E3: Split/Second Hands On

By Tristan Clark

I enjoy my fair share of arcade racers, even though the genre as a whole isn’t one of my favourites. But put me down in front of WipEout or Burnout, and I’m a happy person. So when I say I can’t wait to play Split/Second, you know it must have made an impression on me.

The game starts out like any other arcade racer does, with a bunch of cars all racing along various tracks set in a city – we got to play an airport track, and view another one that was down at the docks. For the first half lap or so, it all seemed pretty straightforward. And then a whole terminal exploded and totally altered the track route.

Here’s the thing: the whole city you’re racing in has been created by a reality TV show company, for the express purpose of being blown up while cars are racing through it. Explosions + cars make for good television, you see. But the best part is, you are in control of blowing things up.

This works through a charge-up system. Every time you slide (initiated by breaking slightly and moving left or right), a bar beside your car powers up. Once it gets filled up enough, icons will start appearing in certain places around the track. As soon as one appears, you have the option of triggering it. The low-level icons translate to, say, a barrel on the side of the track blowing up, giving you a chance of knocking a competitor around a bit. It’s very handy if you’re well behind the pack!

But it’s when your charge bar is totally full that you’ll see some real action. You could be driving under a bridge with other cars hot on your heels. You see a red icon, activate it, and the whole bridge comes down just behind you, eliminating the competitors. One icon in the docks level capsized a whole container ship, changing the course layout so you ended up driving along its surface at a 45 degree angle! Madness.

It’s a fun, original twist on Mario Kart-style powerups – and the framing narrative explains it away brilliantly, even if it is ludicrous. Possibly the best part was watching the faces of other journalists as the demo went on – they started off looking polite, but slowly a manic grin spread from ear to ear.

Online multiplayer is expected, although I wasn’t able to ascertain whether offline splitscreen will be available. The graphics and presentation are shaping up to be top notch, although some visual elements still have a way to go.

The main thing I’m wondering is how fun the tracks will be after multiple playthroughs. I was told that some of the biggest track-altering events won’t get unlocked until you’ve played the level a few times, so that could help. But really, the unpredictability of playing against human opponents, coupled with planning your explosions ahead of time, should keep this thing on its feet. Do you like manic arcade racing? Look our for Split/Second.

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On 17 June 2009, 06:18PM Posted by Oliver

This sounds awesome. I'll definitely give it a try. I hope it's similar to the Burnouts of old, and not the new crappy open world tripe.

 

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On 23 June 2009, 01:49PM Posted by zharn

Burnout Paradise is by far the best racing game i have played so far. A pity about all its updates tho! So if this game is anything like burnout im in. The game sort of sounds like the movie Death Race a little.

 

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On 23 June 2009, 07:17PM Posted by dman

I've been trying to find out what the name of this game is - theres already a trailer for it looks pretty good

 

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On 24 June 2009, 11:29AM Posted by phillipmehau

Reply to Oliver17 June 2009, 06:18PM
This sounds awesome. I'll definitely give it a try. I hope it's similar to the Burnouts of old, and not the new crappy open world tripe.

I'm with u all da way :)

 

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On 21 July 2009, 02:29PM Posted by Nefarious

this game must be a goody if it got the best racing game award. screenshots!