Split/Second

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First off, I am by no means a racing game enthusiast, actually it's the complete opposite. Honestly the only racing game I've played and truly enjoyed as of late has been Mario Kart Wii, which is a blast by the way. I've purchased Split/Second after hearing the premise of the game, I thought it sounded really interesting and very unique. Looking back I'm very happy I took a chance on this title, I wasn't let down at all and have been really enjoying it.

Once you play this game and understand what it's trying to do you will come to the conclusion as I have that the "cons" are what makes this game different than most other racing game out there. "Rubber banding" is necessary to play the game as it was intended to be played. Consider this, if you were able to break out in first place and never have to look back it takes away from some of the main points of this game which is to cause destruction and to trigger traps on your opponets. Besides, if you can't pass the car in front of you do the next best thing, which is to drop a plane on him! Also, a lot of people complain about "drifting", which I must agree there is a lot of, however there are many other ways to fill up your power meter like "drafting" which in my opinion is the easier way to play. My final point is in regard to the lack of customization as far as the cars are concerned, again this is not what this game is about so if that is what you're looking for invest in a different title. This game is not about the cars (as strange as that is to say) it's about the havoc you can cause and to what extent you can cause it.

I hope my review has been helpful to you and thanks for reading, sorry for being long winded LOL. If you like to play games for fun, and not take things too seriously look me up, my PSN ID is MikeJMele.

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Big Surprise from Disney! The last 2 reviewers compared it to Pure. I bought Pure after playing the demo, and actually didn't see what was special about Pure as compared to the demo. Pure was just the demo with similar environments, and not much added. I was expecting to see the same with Split Second, but saw that the developers weren't so lazy this time. The S/S demo features a car which is a lower end car, in which drifting is difficult, and not very fun. In the complete game, you are rewarded cars that are easier to handle through drifting, and makes more sense. The tracks (not in the demo) also make drifting more conducive.

There are 72 races in this game with 12 episodes and 6 races for each episode, some with new environments. There will be a couple of different challenges you have to complete to move onto the next episode. In one of the more fun challenges, you must pass semi-trucks while they are dumping barrels of oil, and avoid the oil barrels. The other main challenge featured is an elimination mode, in which the car in last place gets eliminated when the timer hits zero. Some of the other challenges require no drifting, and focus on avoiding hazards which actually brings a new type of racer to the game. The challenges are various, and much more fun than I expected.

(There is also a 2 player mode which offers a split screen, but I haven't played in this mode to comment on it.)

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Taking a page out of Burnouts books, Split Second serves as an arcade type racer that isnt concerned with simulating the aspect of the intricateness of the real life racing experience, but more of speed, daring close calls, explosions, and destruction. The game succeeds in taking this motive and making it last through the 12 or so episodes (features at least 4 different types of races and events in each one).

Similar to their previous game PURE, the game is a gorgeous experience through its many locales. The camera angles used emphasize the action well. For example, whenever an opponent or multiple opponents fall victim to a power play (you can trigger these to slow down opponents, leading them to crash), the camera will occasionally zoom in to their location and show an up close view of the wreckage; when a level 2 power play (usually also results in a course change, in which the track will change), the camera will zoom into that location and even allow the option of an instant replay view from like a camera cam to show the wreckage and devastation. These camera angles and sheer scale of some of the powerplays leads to numerous mouth dropping moments. The games story is told through amazing adrenaline filled sequences that are full of explosions as well. The music played through races is always quite on point for the high adrenaline and is there to pump the player up and make it more suspenseful, truly it all works.

Although there are a limited number of locations through the game, there are many opportunities in races for the use powerplays and shortcuts, the experience can really never get old. The game has opponents with high enough intelligence that they will always keep at the players rear and make each finish a nail-biting one. Enemies utilize shortcuts and powerplays extensively, so even though a player could be 5+ seconds ahead of a car, they are still within distance to be caught in a play and go all the way back to last place. The challenge in getting first place on all tracks is definitely there.

The game has numerous unlockable cars and modes. The player will experience all modes in the story mode and some are able to be played in the offline splitscreen multiplayer and online. Races are capped at 8 players as well.

The game will probably hold most players for the 40 hours if they aim for all the trophys for the game and is definitely worth the $60 buying price. The future of DLC possible is also there as there is a section called Downloadable Content on the games menu. The only con to the game is perhaps that drifting mechanisms, which takes awhile to get used to, but once done it can be used to keep up the speed in racers.

So definitely try this game if you liked Black Rock Studios previous high definition console racer PURE, and also if you are looking for an arcade racer to fill the void in your library of Playstation 3 games.

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Who would have known that Disney could make something as cool as this! Prepare to get goose bumps BIG TIME!

The right combination of thrill, special effects and music (finally a game w/o the omni present emo rock music) will blow you out of the water!

I wish I had ordered it from Amazon now, price dropped $10 since yesterday :(

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I have completed 8 out of 12 'episodes' in this game, and I am thoroughly impressed with the production value and challenge offered by this title. The AI is indeed challenging, sometimes to the point of 'cheating' as some might claim, but this game is meant to challenge your skills and ability to strategize accordingly and use the environment to your advantage to come out on top. Sure there will be frustrating moments when you lose a race by mere seconds (or even less at times), but this makes it even more satisfying when you trigger a powerplay that wrecks several opponents seconds before crossing the finish line to take first place!!

This game can best be described as a simple, no-holds-barred epic racing simulator that strips away all the fluff and gets you right to the action, every single time!!! This game is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to anyone who is remotely interested in racing games!!

EDIT 7-3-2010

Just completed 11 out of 12 episodes. I found that you do NOT necessarily have to finish the final race for each episode ('Elite' race) in 1st place in order to be first in the season competition. This gives the player some breathing room seeing as the AI is quite unforgiving in some races, so finishing first in all would probably have been a frustrating requirement.