Explosions minus replayability
Split/Second, with the added subtitle of "Velocity" for the EU regions for whatever reason, is the latest racing game from Black Rock Studios who bought us the fantastic Pure a couple of years ago. It lives up to its pedigree but is over way too fast and doesn't have much of a reason to come back.
Split/Second is mostly a Kart racer with real cars, similar to the recently released Blur, but the difference with this game is that instead of weapons being fired from your vehicles you make the environment explode around you and try to make all the debris land on your competitors. It's very unique and it sets its bar high from the get go, but rarely reaches the heights.
You have two kinds of abilities, called power plays, to use against your foes, one small and one large. The smaller attack will make things like buses explode, or a helicopter will drop a bomb from above or a petrol station will blow up in epic fashion, and if timed right it will lead to one of the other cars on the track flying into the air and will put a smile on your face. The larger attack changes the track and, again, if timed right, will lead to the doom of any of your competitors rather than just one or two.
The game has a story mode and an online mode, as well as 2 Player Split-screen, which is great to see in a modern racing game. The story is basically set up like it's a Reality TV Show over a total of 12 episodes, with 6 to 7 Races and events per episode. It works great, and after each episode you get to choose which episode you want to participate in next which then leads to the game playing a "Next Time on Split Second" video, complete with voice over, just like a real reality TV show.
The A.I. can get brutal every now and then, depending on the event. It seems like the other cars never aim for each other, the player always seems to be the target. There is some extreme rubber banding going on too. If you are in first place and crash somehow, you will more than likely respawn in the back of the pack. You need to be alert to where all the explosive things are in the environment and stay as far away from them as possible in case one of your competitors sets it off, which means that you will need to be patient and expect a lot of trial and error.
There are more than just standard races though to break the monotony. Time Trials make an appearance, but the developer changes it up a bit by having everything explode in front of you, which means you're constantly dodging things to get to the finish line. There are other events that have you dodging rockets from a helicopter, or deflecting them back to take the chopper out in a predetermined time. Another event has you overtaking as many trucks as you can in the allotted time while they drop explosive barrels from the back of their trailer. These events are a lot of fun, but they get old fast, especially when you get good at them.
The online mode works great with no lag to be seen but it's a basic online mode that doesn't have anything to offer except for allowing you to play against real people instead of the A.I. It's unfortunate, it would have been nice to have some XP and unlock more cars as you play, but that's all done in the Single Player, so there's really nothing to keep you coming back and playing online. The same can be said of the split screen. It's nice for a while if you have friends over who haven't played the game yet, but boredom soon sets in.
The graphics are very sharp and slick. The lighting changes depending on the race and track which keeps the game fresh for a while. Seeing everything crumble and explode around you is great, one level takes place in a dam and seeing that dam wall fall and the water come crashing out is amazing, and you can expect many other moments just like it. Buildings crumble, bridges fall, trains derail, the technology at work here is mind-blowing and it is very pleasing on the eyes. The game moves at a fairly good frame rate too, with minimal drops when things get hectic. The cars are nice to look at as well and they crash very nice.
Even though the game is great fun but the truth is there just isn't enough tracks and once you've found every explosive in the world and see everything there is to see, it's just monotonous to keep doing the same tracks over and over again. The game relies too much on the power play mechanic and crushing your enemies rather than racing. Sometimes you will be behind another car, with power play built up, and the symbol to use your attack just doesn't show up. So you need to wait until the next chance or the one after when it does show up till you can make your move, meaning that a lot of the time a race relies on luck not skill and the constant rubber banding of the enemy A.I. makes it even worse.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Split/Second is great fun while it lasts, but it just doesn't last long enough, and with no reason to come back after you're done, there really isn't any replayability beyond getting all the trophies or achievements. If you like arcade racers and seeing everything explode then it's recommended, but don't expect a long lasting experience. The ending of the game does hint at a sequel though, so i'm hoping all these issues will be fixed for that.
