Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights (PSP)
- Publisher:
- THQ
- Developer:
- Juice Games
- Release Date:
- 09.10.2007
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Car
- Reality Factor:
- Realistic
- Extra:
- Streets
- Age:
- Modern Times
We play Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights...
The world of high-performance racing, flashy exteriors, loose handling and even looser women has been perfect fodder for arcade racing games ever since The Fast and the Furious turned a niche hobby into a multi-million dollar film. The Juiced series is just one of a range of games – with Need for Speed and those based on the aforementioned film being among the most successful – that have tried to replicate the cut-and-thrust world of street racing, and the latest instalment of Juice Games' franchise has hit the PSP.
Building on the success of the first game – a port of the original title for Sony's handheld systems – Hot Import Nights shares a subtitle, and many gameplay features, with it's older brothers. Based around HIN TV, an offshoot of the Californian car modding super-shows that give Juiced 2 it's name, the meat of the title is spent in an extensive and absorbing career mode that features a mammoth number of leagues, event and type of races – there's ten leagues, to be precise, set at ascending levels of difficulty, and you race against the same set of drivers throughout, which is great for establishing real competitive rivalries as you progress – especially as they might have won your car in a pink slip race.
Each tier features a burgeoning variety of races and competitions to enter – so much so that they can often be confusing. Broadly, though, they're based around either circuit or drift events, and each category of competition is an off-shoot of one of these. There's your basic circuit event, endurance racing, eliminator events – last place each lap is kicked off the track – and team races where you hire crew members to drive a second car on your behalf.
Last Man Standing ups the ante, not permitting you to hit barriers, and drift racing has a similar number of variations. Standard races challenge you to beat a target score, and Obliterator events require you to score more than other cars on the track lest you be eliminated early. Drift King asks you for the highest score over a set amount of time, and Drift Endurance challenges you to score the most points in a single drift. It is, at times, baffling – especially when you delve further into the various tiers of competition and the number and array of races becomes larger. Throughout the game a new 'DNA' system permeates, which evaluates your driving as you drift to figure out if you're conservative or outrageously dangerous when it comes to trying to win races. Every driver in the game has personalised DNA and goes some way to giving each racer an on-course personality of their own.
This extensive racing pedigree is matched by an equally impressive choice of cars and tracks. Plenty of motor companies are represented by several models, with Ford, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Audi, Fiat, Mitsubishi and even British stalwarts Mini getting a look in – among many other big names. The cars are all faithfully reproduced, even if the move to PSP does lose a little detail and mean that some models look slightly too curvaceous when compared to their real-life counterparts.
Each car has a performance range that indicates how they'll perform when you've bought them and their maximum potential – as each will only be able to race in a certain number of leagues, and you unlock more motors through progression. Tracks are based around several global locations, chiefly the US, London, Rome and Paris, with a few German circuits thrown in for good measure – and each environment has tracks for both circuit and drift racing. They're littered with landmarks that are shown off in fly-by introductions, but these tend to be lost in the intense speed of racing amid the neon, night-time setting and graphical weakness of the PSP compared to fully-sized systems.
The racing itself is accomplished and polished – you won't find much better handling on Sony's portable, with the sometimes infuriating miniature analogue stick being utilised very well indeed, with only a few races need to gauge the handling's sensitivity before you're throwing cars around corners and drifting with the best of them. There's little difference between the various models of cars, though, with a Ford Focus feeling broadly similar to a Nissan Skyline – Gran Turismo this isn't, and it's arcade all the way, which is perfect for a quick blast on the train or in a spare moment.
Of course, modding is vital to progression in Hot Import Nights. Visual alterations can be made that have little effect on your car's performance, from changing the rear wing to fitting larger wheels and garish bumpers. Under the bonnet, completing challenges unlocks more powerful upgrades to your engine, handling and weight distribution, but some of them are painfully difficult to unlock. Decals and paint-jobs alter the look of your car, and there's a huge variety of graphics to choose from to use decorating your ride although, obviously, personal choices reign.
If you're at all interested in the scene that this game pays homage to, then Juiced 2 is a worthy contender for the PSP's arcade racing crown – and is worth a look even if you're sceptical of chav-infested car shows because of the brilliant driving mechanics, enthralling career mode and variety of cars, tracks and races. A remarkable amount has been crammed in – dozens of cars, hundreds of moddable parts, hundreds of races and plenty of circuits, even though the first game managed plenty of this too. Wsell worth a purchase if you're into your drifting.
