Juiced

Juiced is a racing video game for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and mobile phone. The game was delayed for release in 2004 because of its original publisher Acclaim going bankrupt. The game was then picked up by THQ, and further delayed as changes were made to it.

In early 2006, UK software publisher Focus Multimedia re-released the PC version of Juiced at a new budget price point as part of its "Essential" games range.

The game offers many different modes including a career mode and arcade mode that present the player with challenges which gradually gets harder. A player can customize the car to suit their style and unlock new ones (by unlocking in arcade mode). A special feature added was the use of nitrous as expected since it is similar to other racing games which have the feature. This can be particularly useful for when the player is behind an opponent or is behind time, but the AI can also use the nitrous oxide.

The game system itself is highly inspired by Need for Speed: Underground (which is inspired by the Shutokou Battle series), but the racing styles are realistic, similar to PlayStation's Gran Turismo. Damage is also distinctively visible in Juiced, and must be repaired before the player can tune up the car.

Gameplay
There are four different Racing types, that include:

Circuit: Standard racing, complete circuit within the set number of laps.

Point-to-point: Race from start to finish.

Sprint: A Drag Race (manual controller only), you race three opponents in a three heat series race, total of points after each heat determines the winner.

Showoff: Timed race. You earn points by performing various tricks such as: Donut Spins, Bootleg Turns, 360's, J-Turns, Drifting, etc.

With every win and/or loss, you gain/lose reputation with other racing crews, the rep you get from the crew leaders will you be rewarded with the following,

Attend (Requires: 100 Respect Points):- You are given the right to watch the race (useful to learn a few tricks).

Race (Requires: 300 Respect Points):- You are given the right to race in the crews race (Provided that the player's car meets the requirements and/or you have the money to participate).

Pink Slip (Requires: 600 Respect Points) :- You are given the right to race for the Pink Slip of a rival crew member's car (your car is also put on the line).

Host (Requires: 1000 Respect Points):- You are given the right to host a race within the Crew territory (if you have enough money to create the event).

Losing Rep points may take the privilege away.

Gain Respect By

Performance in the race (position, time gap as a leader, style).

Gambling (money and Pink Slip).

The appearance of your car.

Your car collection.

Lose Respect by

Performance in the race (position, time gap, held responsible for damaging opponents cars).

Gambling (if you fail to meet your opponent's preferred bet).

The appearance of your car.

Your car collection.

Damaging an opponent's car in a race.

Extra Challenges

You can do extra challenges in the game that Crew leaders have set up, to attend: call the crew leader and ask for the challenge, each leader has three challenges: Best lap, Speed, Skill, etc. However the event may require a specific car (no class rating), you must have that car in order to compete in that event. You won't lose respect points after the race, win or lose. If you can complete the race without failing, you'll earn some cash and respect points from the crew leader.

Racing Crews
In Angel City, there are eight racing crews that all have different racing styles and respects different forms of racing. These crews include:

At the Start of the game, you only have enough respect to attend and race on T.K's area. The AWB, Vixens, The Wild Cats will respect your circuit racing until you have the privilege to race in their area.

Unpublished Acclaim Entertainment version
Juiced was originally intended to be published by Acclaim Entertainment, set to be released for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC in late 2004. However, the game got caught up in Acclaim’s bankruptcy issues, and never got released. Game magazines around the world wrote reviews on nearly-finished copies of the game. The game was then picked up by THQ and published in 2005.

Gameplay and features
The player can choose a wide variety of car modifications, such as visual modifications, performance modifications and more. All of these customization options provide a personalized and unique car to suit the player’s needs. The gameplay offered to the player includes a career mode, sprint, race, solo, cruise, and a new show-off mode where the player does tricks with his or her car to keep the crowd entertained.

A feature that was seen in other car modification games, such as Need For Speed: Underground, was a nitrous button, which was useful if the player was far behind the competition and needed a little boost. This feature was also presented in Juiced.

The original version of Juiced affords 6 game modes:
 * Career – this is the main point of the game – to race so you can clock the game
 * Sprint – this mode offers an A to B race
 * Race – this mode is simply to race around the track with 6 other AI-driven cars, and beat them
 * Solo – this mode is simply to race by yourself
 * Cruise – this mode is where you drive around a selected track, with no time limits or lap counts
 * Show-off – in this mode you drive around the track and perform tricks such as a "burnouts", 360-degree "doughnuts" and so on, to keep the crowd entertained.

Acclaim’s bankruptcy issues
During the development of Juiced, Acclaim got caught up in their financial issues and eventually filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy before Juiced was set for release in late 2004. Delays were made as Juice Games did not have a game publisher to publish Juiced, but then THQ picked it up and published the game instead. More delays were made as Juice games changed the game completely so THQ would publish it.

Copies of the game and promotional items
After Acclaim went bankrupt, they held an auction to sell everything they owned that had a reasonable value. Most of the promotional posters were destroyed, but a number of them made it out and were sold along with a few of their other items that were auctioned at the time. The promotional posters are highly coveted around the world today, and a whole set of them was seen on Ebay America in early February 2007. Copies of the game can be made illegally, but no originals are known to be at the hands of the public at this time.

Controversy
There has been controversy over an advertisement made to promote Juiced, depicting a nude woman. Further issues have not been reported.