Xbox 360

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

However, that is perhaps Juiced 2’s charm. Better than the sum of its parts, the game offers an arcade experience with a little more room to muck around and a little more scope for customising things than is usually offered. Diehard racing fans who like games to be as deep and realistic as possible might want to look elsewhere. However, fans of games like Burnout and Ridge Racer would do well to check out Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights.

Kudos to Juice Games for putting a lot of well-spent time and effort into revitalizing the franchise.

Juiced 2's progress in numerous areas is blunted only by the short, uninspired tracks, which can affect the quality of the racing itself - something that's no small matter, I know. I find Project Gotham tracks have done better in giving player bite-sized, drift happy courses, but overall this game is the burst of speed that this genre needs.

At the end of the day Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights does a fantastic job at what it is meant to do. The single player career can be completed in about six hours depending on how good you are but that is just zipping through, then you can always go online. It includes a deep career mode (online and offline), some cool new features (although they don’t work perfectly), plenty of customization, neat looking graphics, and some good gameplay. All of that in one arcade racing game is plenty enough for me to warrant a full purchase, especially if you are a fan of street racing / drifting games like I am.

All said, Juiced 2 is an okay little racing game. There’s a lot of stuff built up around the actual racing—pictures of pretty girls, a frenetic soundtrack, and a whole Driver DNA mechanic that doesn’t really seem to do anything at all—but once you cut through all that to the content itself it actually ain’t half bad. The graphics aren’t going to blow you away, and there’s nothing here that’s going to dramatically change how you think about arcade racing, but that doesn’t stop Juiced 2 from being a fun ride. Challenges are plentiful offline with some interesting online options thrown in, and there is much cosmetic pimpin’ of rides to be had by those who crave it.

You really have to separate the HIN pageantry from Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights when trying to determine its contribution to the tuner genre. While the tie-in is nice for pushing units to a certain demographic, it does little to make or break Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights as a legit tuner game (mo-capping the HIN model/dancers was probably a blast though). On its own, Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is a decent tuner-style title that does everything okay. It won’t blow your socks off in any one area (expect maybe for some of its online functionality), but it will keep you satisfied while progressing through the career mode. Pick this one up if you need a fresh tuner fix, stat, or if the idea of winning pink slips or betting on races via Live gets your glycol boiling.

Juiced 2 : Hot Import Nights is a fun game with average graphics, and good for many hours of fun ... if this is your kind of game. Kudos (pun intended) to the drifting part which is a lot of fun, sadly enough the street races lack a bit of challenge. There's no doubt that the multiplayer will provide the most fun, but of course this wil require other people online playing this game ...

Juiced 2 n'est pas le jeu de courses de l'année mais il s'immisce tout doucement entre des titres moyens comme Import Tuner Challenge et des références comme Need For Speed. Les amateurs de tuning en auront pour leur argent, ceux qui cherchent avant tout un gameplay original resteront davantage sur leur faim.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is in a better position than its predecessor was when it comes to grabbing the attention of street racing fans. It has more depth, more balanced play and less competition from other racers. There are some problems with the driving controls and the genetics-based leveling-up system, but the online game is strong. All told, not a bad game to get behind the wheel of.

In the end with Juiced 2 we have a game that is much more enjoyable than Juiced was as it controls better (but still needs some work in that area) and is a fairly solid arcade street racing game. The gambling and ‘DNA' adds a new dimension to the racing genre and Juiced 2 has quite a bit going for it. Sadly there's also quite a bit working against it as well as nobody seems to be playing it online, the achievements are only for the hardcore fans and the A.I. needs work. Do I like night time street racing games? Generally, nope. Did I enjoy Juiced 2? Amazingly, while there are better, similar games available, yes I did enjoy it, but ultimately there's not enough to warrant a full priced purchase.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights has its share of strengths and weaknesses. The track design is generally pretty good and the layout of the Career mode is nice. However, some aspects of the car customization are poor and the controls could have used more tuning. If you love customizing cars and racing them, you'll find some things to like here. But certainly don't expect perfection.

Juiced 2 seems more like an expansion pack to the original than a true sequel. However, it's by far the best of the two. So if you don't own the original, this may be the one to get. For the rest of you, consider this a rental.

All that aside however, and you'll find Juiced 2 to be a competent, if hardly imaginative street racer. If you can get past its flaws, there is an enjoyable game to be found here. That said, if you aren't thrilled by street racing, you can give Juiced 2 a miss and look at some of the more competent competition that Juiced 2 challenges. It does everything Juiced 2 does, and does it better. At best, this is for revheads and Paul Walker wannabees who won't know any better. Give this one a miss.

"Juiced 2" não é um game ruim, mas levando em conta a quantidade de títulos semelhantes (e superiores), torna-se dispensável. Além de se basear em um tema amplamente explorado, o "street racing", o faz de um modo nada inovador. E, quando tenta implementar algo novo, como o "DNA", falha. No Xbox 360, vale pelo modo carreira online, mas no PS2, melhor fica com "Need for Speed" mesmo.

Hot Import Nights is the most impressive entry in the Juiced franchise yet, but this isn't saying much. The gameplay has improved but there are still a few problems which means only those who will get extreme joy from customising their vehicles should take a second look at Juiced 2.

So that's Juiced 2 - another polished, oily, neon-drenched street-racing game with bags of 'tude, some neat ideas, and a decent riff on the classic Ridge Racer drift handling. But with so many genuinely inspired driving games out there at the moment, the fact that Juiced 2 ended up merely solid is not enough when it needed a spark of inspiration to draw attention away from everything else out there. In summary, a good but never great game, and one you'd be well advised to play the demo of before you think about splashing the cash.

Regardless of which version of the game you're talking about, Juiced 2 is not a game that can really be recommended to anyone but the most vehement street racing junkies. Countless games have done what Juiced 2 does and done it better. While the 360 version's online career mode is a neat wrinkle to an otherwise flaccid game design, it isn't necessarily enough to carry the game all by its lonesome. At best, Juiced 2 is an OK rental, but it's not interesting enough to warrant a full-priced purchase.

Beyond its online career mode, there's not much that leads Juiced 2 to stand out from the pack. It's an unassuming street racer with few flaws, but at the same time, few outstanding qualities. Even the visuals don't inspire much, leaving Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights cold by morning

Juiced 2 looks...average. The generally urbanized environments and tracks are agreeable enough that they aren't a detriment. The vehicles are satisfactorily rendered and they do break up nicely during collisions, but they're nowhere near as refined or as clean as those in other high-end 360 racers. Ambitious? You bet. Worthy of your money? Maybe, if you can accept that racing is just one part -- and an inconsistent one at that -- of a very big picture.

Juiced 2 : Hot Import Nights ne parvient pas à transformer l'essai de son prédécesseur. Certes, les inconditionnels de l'esprit Juiced trouveront nombre de bonnes raisons de s'éclater sur ce nouvel épisode. Mais hormis le gameplay arcade et le jeu en ligne qui apportent leur lot de "good vibes", le résultat s'apparente à une accumulation de mauvais choix. Entre les options qui ne servent à rien, l'environnement aussi politiquement incorrect qu'un épisode de Julie Lescaut, les tracés répétitifs et les épreuves qui finissent par drifter en rond toutes seules, le mode Carrière s'essouffle à mesure qu'on progresse. Juiced 2 est finalement un jeu de course tout juste correct, face auquel les références du genre n'ont absolument rien à craindre.