Split Second Preview

By Joe Haygood | June 15, 2009

I did not get to my appointment for Split Second until Thursday morning, and I have to admit that while I applauded the developers after they put together Pure, Split Second was coming out after a flood of racing titles.  I mean this fall has titles like Blur, DIRT 2, Forza 3 Need for Speed Shift and a few others that I am missing.  All of that said, after playing Split Second, I came out feeling that it was the best racer I played at E3.

Upon taking the track in Split Second, I felt that Split Second was a fairly standard racing sim.  Our demo track was set on an active airport, with all the things you expect to be moving around, including a few airplanes.  The driving mechanics were similar to any racer currently out on the PS3, 360 and PC, but there was one difference I noticed right away.  I noticed a meter that follows behind your car.  As you perform more drifts, passes and other race maneuvers, you gain notches on the power meter.  When you get to a certain point, you can unlock a Tier 1 power attack.  Fill it up to the full point, and you can unlock a Tier 2 power attack that is something to behold.

Power attacks points can be found all over the race track, and will unleash some devastation upon the race track that can also take out some of your competition.  My first Tier 1 attack came about as I drifted around a competitor and earned up enough energy on my power meter for an attack.  A bank of buses to my right were flashing, and the Tier 1 attack button flashed on my screen, so I pressed the button and the buses exploded across the track, blocking off the original route of the track, and opening up a new route for the racers to travel upon.  The explosion also took out two of my competitors, which brought a nice smile to my face.  Tier 2 type attacks are somewhat cataclysmic in scale, including at one point, dropping a whole section of the track underground, with racers re-emerging in the middle of the airport terminal.

These track changes are persistent in nature, and with up to eight opponents constantly boosting their power meters to trigger attacks, the track is almost alive, in that it is always changing from lap to lap.  It makes for a fun driving experience, because you never race the same lap twice.

Cars also seem to take damage as the race goes on, with bumpers hanging off, windows smashing and so much more.  However, the developer said that the damage that is inflicted on your car during the race is cosmetic only, as they wanted to keep an arcade feel for the player.  They are not shooting for Gran Turismo or Forza here, but more relative to the damage mechanics from Need for Speed or Project Gotham Racing.

I was also informed that over time, your car will improved based on how you drive the vehicle.  If you are an insane drifter, then your car will improve with better braking and sliding, but if you love to hammer through the turns at top speed, your car will accelerate far quicker.  The look of your car will also change over time to evolve with your driving style.  Your car will start to look more aggressive if you drive aggressively.  Obviously, we did not get to see this in action as the demo was limited to one track, but if it plays out as described, it will be impressive.

Split Second is currently in pre-production, and not even to the pre-alpha stage, but it looks drop dead gorgeous.  The visuals are sharp, and the color palette fits the game very nicely.  And Split Second has some of the best explosions around, both visually and with the physics of the damage spread.  Disney is working to implement some new features, but cannot confirm if they will be in the final product, including uploading videos.  The idea of being able to upload some spectacular explosions and send them to friends is a good feature, and it would be nice to see more developers include stuff like this in their games.  Disney is also looking to have 25 tracks at launch, with more possibly coming via DLC.

So far, Split Second is shaping up to be a unique type of racing experience.  Constantly evolving race tracks and a car that grows to your driving style are great mechanics that could set the standard for other titles in the genre.  Look for Split Second on PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in February of 2010.