The Burnout 3 of this generation?
Arcade racers this gen have been somewhat of a hit & miss affair. Criterion themselves couldn’t evoke the feelings of the utter glee I felt when crashing and burning my opponents in Burnout 3: Takedown; Burnout Revenge and Paradise both feeling lackluster. MotorStorm came close to, and even exceeded, Burnout’s carnage and fierce destruction, but it never felt like Burnout.
So here we are, a new decade, a different studio (Black Rock) and a surprising publisher (Disney) that promises to bring us one of the most exciting and visceral racing experiences in years. And with Split/Second: Velocity, they delivered.
The game takes place in a Reality TV show named Split/Second (but of course). Spread out over 12 episodes for the whole season, each episode hosts about 4 to 6 match types. These matches range from regular races to time trials to elimination races. Then there’s the ‘Air Strike’ race where Apache helicopters rain death on you in the form of multiple missile strikes that you have to avoid. Similarly there’s ‘Air Revenge’ races where you strike back at the Apache helicopters! Finally there’s ‘Survival’ race where you’re supposed to overtake huge trucks that throw out exploding barrels. This Terminator 2’s LA canal chase inspired sequence is also littered with other cars who’re trying to avoid the barrels (but usually don’t), resulting in a huge mess of exploding cars rolling over and around you, similar to the highway chase scene in Bad Boys 2.
As you rightly guessed, Split/Second has a lot of influences from Hollywood blockbusters, Jerry Bruckheimer’s being a key source of inspiration for the studio. Therefore the basic gameplay Split/Second is to fill a bar (split into 3 sections) by drifting, drafting and jumping (getting air time) while you’re driving. As your opponents get ahead of you, a small icon will blink on top of them for a short while, which is when you trigger explosions, called Power Plays. The big draw here is that these explosions vary from small stuff (tower cranes dropping off containers) to big stuff (oil tankers or cargo jets dropping onto the track itself). Using level two Power Plays (indicated by red icons) will usually result in huge things blowing up, ultimately altering the entire track.
The game runs at 30fps, but I will not fault Black Rock because Split/Second is so densely packed with giant structures as the race track intricately goes in and around the setpieces, that there’s no sense of the game ever feeling slow. This is especially the case when you unlock higher tiered cars which drive at insane speeds. With so much going on the track at any given moment, I understand why the developers also decided to leave out any sort of boost option, i.e. no NOS. That said, certain cars handle so sluggishly that once you initiate a turn, it’s extremely hard to allow for minor course corrections. As such, some option for a boost would have been nice as I would’ve avoided many untimely crashes. Perhaps that’s something they will put into the sequel.
The multiplayer aspect of the game is a huge disappointment. Don’t get me wrong, the game plays exactly like the singleplayer, with Power Playing fun to be had with up to 7 other people online and no hint of lag. It even has split-screen added in for good measure. What breaks the game is the decision to allow all levels of cars to compete with each other. This meant that my level 5 car (acquired around Episode 4) was always left in the dust behind the level 10 cars (acquired near end-game). The fact that your opponents are so far out ahead of you that you can’t even see them, means you can’t trigger any Power Plays except maybe activating shortcuts. So your initial races will be nothing but humiliation, unless you start the multiplayer after finishing the singleplayer. As you should, since the game is devoid of onscreen maps, meaning that you will often have to memorise the track, and be aware of when to trigger Power Plays and when to be weary of being crashed by your opponents.
All said and blown, Split/Second: Velocity is set to be the definitive arcade racer of this generation. It doesn’t feel as ruthlessly fun as Burnout 3, but it successfully captures the charisma and presents it with such style and substance that you can’t help but fall in love with all the carnage going on.
