Juiced: Eliminator review

What do you get when you take a year-old PS2 game, add some badly needed upgrades, toss in some wireless multiplayer and throw it all on the PSP? You get Juiced: Eliminator, a game that manages to outrace its console cousin in pretty much every single way, but sputters out before reaching greatness.

Like all elite underground street racers, your life starts off at the bottom of the food chain. You're given a basic car and a few thousand bucks, and from there you're on your own. Two things are needed to take on the big boys: money and respect, both of which you earn by winning races.

Money can be used to trick out your ride with a mind-boggling array of aftermarket parts and mods. Publisher THQ has gone out and licensed a ton of real-life brands, so if you know your Rage from your AEM, you're going to have a field day with the customization. Besides individual parts and pieces, you can even upgrade your car with system-wide packages, change its paint job and apply decals and other vinyl decorations.

But money can't buy you everything, and that's where respect comes in. The system is simple: win races or come in second, and you'll get noticed by the eight "crews" who run Angel City's street-racing scene. With the right amount of respect, they'll eventually start inviting you to their racing events. Each crew is interested in different things, though; one might be impressed by a nice car, while another will pay attention to how well (or how recklessly) you bet your money against the other racers.