). "Juiced - PS2 - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  14. ↑ Knutson, Michael (July 4, 2005). "Juiced - XB - Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on December 24, 2008. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  15. ↑ Lewis, Ed (June 10, 2005). "Juiced (PC)". IGN. Archived from the original on June 13, 2005. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  16. ↑ Lewis, Ed (June 10, 2005). "Juiced (PS2)". IGN. Archived from the original on June 13, 2005. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  17. ↑ Lewis, Ed (June 10, 2005). "Juiced (Xbox)". IGN. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  18. ↑ "Juiced". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 76. July 2005.
  19. ↑ "Juiced". Official Xbox Magazine: 83. June 2005.
  20. ↑ "Juiced". PC Gamer: 62. September 2005.
  21. 1 2 Toby, Al (August 14, 2005). "'Juiced' (PS2)". Detroit Free Press. Archived from the original on September 17, 2005. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Wapshott, Tim (June 18, 2005). "Juiced". The Times. Archived from the original on November 21, 2008. Retrieved 2014-11-30. (subscription required)
  23. ↑ "Juiced for Mobile". GameRankings. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  24. ↑ "Juiced for PC". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  25. ↑ "Juiced for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  26. ↑ "Juiced for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  27. 1 2 "Juiced for PC Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  28. 1 2 "Juiced for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  29. 1 2 "Juiced for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  30. ↑ Hill, Jason (June 9, 2005). "Conspiracy-laden plot". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  31. ↑ "Juiced (PS2)". Playboy. July 2005.
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