Juiced: Eliminator

Of course, you can't win respect if you don't have money. Betting factors heavily into Eliminator; while winning a race usually means a cash reward, you can soften the blow of second place by wagering against a racer you know you can beat. All that money can be spent on buying upgrades, body modifications or new cars, and mod-happy players will even be able to fiddle with the gear ratios and chassis height.

Watch out, though - bashing your car around too much during races actually affects performance, and once your nitrous leaks out and your steering goes wonky, things get a lot harder. Thankfully, though, you won't have to spend money to repair and maintain your cars; that's done automatically after each race.

After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.