| Split/Second by Black Rock Studios |
 Version reviewed: Split/Second Good: |  System requirements:A fully working Xbox 360 |
Racing games have been an important part of a gamer's life ever since the early arcade days when you’d control spaceships and tried to avoid asteroids. Later on, cars took their place and the limits of computer generated reality kept on expanding. Black Rock Studios is pushing forward into the racing simulators business and it does a pretty good job at it with the Split/Second.
Races with simple goals where you must drive as fast as you can between the start and the finish line will soon fade from memory.
Split/Second is one of the few games where explosions, collapsing buildings that can change the race track, helicopters that shoot missiles at you and even trucks loaded with tumbling exploding barrels, seem to blend perfectly with chaos and control.
Story
The story of the game is simple and yet very entertaining, giving you thrills before each race. The setting will take you somewhere in the near future, where entertainment comes with high expectations. To please more and more adrenaline junkies, a show like never before was created.
Here, every competitor has to do their best to cross the finish line in a made-for-TV city set (rigged to blow up in any second) with the ultimate goal of becoming the season champion. What gives life to this show is the fact that in order to win you have to take out your opponents using well-timed explosions.
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Gameplay
Starting from the reality TV show premise, the game is divided into 72 events across 12 episodes, with different modes available.
Drivers race and try to throw opponents off the track to gain a higher position. The higher you’re ranking after each race, the higher the number of points achieved. With these points you’ll be able unlock better and faster cars.
Speed is not everything in Split/Second, players don’t just have to race and collide, they can also use tactics to trigger certain events that can have a devastating impact on the track, altering it to your advantage or, in some cases, set you back in the competition.
This is done through power plays. A meter counter fills up when you drift, draft, jump or perform other stunts along the race, allowing you to use simple or more complex power plays.
Power plays can vary from a helicopter that drops an exploding barrel, to a huge digging machine that swings around or (cooling) towers/cruise ships that crash on your opponents. Vehicles and event locations are highlighted with blue icons for level one, and red icons for level two, more powerful, power plays.
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Every time you use a power play the meter will reset and you’ll have to charge it again. Some of these high-tech “traps” can only be used once in a race (truck explosions), while others (exploding barrels) are available each lap.
Something I found really fun, were the shortcuts. You can enable a shortcut just as you would a simple power play. Not only you can gain a higher ranking, but you can also wreck some opponents, as the “doors” that opened the shortcut will immediately shut after your entrance, leading others seeking a free ride to a crash. This can go both ways, though, as opponents can push you aside when you open a shortcut and take your place, leaving you hung out to dry.
The things that make this game so entertaining are the different modes available. In one mode, Survival, you'll have to race on a given track, while competing within a time limit and facing series of trucks that drop barrels to stop you from reaching the finish line. Blue barrels will take away seconds and red barrels result in instant death. Every time you overtake a truck, extra seconds will be added to the timer. The first impact you take after the timer reached zero, will end the race.
Air Attack, another cool mode, will have you dodging incoming missiles fired from a helicopter. Avoiding these missiles earns you points that thrust you higher in the rankings. There is a three life limit, so if you get hit by a missile or just crush into a wall, you lose one.
The power play meter will act as a way to re-direct the missiles back at the helicopter in Air Revenge, ultimately destroying it. These helicopter related modes can sometimes get really frustrating as winning the first place can get quite difficult.
Graphics and Audio
If you're looking for branded cars like Lamborghini, Ferrari, Porsche and other super cars, you won't find them here. What you will find is a set of slick rides that resemble these super-cars in almost every aspect. All the cars from Split/Second look amazing, and just like an RPG character has its looks, they have their own roaring exhaust note that makes them unmistakable.
Visually, Split/Second is one of the greatest things that happened to racing games. Its awesomeness comes not only from the detailed look of the cars and the cool environment, but also from the breath of fresh air that it brings.
The racing itself feels really smooth as a low camera angle will give sport cars a sense of speed pleasing the adrenaline junkie in you. Drifting feels great, but sometimes too much drift can cause serious steering issues.
One thing that could improve the game and make it more enjoyable would be the cars taking damage and actuality feel the effects in their steering. Driving away with an almost wrecked car after hitting the wall or smashing an opponent would have a serious impact on the realism of the game.
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The breathtaking detail of the destructible tracks, the animation of all those effects and the fact that you can watch some of the greatest wrecks in slow motion or replay will get anyone convinced that this game means serious business.
The sound effects the cars make, the explosions and the producer's comments outline the realistic feel. The music also gives an out of game experience almost every time you hear it. A downside is that audio tracks lack a certain diversity, so they can get you bored eventually.
As a side and personal note, I found that this game is best played with the volume turned way up.
Multiplayer
So, you've completed all the twelve seasons and played a few Quick Play races and now you're bored, then it's time to step-up your game in multiplayer!
You'll find that this is an important part of Split/Second. It will be a lot of fun to race against a friend in split/screen or against some other racing freaks online, but without other cars and tracks to unlock or special customizing gadgets, the multiplayer will remain a side-kick of the single-player mod.
Conclusion
Almost everything is destroyable in Split/Second, starting with buildings, bridges, ships, decor and ending with the cars. This makes each race unique, whether you’re playing alone, with a friend on split/screen or online.
Overall, Split/Second is a real achievement, with fast-paced racing, very cool sounds and a city with lots of tracks rigged to blow at any given time. Even though the cars lack boost, their maneuverability at higher speeds is spectacular, making this recipe a best-buy.
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Image Courtesy: Softpedia
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