Split/Second Looks Excellent

I used my new, high speed, internet connection to download a demo of Split/Second today. The 815M came down the line in around 12 minutes or so, which was nice.

The game looks excellent. It is a mix of Burnout, Need for Speed and Super Mario Kart, with destructible scenery which is all set up for maximum mayhem. Accumulate power by drifting and tailgating other cars and then use this to unleash the environment on your opponents. If you thought the red shell in Mario Kart was nasty, then you haven’t seen anything yet. We are talking exploding buildings, out of control aircraft and all kinds of other bad stuff. After a few tries I realised that first place is probably not  place you want to be until the very last part of the race, what with everyone behind you lining up to blow you away.

The handling model for the car (at least on the demo) is quite forgiving, but I don’t think people will really be playing it as any kind of simulation. If you think of it as a big budget car chase action movie where you get to drive, then you are pretty much there.

Split/Second was written by Black Rock Studios, who are division of Disney Interactive and are based in Brighton in the UK. They presently employ quite a few of our graduates and our students visited them earlier in the year for a look at their HQ. The game comes out in the UK in a week or two. I shall definitely be getting a copy.