Just when we all thought people had stopped making street racing games, Juiced games have just decided to release Juiced 2 Hot Import Nights onto the next-gen consoles so we can all mod our cars within an inch of their lives and drift them around slippery streets at night looking cool and shouting things like ‘Yo Dude, Innit’ out of the window.
The end result of this one is an improved game over the first one with some added game features and ideas. It’s far from perfect though and I’ll explain why.
First of all, they’ve removed the calendar racing system and you now get to compete on circuits against a number of drivers, having to do tasks to move onto the next tier of races. These can be anything from getting 6 seconds of air or drifting to get a number of points. The good news is you can do more then one of these in a race and race less to move up the ladder faster.
They’ve also introduced the idea of driver DNA, recording traits such as calmness, aggressions and the like. This is supposed to reflect a driver’s behaviour but doesn’t influence a race as much as it should which is a shame.
When wanging your car round the corners you can also spook other drivers by driving up their rear end and making them sweat. This can make them spin out and is a nice touch.
Unfortunately, the driving and drifting sections give a totally different feel and it’s like driving in two completely different games. Cars can be quite skittish when you turn left or right, often resulting in driving into a wall and drifting feels like you’re on ice. You get the hang of it eventually but it doesn’t feel like you’re as in control as in games such as, say, Burnout.
When modding your car there are plenty of options to improve handling and you can just pimp up your ride with decals, neons and spoilers. These don’t effect your car but if you’re into the modding scene you’ll have lots of fun here.
To be honest it’s not my scene and as a racing game there are better ones out there but if you still feel the need to mod and race, this one’s for you. Juiced 2 just about squeezes a 6 out of 10.
