NOW this is how a racing game should’ve been back in the PS2 era. Street cars, racing in the cities, bumping soundtrack, everything in between to customize your car and gain respect to every member. This game was one that helped me get into cars and street racing as a teen back in the 2000s (not that I did it but enjoyed watching it). This was a game that defined my childhood and one that I still enjoy from time to time. Juiced for the PlayStation 2

Graphics: 8
During the PlayStation 2 era graphics have significantly improved and game engines are evolving. Juiced came out in June 2005 and the graphics were pretty good. Cars looked nearly identical to their real life counterparts, tracks look great with the day and night system in placed to give it some atmosphere. The character faces are somewhat… they look hollow when you look at the eyes like they’re lifeless at times. The characters each have their own personality and structures well. Crowds during the races look like a mix of 3D and 2D cut out boards. The buildings are rendered so well and there’s barely any draw distance in the game. Background always look beautiful from the skies to the sun and to even the trees and railing. One thing that got me impressed though are the damages. Every time your car or opponent’s vehicle gets damaged it shows and it doesn’t look jagged or exaggerated. The vehicles look like the way it should be damaged and nothing really looks out of placed. Colors and designs look natural and even billboards and ads (though they’re mostly car advertisements like Honda or Toyota and some part manufacturers like Venom or BBS). Overall with some imperfections with character models… the game looks very clean and beautiful for its time

Sound: 10
NOW this is one of the best aspects of the game. The soundtrack itself is nothing short of great. So many memorable songs from this game and so many genres it gives this game so much life and character. This game had some great bangers (Signs or Life, Back to Basics, Roll Along) that I even have some into my playlist. From Rock to Rap and even Disco, this wide range has something to suit for anyone’s taste. I highly recommend the songs
Other than songs the cars sound beautiful, the engine roaring, the crashing and voices don’t sound compressed. The one flaw will be voices over the phone giving it a bit too fuzzy sound but that’s not an issue when everything else is on point.
Overall with the music and sounds, it’s near perfect for its time and I do enjoy it so much.


Addictive: 8
If you’re a racing fan you’ll enjoy this game. Many cars to choose from and quite a bit of customizations you can easily spend a few hours on it. The best part though is the racing and with a few game modes there’s quite a bit of replay on this game and overall it’s a game that can keep you playing for a long time

Story and Depth: 9
Mixing both we two since they’re basically in one game mode and don’t want to repeat. This game offers quite a few game modes. From Career, Arcade, Quick Race, Split Screen, Online (defunct).
Starting the game it prompts you to enter a name (any name you want to be called) a set of phones for use of career mode and a logo to represent your player and crew. Though with options how does one race? There a few race types you have to get used to as playing one of the game modes
Circuit- Racing around a track for a certain amount of laps. Winner is whoever completes all the laps and crosses the line first.
Point to Point- A race to Point A to Point B. Drivers maneuver in a path to reach the destination and winner is determined by whoever crosses the line first.
Sprint: Short race that lasts for seconds from point A to Point B. Usually in a straight line and whoever is the fastest, crossing the line first is the winner. Though the twist is that it goes by three heats and point accumulation. Overall whoever earned the most points in the three heats is the victor of the Sprint Event.
Show off- A path out of racing, only in career mode. One must do tricks like J-Turns, 180 spins, boot legs, drift and speed (name a few). It’s to show off your skills with cars and design. No winners, though you must hit the target score. Hitting the score does earn you respect.
Pink Slip- Career Mode only. You race with another driver for keeps. Winner of the race will not only get cash and respect, but will also take the loser’s car. Only for the skilled and confident.
Challenges- Career mode only. Rivals can set up challenges for you to do. Gain respect from them and increase your skills to be a better driver with specific cars. From taking a lap without damaging your car to beat the time limit, it is quite challenging to say the least. You must have the required cars needed to participate the challenges.
Crew Racing- Career mode only. You can race up to a 4v4 crew race where winner is determined by all their crew members hitting the finish line first.

Career- you arrived at this fictional city called… well Angel City, with its many districts, and you meet a guy name T.K. He lends you your vehicle and lets you race to see how well your skills are. After victory or defeat, you get treated to the car shop, which is just a list of cars with price, condition, horse power, and either RWD, FWD or AWD. Each car have their own perks and cons from either being a Tuner, Muscle, Exotics. For you to get a name in the streets you must enter events that are sponsored by a rival at their home turf. Each rival have a specific interest in events/cars and are varied by skill

T.K- Circuit racing is his game. Well rounded skills and his tracks are resided in the San Ricardo area

Biggi- no not Biggi the rapper. Average skills to say the least. His interest comes from Sprint races and his racing turf is resided in Campbell hills.

Maria- a difficult driver to face against. Crew racing is her specialty and her tracks are usually in the Northern area of Angel City.

