Split/Second

While Blur is more of a Super Mario Kart with cool cars, Split/Second does not feature actual weapons - instead you build up your special powers by drifting, or by evading other cars or debris. These powers are then used to activate various explosives around the level, dropping trucks on the track or even levelling entire buildings. All in the hope of wrecking your competitors, of course.

I recently got to sit down with the game at a press event in Copenhagen, and it was hard not to smile quite a bit when I dumped something big and quite volatile on top of one of the other cars. It's all about timing, to keep your eyes on the road; either so you can dodge out of the way, or steer against the blast wave of whatever went up in flames right next to you. The physics are quite effective, and you will have to fight to keep your wheels on the tarmac.

The version of Split/Second we saw looked good, although it suffered from some pop ups in the background and some screen tearing - according to the developers present at the event the version back at the office ran without those problem. There were no real issues with the actual racing though, except for my drifting which took a while for me to get used to; probably because I tried drifting as I would in Sonic & Sega All Star Racing...

Sadly, I never did get to try out multiplayer, which is the generally the crown of arcade racers like Split/Second. The good news were that the game will feature a split-screen multiplayer, something that was sorely lacking from their last game, Pure - and from all too many games in general these days. We were promised that the game would be able to pull it off a steady framerate in this mode, just as well as in single player; it remains to be seen, but hopefully that will be the case considering a frame drop during a wild multiplayer game could turn out to be quite anti-climatic.

If you've read anything from me about racing games before, you know I don't generally like them. But Split/Second, just like Blur, includes things that have me intrigued. Blur has the whole Super Mario Kart-thing going for it, while Split/Second has explosions. And we all know that all games need big, dramatic explosions.