Juiced (series)

Juiced (of English. (To) juice, provided with energy ) is a racing game series from THQ. It was developed at the beginning of Acclaim, and then by Juice Games. Under this designation three games were released between 2005 and 2007, of which the first two games of the series have great similarities. The games appeared on numerous platforms, only the second part, Juiced Eliminator, was an exclusive release for the PSP.

After three releases THQ announced to discontinue the series due to poor sales figures. Overall, about three million units of the series have been sold.

The games are set in the Street Racer area. In all parts of it is about overcoming short racing events on road courses. The central element of the series is the tuning of vehicles. In each part there are a variety of tuning options designed to custom fit the own car. Another special feature is the large number of original licenses. In the games, there are a total of 56-92 real vehicles.

Genesis of the series

Juiced was originally designed by Acclaim as a competing product to the racing game series Need for Speed ​​and 2004 should appear on the market. Since Acclaim but fell during the development of the game in financial difficulties and eventually filed for bankruptcy, was the debt coverage the entire company inventory, including the title Juiced belonged, but not the game itself auctioned.

The game in its current state was one of the company find 4 games, the naming rights to Juiced, however, were left in Acclaim bankruptcy estate. THQ finally got the naming rights whether to purchase the Acclaim bankruptcy estate awarded adopted an agreement with Fund 4 games and had to develop the game from the studio Juice Games and improve. In the summer of 2005, including the title Juiced appeared on the market.

Juiced

Juiced (of English ugs to juice. Somewhat equipped with energy ) is a 2005 for Windows, Xbox and PlayStation 2, released Street Racer game that was developed by Juice Games and published by THQ. It is the first part of the Juiced series. The game was originally scheduled for 2004, but the bankruptcy of the original developer and the acquisition by THQ delayed the completion.

The game is similar to Need for Speed: Underground and similar titles. Accordingly, in addition to the driving of race involve tuning of vehicles has meaning. The player assumes the role of an unknown driver in the fictional American coastal town of Angel City. His goal is to arrive at the eight dominant race teams by building their own successful racing teams to respect.

The game includes exclusively licensed cars and tuning parts. According to the developer can be obtained by tuning about 7.5 trillion customization options realized.

Juiced: Eliminator

Juiced: Eliminator released in 2006 as the successor of Juiced, making it the second part of the Juiced series. It was developed as a competitor to the PSP Portable versions of the Need for Speed ​​series exclusively for the handheld game console PlayStation. The aim was taking advantage of the strong multiplayer capabilities of the platform.

The structure of the game is very similar to that of its predecessor. There are two key areas: Driving from racing and tuning of vehicles. The plot is identical to that of its predecessor. The player assumes the role of an unknown driver in the fictional American coastal town of Angel City. His goal is to arrive at the eight dominant race teams by building their own successful racing teams to respect.

Also for this game original licenses were used exclusively. This means that all vehicles and tuning parts that are shown in the game, also exist in reality.

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights is the third and last part of the racing game Juiced series, for a total of six platforms ( Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Windows, Xbox 360) was released in 2007. He was, like its predecessor, by Juice Games and published by THQ.

The game deals with the same themes as its predecessor: It's a Street Racer, in which not only the driving of race, tuning of vehicles plays an important role. It is based on the same tuning show in the USA. Compared to its predecessors Juiced 2 offers the greatest scope in the field of tuning options and the vehicles. Especially in the field of optics, it has been greatly expanded, as is possible, for example, apply sticker on almost all body parts. Significant changes were made to the career mode, for example, the race calendar was replaced by a league system and the races are now mainly take place at night.

End of the series

Official views of the series

Juiced 2 did not meet the sales expectations of THQ, information about the sales figures were not published. The games series but was officially set for this title. As a reason for the failure of the publisher called his request to the developer to develop the game for a total of six different platforms. This had led to a significant decrease in the control and technical problems as well as to a weaker graphics performance.

Rumours about Juiced 3

A few months later came conjectures on the basis of job, which will work at Juice Games on a new project. Some magazines went out of a sequel to Juiced 2. But as part of the austerity measures in THQ Group, this project was classified and stopped as too risky. An official confirmation if the selected project is a new part of Juiced series, failed to materialize, however.

Acquisition by Nordic Games

In December 2010, the Group THQ went bankrupt. In subsequent auctions, goodwill was auctioned. On 15 April 2013, the Swedish publisher Nordic Games acquired the rights to a total of approximately 150 titles, including the. Juiced to the series, for a total of 4.9 million U.S. dollars