Sue- She likes to show off her cars and is more about Show off events than racing. An easy driver who’s located in the downtown area.

Jack- A serious driver with some serious cars (silver). He’s more about cars looking good with his tracks located in Angel west side. His skills are great but not as great as Maria.

Melody- A decent driver who prefers any cars. Her love of cars is what gives you respect as you gain a collection. Her skills are decent for a run of your money. Her tracks are located in Southside beach

Poppa Zee- If you got the skills, you got what it takes to race against him. He’s one of the better drivers to face against and his love of gambling and muscle cars is what earns you respect, long as you win your bets. He’s residing in the East Angel Island.

Carlos- one of the best drivers in the game. Not a man to face against in Pink slips unless you’re up for a challenge. His location is West Anderson

With these drivers you must gain respect to able to race in their turf, access challenges from them over the cell, pink slip races against them and even hosting events in their turf after a race to prove them you’re worthy. Respect is gained by doing well on their interests whether be race events, gambling or pink slips. Challenges help you earn respect too. Losing will of course lose respect and any damages you cause to your opponent will also penalize you for lack of awareness. There’s really no goal to career mode other than entering events and gaining cash from winnings. Some events even offer special prototype parts that’ll help you gain the edge for your current vehicle, equipping with parts that are above expectations and help you land in special prototype events. Some events are locked, needing specific criteria like “class, car manufacturers, car type, respect”. You can even host your own events and either spectate or race in it against the other drivers.


But wait what about cars? The game does offer 52 cars, which was a decent amount back in the day but not really a huge selection. From the CR-X to Skyline GT-R or even a Dodge Viper, you can customize each car’s looks and performance to make it look flashy and tune up its horse power and performance. Though it’s not always the best to have every car maxed out with some cars being better at a different class. What are classes? Basically it determines which cars can race together in a certain criteria depending on horse power. Class 8 being the lowest and class 1 being the highest. The amount of detail in the cars are pretty good and there’s limitless possibilities for you to customize your vehicles.

Once you start winning you get earnings which you can spend upgrading your vehicle’s performance, looks, or buy a new vehicle. Though what if you’re strapped in cash or can’t race with a damaged vehicle? You can spectate races and gamble on who you think can win and watch your money rise or fall. If you need extra money and the earnings aren’t enough you can always make a bet among one of the racers for cash and winner gets the pooled money. However the driver you’re betting against will have their skills improved a bit as a way to make it difficult for you to win at times. Overall career mode is quite enjoyable and there’s so much to do, especially when you can unlock cars for single player as you progress and new cars are available for you to buy from the car shop to drive on career mode.

I don’t want to race or there are races that need two vehicles or more. Fear not as the career mode progresses you get a call from three people who want to join your crew. Sure they’re… mediocre but with races under their belt and wins they become better and start driving with more confidence and skill. They’re not totally sim since you need to control your member by how they’re driving. Whether normal, cautious or aggressive. Cautious slows them down and take a lap without any issues. Normal is driving with speed without any stress. Aggressive is when they’re driving fast and turning a bit more recklessly which may cause them to spin out. Aggressive driving also let’s them use nitrous (wait there’s nitrous?) until it’s out or you lower their driving. It’s a quick way to make money if they’re skilled and able to attend crew races.



Arcade is a game mode which have different series consisting of five races each. They all have a predetermined track and vehicle ready for you to use and depending on which series your on, difficulty varies. This is a great way to unlock tracks and vehicles for use of single player and help you get a better feel of racing without the drawbacks of career mode.

Single player mode is just what it is. Choosing any unlocked cars from a list of 52 and drive around any tracks that you have unlocked during your venture in career and arcade (unless you have the cheat code) and you can choose from Circuit, Sprint, Point to point either with many track options and even reverse. Clearly something you can have fun for a few hours if you want a more casual play.

Multiplayer is basically the same as Single player in terms of game modes. A list of cars and which tracks to choose from. Though I have not much to say about online since I never played it and it’s defunct these days.

Difficulty: 8
You may start or in career and go “hey this is easy” but the difficulty curve increases so much. Especially with more better cars they’re harder to control and turn, usually spin outs and the AI becomes ruthless as they take laps around you if you’re not sure how to handle your vehicle. This is a game which you must improve in order to advance with better cars.

Overall this game isn’t as great as need for speed games but this was surely a blast to play. One downside is the car selections, the viper being the best. The turning and such is a bit too hard to maneuver with FWD and the tracks tend to take too sharp of turns (depending which track) tho overall this game is underrated, buried under major racing titles and it’s a shame. I mean it did sold well enough to make a sequel but there’s probably never going to be another game that’ll over this much fun like Juiced. The soundtrack I highly do recommend listening as it’s one of the best I heard from any game.

Overall: 8.6
My rating : 9.0