It has it's good points and its frustrating points, but it's certainly a step up from the first Juiced.
Modifying cars is a big part of the genre, and Juiced does allow for some customization - but nowhere near as much as i expected, and probably not enough to lure away the Need For Speed fans. Typically speaking, every car has 3 visual modifications that can be made on four categories - hood, front bumper, rear bumper, and side skirts. Then they throw in a bunch of rims and tires, and a 50 layered decal system, and they hope that you'll be satisfied.
Performance modification is also slightly different then similar games. Instead of unlocking mods during the progression of the game, you simply perform challenges to unlock the parts - right from within the modification menu. This feature kind of reminds me of the Gran Turismo series, because they feel sort of like license tests. Its normally a sprint to a finish line that must be performed in a certain time, or a race against a much better car that is handicapped and must wait a few seconds before it can start to race you. There is plenty of variety in the challenges, but it almost seems like a waste, because most of them are extremely easy, with only one or two actually posing a challenge - and those ones seemed to be abnormally difficult.
There is at least a good variety in race types, and each competition level in the career mode tends to have a few of every kind, so that way you can mostly perform achievements on the types of races you are better at. Race types include your standard Circuit runs, along with variations thereof; Elimination Circuit races drop the player in last place with each lap, while the Last Man Standing races drop players if they collide with walls. Each of the Circuit races also has an option to be in either standard single race, championship, or tournament modes - championships are several tracks with multiple racers, whose places on each track gets averaged at the end, while the tournament mode pits one racer against another mono a mono style, until all the racers have competed, losers drop out from the tournament and winners progress, until the winner is determined.
And that doesn't include the new Drift races! Drift races are now in, and borrow heavily from former entries in the Need For Speed series. There are a few variations, similar to that of the circuit courses with championship and tournament variations, but also in the rules of the race. Some races are done solo, you just have a set score to beat and if you beat it, you win. Sometimes there is a variation on that rule, where you have to score all the points in a single drift. Other variations include drifts where your competitors are on the track with you and your going for a high score, and legitimate races where you must maintain a certain number of points each lap AND try to cross the finish line first.
Now, in case all those types weren't varied enough, you also have Pink Slip, Crew Mode, Endurance Mode, Extreme Nitrous, and Muscle Car factors which can modify the rules of that race type. Pink Slip races mean you loose your car if you loose - and if you try to turn off your console and load to avoid loosing your car, the game will load without your car there - so no trying to fool it. Crew mode lets you pick your one or two teammates to race with you, and average your places together to determine your placing. Endurance races are the same as normal races or drift events, except they last much longer. Extreme Nitrous events give you much more Nitrous to use, which ends up resulting in you almost always pressing the Nitrous button and shooting across the screen way too fast. Muscle Car races just restrict the car you can use in the race to good old American muscle.
So, needless to say, game play is quite varied.
And that brings me to the last detail, the car list. In terms of this type of game, the car list is nicely fleshed out. We've got cars from just about every maker you can think of popping in here and there, from Honda to Saleen. Classic tuner cars like the Civic, Eclipse, Supra, etc. are in, and some nice exotics like the S7 and Zonda made the cut, as well as classic Muscle cars like the Camaro, GTO, and Gran Turino. Overall, i found the mix of cars to be quite compelling, although i stuck with mostly one car for the entire game, the Pontiac G6. (As far as i know, Juiced 2 is the first racer to feature it on PS2.)
The only real downside to the game, besides lack of free roam and police chases, was the fact that sometimes to progress from one competition level to the next, you had to complete one or two too many tasks - that is to say, you'll have to be able to win a drift race here and there - you can't rely solely on your circuit racing ability to beat the game. This ended up being a big downfall for me, because sometimes there were races i would have to try about a dozen times to progress, but in the end i started to get the hang of all the game modes, so it turned out just fine.
Graphically, Juiced 2 is nothing special. Cars look good enough that you know immediately what they are when you see them in the shop, unless you've plastered them with decals, and the environment is nicely varied, with different styling based on where the race is being held. (Which is an enormous step up from the previous Juiced.) Sounds are rather generic, but solid enough to not make you cringe constantly. There is essentially no soundtrack, everything is generic rock music probably composed in-house for the game - some people will prefer this to 'EA Trax', while others will be upset that they don't get to hear their favorite artist while they race.
Of course, the entire game sort of feels like an advertisement for you to go to a Hot Import Night's convention; but what do you expect when they plaster their name on the cover like that? It doesn't really intrude on the game play, and they were nice enough to include a free admission ticket to one of their future events, so even if you are interested, you wont waste any money going to it.
All in all i think Juiced is a decent game, but i was hoping for something a bit better. At its $40 price tag, though, its a solid title to hold you over until Gran Turismo 5 or the next Need For Speed game arrives.
And just in case you were wondering - here's the car list.
(As copied from the forum post by mistah_bowwah)
Acura Integra Type R
Acura NSX
Acura NSX 2004
Acura RSX
Ascari KZ1
Audi S3 2007
Audi S3 2002
Audi TT 1.8 Turbo Quattro
Audi TT Coupe
BMW M3
BMW M3 GTR
BMW Z4
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Chevrolet Camaro Z28
Chevrolet Corvette 1968
Chevrolet Corvette Z06
Chevrolet Corvette Z51
Citroen C2
Dodge Charger R/T 1969
Dodge Charger R/T 2007
Dodge SRT-4
Dodge Viper GTS
Dodge Viper SRT-10
Fiat Coupe 2.0 Turbo
Ford Mustang 1967
Ford Focus SVT
Ford Gran Torino
Ford Mustang 99 GT
Ford Mustang GT 2005
Ford Falcon
Holden Monaro
Honda Civic SI
Honda Civic Type R 2002
Honda CRX
Honda NSX
Honda NSX 2004
Honda S2000
Hyundai Tiburon
Infiniti G35
Koenigsegg CCX
Lexus IS300
Lotus Exige
Mazda MX5
Mazda RX-7
Mazda RX-8
Melling Hellcat
Mitsubishi 3000GT
Mitsubishi Eclipse 2003
Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX 1999
Mitsubishi Eclipse GT 2006
Mitsubishi FTO
Mitsubishi Evo 8
Mitsubishi Evo X
Mini Cooper S
Nissan 200SX
Nissan 300ZX
Nissan 350Z
Nissan Silvia
Nissan Skyline R32
Nissan Skyline R33
Nissan Skyline R34
Pagani Zonda
Peugeot 206
Plymouth Barracuda
Pontiac Firebird Pontiac G6
Pontiac GTO Pontiac GTO Judge 69
Renault Clio
Renault Megane
Saleen S7
Saleen Mustang
SEAT Leon Cupra
Subaru Impreza WRX 2002
Subaru Impreza WRX STI 2005
Toyota Celica 1.8
Toyota Celica GT4
Toyota MR2 1994
Toyota MR-S 2004
Toyota Corolla GT-S
Toyota Scion (tC)
Toyota Supra Mk4
TVR Sagaris
Vauxhall Astra
VW Beetle
VW Golf R32
VW Golf GTI