Finally, a more normal game. Be warned, this one's kinda trashy.
Arcade racing games are a bit of a guilty pleasure for me, specifically the Need for Speed Underground era of street racing games. I wanted to scratch that itch with a game which I haven't played before, though I did play the original Juiced.
I think Juiced 1 is a very underrated game, which tried to bring some realism and some complexity into arcade racing. The driving physics were not forgiving, and it was easy to spin out of control when you're going fast in a Dodge Viper, which I loved. When you crash, your car's performance suffers, and you must pay cash to repair your car and to refill your nitrous after the end of a race. Some say this doesn't fit into arcade racing, but I enjoy this kind of stuff.
It's a bit like the Blacklist from NFS: Most Wanted, except instead of choosing between just different races, you actually choose between challenges like "Win a 300,000$ Spectator Bet" or "Accumulate 5,000,000 Drift Points" which is actually pretty interesting.
Juiced 2 also adds a lot of car customization features, which puts it on par with Need for Speed games of its time.
Sadly, they removed a lot of the realistic elements of Juiced 1. The cars all handle identically and very arcade-y, you don't pay for NItrous or for repairing damage, there is no calendar system, none of that. So you end up with a game that's *technically superior but does not have the soul of the original game.*
Plus, the presentation is very trashy, with mediocre bikini models on every loading screen, and shitty music. Technically, it's on par with my favorite Need for Speed games, but the lack of realism and the shitty sExY gIrLs makes it a mediocre game, *7/10*. Worth playing if you like arcade racers, otherwise don't bother.