Top Game Moment: Drifting triumphantly around the final corner of a pink-slip race to beat your rival and win back the car you spent thousands making into such a formidable machine.
Building on the success of the first game – a port of the original title for Sony's handheld systems – Hot Import Nights shares a subtitle, and many gameplay features, with it's older brothers. Based around HIN TV, an offshoot of the Californian car modding super-shows that give Juiced 2 it's name, the meat of the title is spent in an extensive and absorbing career mode that features a mammoth number of leagues, event and type of races – there's ten leagues, to be precise, set at ascending levels of difficulty, and you race against the same set of drivers throughout, which is great for establishing real competitive rivalries as you progress – especially as they might have won your car in a pink slip race.
 |
 |
|
| That's a famous building. I think. |
Sponsor logos on your car net a 5% discount on their upgrades. |
Each tier features a burgeoning variety of races and competitions to enter – so much so that they can often be confusing. Broadly, though, they're based around either circuit or drift events, and each category of competition is an off-shoot of one of these. There's your basic circuit event, endurance racing, eliminator events – last place each lap is kicked off the track – and team races where you hire crew members to drive a second car on your behalf.
Last Man Standing ups the ante, not permitting you to hit barriers, and drift racing has a similar number of variations. Standard races challenge you to beat a target score, and Obliterator events require you to score more than other cars on the track lest you be eliminated early. Drift King asks you for the highest score over a set amount of time, and Drift Endurance challenges you to score the most points in a single drift. It is, at times, baffling – especially when you delve further into the various tiers of competition and the number and array of races becomes larger. Throughout the game a new 'DNA' system permeates, which evaluates your driving as you drift to figure out if you're conservative or outrageously dangerous when it comes to trying to win races. Every driver in the game has personalised DNA and goes some way to giving each racer an on-course personality of their own.
This extensive racing pedigree is matched by an equally impressive choice of cars and tracks. Plenty of motor companies are represented by several models, with Ford, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Audi, Fiat, Mitsubishi and even British stalwarts Mini getting a look in – among many other big names. The cars are all faithfully reproduced, even if the move to PSP does lose a little detail and mean that some models look slightly too curvaceous when compared to their real-life counterparts.
 |
 |
|
| Hitting barriers in drift events halve your points. |
Slippery snow circuits are perfect for drifting. |
Each car has a performance range that indicates how they'll perform when you've bought them and their maximum potential – as each will only be able to race in a certain number of leagues, and you unlock more motors through progression. Tracks are based around several global locations, chiefly the US, London, Rome and Paris, with a few German circuits thrown in for good measure – and each environment has tracks for both circuit and drift racing. They're littered with landmarks that are shown off in fly-by introductions, but these tend to be lost in the intense speed of racing amid the neon, night-time setting and graphical weakness of the PSP compared to fully-sized systems.
The racing itself is accomplished and polished – you won't find much better handling on Sony's portable, with the sometimes infuriating miniature analogue stick being utilised very well indeed, with only a few races need to gauge the handling's sensitivity before you're throwing cars around corners and drifting with the best of them. There's little difference between the various models of cars, though, with a Ford Focus feeling broadly similar to a Nissan Skyline – Gran Turismo this isn't, and it's arcade all the way, which is perfect for a quick blast on the train or in a spare moment.
Of course, modding is vital to progression in Hot Import Nights. Visual alterations can be made that have little effect on your car's performance, from changing the rear wing to fitting larger wheels and garish bumpers. Under the bonnet, completing challenges unlocks more powerful upgrades to your engine, handling and weight distribution, but some of them are painfully difficult to unlock. Decals and paint-jobs alter the look of your car, and there's a huge variety of graphics to choose from to use decorating your ride although, obviously, personal choices reign.
 |
 |
|
| Merry Old London – blink and you'll miss it. |
The action is often Fast and Furious. |
If you're at all interested in the scene that this game pays homage to, then Juiced 2 is a worthy contender for the PSP's arcade racing crown – and is worth a look even if you're sceptical of chav-infested car shows because of the brilliant driving mechanics, enthralling career mode and variety of cars, tracks and races. A remarkable amount has been crammed in – dozens of cars, hundreds of moddable parts, hundreds of races and plenty of circuits, even though the first game managed plenty of this too. Wsell worth a purchase if you're into your drifting.
Top Game Moment: Drifting triumphantly around the final corner of a pink-slip race to beat your rival and win back the car you spent thousands making into such a formidable machine.
