Split/Second
The Ride is Over Far Too Quickly...
Posted May 22, 2010
Off-road racing fans fondly remember the release of Black Rock Studio’s Pure a couple years ago. Since then, the developers have been working on a street racing title that ditched the simulation style of game for an arcade racer. The game is presented in a reality show format, essentially taking the career mode and slicing it up into a television season of 12 episodes. The premise reaches into the outlandish as racers are supposed to race on a track lined with explosives. Explosions can be triggered by players as a timed method of taking out the competition as well. Call it a video game version of Jason Statham’s Death Race, just without the convicts and ratings hungry warden.
The developers get pretty creative with ways to take out opponents. The first time you radio in for a helicopter to drop explosives on a rival car, you may just crash your car watching the carnage. Explosions can also change the design of the track and open new shortcuts to race through on the next lap. Automobiles and other vehicles are also left on the track after exploding, something to remember when whipping around the next time. Modifying the track isn’t necessary to win a race though, but it can be helpful.
Unfortunately, Split/Second has the dreaded rubber-band AI that the majority of arcade racers suffer from. You can knock out laps perfectly and still find a competitor with a less powerful car catch up to you. It’s especially frustrating to get knocked out in the last lap by these super powered AI drivers. The entire race has to be repeated, of course. Races are split up into challenges. While attempting to appear diverse, the concept is simply to avoid getting blown up most of the time.
In order to pull off those explosions on opponents, the game relies on powerplays. These can be earned by launching your car off ramps, sliding perfectly around turns or increasing speed with drifting. The powerplay meter grows as you accomplish these tasks. Once it’s full, you only need to be nearby an enemy racer for a large on-screen indicator to pop up. Hit the powerplay button and your opponent goes bye-bye. They can also be simply shaken up which allows you to overtake the lead. If you aren’t careful, powerplay explosions can also take your car out. It’s often very distracting to concentrate on racing while all the explosions are going on as well.
Beyond the single player modes, Black Rock did include a somewhat featureless online inclusion. The game offers matches up to eight players online, but you only have three types of modes to play; survival, elimination and simple racing. Survival is one of the more entertaining modes and you are likely to find the bulk of the online audience playing it. During the matches, I did no experience any nagging lag issues nor any rubber-banding glitches that I’ve seen on other, fast-paced arcade racers. Unfortunately, there’s not much reason to keep playing online as the barebones online mode doesn’t tie into the career mode.
Unfortunately, Split/Second is, in a single word, shallow. Veteran racers can complete the single player career mode in about 7 hours with another few of hours to reach 100% completion. Despite the exceptional presentation and entertaining TV-style gameplay, it’s impossible to recommend a purchase of the title due to the very short length. The limited online options only exacerbate the value problem. If you are into arcade racers, don’t hesitate to rent this title and blast through it on a weekend; just don’t lay out $60 for a game that’s too brief for its own good.
Discuss Split/Second on Our Official Forum Thread Here
The developers get pretty creative with ways to take out opponents. The first time you radio in for a helicopter to drop explosives on a rival car, you may just crash your car watching the carnage. Explosions can also change the design of the track and open new shortcuts to race through on the next lap. Automobiles and other vehicles are also left on the track after exploding, something to remember when whipping around the next time. Modifying the track isn’t necessary to win a race though, but it can be helpful.
Unfortunately, Split/Second has the dreaded rubber-band AI that the majority of arcade racers suffer from. You can knock out laps perfectly and still find a competitor with a less powerful car catch up to you. It’s especially frustrating to get knocked out in the last lap by these super powered AI drivers. The entire race has to be repeated, of course. Races are split up into challenges. While attempting to appear diverse, the concept is simply to avoid getting blown up most of the time.
In order to pull off those explosions on opponents, the game relies on powerplays. These can be earned by launching your car off ramps, sliding perfectly around turns or increasing speed with drifting. The powerplay meter grows as you accomplish these tasks. Once it’s full, you only need to be nearby an enemy racer for a large on-screen indicator to pop up. Hit the powerplay button and your opponent goes bye-bye. They can also be simply shaken up which allows you to overtake the lead. If you aren’t careful, powerplay explosions can also take your car out. It’s often very distracting to concentrate on racing while all the explosions are going on as well.
Beyond the single player modes, Black Rock did include a somewhat featureless online inclusion. The game offers matches up to eight players online, but you only have three types of modes to play; survival, elimination and simple racing. Survival is one of the more entertaining modes and you are likely to find the bulk of the online audience playing it. During the matches, I did no experience any nagging lag issues nor any rubber-banding glitches that I’ve seen on other, fast-paced arcade racers. Unfortunately, there’s not much reason to keep playing online as the barebones online mode doesn’t tie into the career mode.
Graphics
- In terms of design, the developers went out of their way to offer certain flair to the visuals through the use of filtering; specifically lighting. The glare from the sun often smacks you in the face and bounces off the road during certain races. Camera angles are perfect as well, definitely emulating a Fast and the Furious style of camera work.
- You won’t find many framerate issues as performance stay pretty much rock solid throughout the vast majority of the courses. It’s pretty amazing considering the game has so much going on around the track (explosions, planes flying overheard, etc) that the framerate can keep up.
- With this much emphasis on presentation, I was surprised to see explosions and particle effects aren’t as polished as those seen in Burnout Paradise. It’s really my only complaint with the graphical design, but a valid one considering current point in the life cycle of the PS3.
Audio
- Have you seen Transformers? Expect that type of sound effect work to go along with the episodic format. This game will definitely give your subwoofer a workout as well as the rear surround sound speakers when cars pass you.
- Unfortunately, you won’t recognize any of the music as it doesn’t include any tracks licensed from the industry. That being said, it’s certainly unique to the game and matches the TV-show feel the developers are going for. It’s very forgettable though and horribly repetitive.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, Split/Second is, in a single word, shallow. Veteran racers can complete the single player career mode in about 7 hours with another few of hours to reach 100% completion. Despite the exceptional presentation and entertaining TV-style gameplay, it’s impossible to recommend a purchase of the title due to the very short length. The limited online options only exacerbate the value problem. If you are into arcade racers, don’t hesitate to rent this title and blast through it on a weekend; just don’t lay out $60 for a game that’s too brief for its own good.
Discuss Split/Second on Our Official Forum Thread Here