Hands-On Impressions: Split/Second (Xbox 360, PS3)
"Should I Leave a Note?"
When Brittany and I walked into the main exhibition hall at Penny Arcade Expo 2009 (PAX to it’s homies), the first thing she noticed was a big Disney sign hanging from the ceiling in the back corner, far off in the distance. She is such a big fan of the classic Disney movie properties that she was insanely curious to see what the company would have on hand at a game show.
I figured it would just end up being a game of whatever their latest kids movie was. Instead it turned out to be a high quality arcade racer titled “Split/Second”.
According to the people running the demo, the goal was to make a racing game that would appeal to those that normally don’t like racers. They were also going for the look and feel of an action film, but in the context of a circular racing track. They seem to have succeeded on both fronts.
The game features constant big explosions and lots of shortcuts. These often involve a simple, one-button quick time event, which will temporarily open pathways that allow you to traverse new areas of the course. They will then reset and not allow other racers to access them for a set period of time (about twenty seconds or so, according to the guys running the booth).
With all the craziness of airplanes crashing into the racetrack, exploding cars, etc., you and the other racers often wreck your cars beyond repair. Thankfully, the game is quick to put you back on the track and back in the race. The emphasis is definitely on the high speed action.
There are very few racing games that catch my attention. I find sims like Forza 2 technically impressive, but ultimately not that entertaining. “Split/Second” seems right up my alley as far as racers go.
Tags: Disney Interactive, hands-on impressions, initial impressions, PAX '09, PAX 2009 COVERAGE, ps3, racing, Split/Second, Xbox 360
This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 10:22 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
September 7th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
J.J. says:Split/Second is basically “What If Michael Bay Made a Racing Game?” It’s a game I’d have to rank high on as far as best of show is concerned, not because it was the best game there, far from considering everything, but it did a great job of going from nowhere on my radar to right smack dab in the middle of it. I like the concept of a racing game that doesn’t rely on track memorization.
September 8th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Jesse "Main Finger" Gregory says:I really wish I had got to try this game. I wrote down about 2 pages worth of games I wanted to try and was not able to get to all of them in the 3 days. Also, this one always had a decent amount of people by it.
September 9th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Luke "masterlookas" Jahnke says:I didn’t get to play the demo, but I am definitely picking this game up. Black Rock did an outstanding job with PURE, so I’m sure split/second will be just as awesome.