If you're a gamer, chances are good that you've seen or played a game that features "squad-based" elements, in which you control not only your virtual self, but the actions of a few of your comrades. Most of the games that fall into this category are tactical shooters like SOCOM and Rainbow Six 3, but there's about to be a new addition to the genre: the squad-based racer. Acclaim is currently hard at work on Juiced, the street racing game that will let you build a crew and take to the streets in an effort to be the top dog of the underground scene.

You can be sure, however, that building a crew isn't as easy as simply going out and finding someone with a car. There's only one thing that can make people join you, and that's respect. As in life, it's hard to get ahead if you don't have people's respect, whether it be potential crew members, or the leaders of your rival crews. The best way to gain respect, of course, is by being the best racer on the road, crossing the finish line first and with a minimum of damage to your car, as well as to your opponent's ride.


There's another good way to earn the respect and street cred you so desperately need, and that's by creating the most macked-out ride possible with the limited funds you start the game with. As in most underground street racing games, the variety of choices is simply mind-boggling. According to the developer, Juice Games, you can take your pick from one of 47 cars which are divided into 8 classes from family compacts to high performace imports, then trick them out in whatever fashion you see fit. I was told that there will be nearly 7.2 trillion (yes, that's a 13 digit number) possible combinations when you consider all of the possible style and performance modifications. This guarantees that if you play online, you'll never see the same car twice.

If you see a car you like, however, it can be yours. In both the single-player and online multiplayer modes, you can join pink slip races, in which the winner gets the loser's car. In the online game, you'll be able to download a copy of your felled opponent's ride onto your hard drive, thus adding it to your garage. The only difference between the online and offline modes is that if you lose while online, your car won't actually be taken from you. However, if you lose to the computer in career mode, your wheels will be gone with the wind.


There are a lot of race types in addition to the pink slip races. When playing through the career mode, you are presented with a calendar that features all of the days that have races. On these days, you might be able to compete in a circuit race or a point-to-point race, or a simple fast 'n furious drag race over a short course.