User Review : Split/Second: Velocity

Split/Second: Velocity PS3 Review

When my local game store recently had a massive game sale, I jumped at the chance to pick up some of the games I hadn’t managed to get to earlier on for a good price. Of all the games I bought (5, including RDR and Just Cause 2), Split/Second was the one that I decided to play first.

Split/Second is a racing game that fits somewhere between old school games like Roll Cage and movies like Death Race, but with its own unique twist. Developed by Black Rock Studios, Split/Second is a racer which focuses as much on blowing up your opponents as it does skilful driving.

Recently, racing games have gotten a little stale. Sure, we have had a lot of quality titles, but recent entries in the Forza and NFS series have introduced very few fresh ideas. DiRT 2 is probably the most original offering we've seen for a while, and GT5 looks to be taking everything to ridiculously awesome levels. But none of these games can match Split/Second for its originality.

Each of the games circuits, of which there are disappointingly few I must admit, is lined with explosives, which can be triggered ahead of you to wipe out the opposition. There are many sorts of these ‘power plays’ with simply ones like a helicopter dropping a bomb on the track or explosives in a track side building, both of which are designed to push racers off track with their explosive shockwaves. There are also some truly epic power plays as well, such as sending a huge mining truck through the roof of a tunnel, and sending a shipping vessel sliding down the dry dock into the water. The amount of set pieces which line each track, or indeed form the tracks themselves, is spectacular, and although most of them are recycled from track to track, their still good fun to use.

In order to trigger these power plays, you must first up the power play meter, which consists of three sections. Triggering basic power plays requires only 1 section of power, but for the more impressive ones, the course changing power plays, you’ll need all three sections of power. Power can be gained by drifting around corners, drafting on the tail of other racers, narrowly avoiding opponent’s power plays, initiating successful power plays, and getting air time.

While I’m talking about the power play meter, I’d like to side-track and talk about the HUD for a moment. Games these days are filling our screens with a wealth of information, which can sometimes get in the way of the view of the environment. Split/Second gets round this issue by giving you all the information you need packed neatly under the rear bumper of your car. Whoever came up with this idea needs a pay rise; it’s simply a great idea.

Leaving the power plays aside for now, the actual racing in Split/Second also deserves some credit. In the more traditional races, you’ll be part of an 8 man field. Some reviewers have mentioned that there isn’t much in the way of tactics in Split/Second, and I’m not sure that’s true. You see, not all of the power plays are as effective as each other, so you have to weigh up between using one now which may not take out your target, allowing you more time to refill your meter, or saving it for a more powerful one further down the track.

One thing that is really a bit infuriating about the power play system is that you can’t trigger them behind you. I dunno, maybe they played around with this option and for some reason omitted it, but it seems to me like an unfortunate and obvious oversight.

The racing itself demands a lot of concentration. There’s no track map so if you’re new to a track be prepared to wipe out a few times going into corners too fast. It’s also a really hard game. Some might say otherwise, but as an experienced racer, I simply couldn’t pull of victories in many races, even with several restarts in some. A lot of this comes down to vehicle balancing. The bigger vehicles for example, like the pickups, while they may have lower acceleration; their top speed is just as high as something like supercar. I so often found myself being overtaken or being rapidly caught up to even though I was driving seemingly perfectly. It’s amazing how fast a 2 second lead can vanish in Split/Second.

Aside from the more traditional racing, there are also several additional game modes. One of these sees you dodging missiles fired from a helicopter which follows you around the track. You get points for successful dodges, and multiple perfect rounds in a row rewards you with a score multiplier. The objective here is to get the highest score before getting blow up three times. For the first few of these you can’t fight back. Thankfully though it doesn’t take long before you are given the ability to redirect the missiles back at the chopper, the winner here is he who can take down the chopper the fastest.

Other special modes include Survival, in which you are tasked with overtaking trucks while avoiding the explosive load they are losing out the back. This is one of the most fun and thrilling modes in the game.

The cars themselves are based on real world cars for the most part, with obvious Porsche and Lamborghini rip offs, although they all have a Hot Wheels twist to them. Some of the cars look beautiful in a sort of rough and tough way, and if I was a fledgling supercar company, I wouldn’t hesitate to employ Black Rocks designers.

That’s about it really. There is a multiplayer mode which supports 8 players. Unfortunately I have no idea how this plays out as I haven’t managed to get a race up and going, there is already no online community, perhaps a reflection of the titles slow sales. There is also split screen, which again I haven’t tried out. The graphics are pretty impressive, although anti-aliasing is lacking, and on occasion the frame rate would slow considerably.

In the end, Black Rock have done themselves proud with Split/Second. There is a decent variety of vehicles and game modes, although a few more tracks certainly wouldn’t hurt. The action is fast paced and solid, exciting all the way through. It’s hard to understand why they made Split/Second as difficult as it is, but it only warrants a minor complaint. Split/Second is an impressive game that any racing fan can get into, with plenty of fresh ideas to attract those who aren’t.