Pure, a game that never received the selling success that its reputation and review scores gave it. Black Rock Studios gave us one of the better Quad racers in recent times, but for whatever reason it never really reached the same levels commercially and ended up getting bundled with LEGO Batman as a “come and buy me” extra for Xbox 360 Arcade consoles. Scroll on to the present and we see a new direction from the Brighton based development team, far away from Pure and ATV Offroad Fury and even refraining from their previous fan successes with the Moto GP series, pre-Capcom.
There seems to be this idea that British games makers are VERY good at making arcade racers. I mean Criterion appeared out of nowhere and gave us the Burnout series from humble beginnings (it was that long ago that it was the late, great Acclaim that published it) which would blossom into the frenzy that is Paradise and the upcoming Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit re-visioning. Split/Second seems to go way back to the roots and origins of this other franchise and gives us something we’ve not had in a while, which is a straight edged racer with laps, fast cars and things to collect and unlock.
There is something extra though, and that is the ability to destroy and re-shape the track to gain tactical advantage, as well as shaving off seconds in any time attacks you may want to beat your friends at. It seems on paper to be a slightly far fetched idea with you having the power of God being able to change the ground ahead of you at will, but when you actually put it into practice it isn’t really that crazy at all.
The way the game goes into this is that you are taking part in a petrol head style reality TV game show where all of the tracks and surrounding background scenery is all hand built to go off and destroy competitors at the touch of a button. You have 12 episodes, each with 6 races, to get to the top and be the number 1 driver in the world, not to mention have loads of screaming fans running after you with miniature versions of your car to sign (well, isn’t that how it usually works?).
It all sounds pretty straight forward, but we’re not talking about little dainty fireworks going off here. The changing of the track is both instant and very big in terms of impact. Take the Airport Terminal track (the demo one for those that downloaded it a while back) which can be opened up with little shortcuts or reformed by blowing up the air traffic control tower, allowing for racing up the runway, whilst trying to avoid the incoming aircraft…. that’s on fire….. and crashing.
The way Split/Second does this is by removing any turbo function that games of this particular style usually have and instead using that button as a trigger to manipulate the surface in front of you, hopefully taking out your faster rivals with consummate ease. To do this you need to build up the meter which surrounds the back end of your car, which is done by drifting round corners, performing big jumps or drafting in behind someone else. The more you build this meter up, the more impressive the changes become.
As you unlock more races throughout the series, you also get to take part in other variants, with some like the familiar elimination races leaving last place with plenty to think about after they get blown up early, to more intriguing set ups like survival, which has a huge juggernaut truck spewing out barrels like they didn’t agree with it, trying to ruin your passing combo. The most difficult one from this though is the Air Strike, as this has a helicopter shooting ruddy big missiles at you while you’re driving rather fast. It’s a lot of fun, but it is VERY difficult, especially in later races, but the adrenalin rush is pretty good. You can get your own back at a later date, as there is another unlockable option that lets you build up your meter to get the chance to fire those missiles back at their source.
It is graphically stunning and really lets you soak everything in. Ok, so the 12 tracks may well be mish-mashes of themselves, but you never really feel like you’re running over the same old ground (and I’m sure the track destruction contributes to that rather well) with so much going on at the one time your real focus is just to keep your vehicle on the track. It can feel a tad cruel sometimes, especially in the Elite races, but that’s to be expected when you’re dealing with the fickle beast that is the arcade racer. The explosions are rather huge and the amount of scrap metal and debris could rival a Hollywood blockbuster’s grand finale, but the most impressive thing is that you can still concentrate on what is going on regardless of the carnage all around you.
The audio is rather clever. Besides the generic muscle car meatiness and crumpling metal screams as buildings and pillars contort and bend to make way for something new, the music manages to step in and take control with some clever interactive moments, moving up and down tempo depending on what is happening. If a ship decides to slam into the harbour the tunes will temporarily stop, much in the same way another talent show hopeful has to wait an eternity to find out he or she is rubbish and should be going home, and wait until the big moment has happened before resuming again. It’s all these small things that make a big difference and even though it’s just a melodic accompaniment, it does add to the experience.
The multiplayer is where this game REALLY comes into its own. In a full room this can be just as much fun as any racer out there, especially when you can get a chance to laugh hysterically at a friend who tried to take you out, but got the timing wrong and slammed himself into a wall. With most of the gaming modes available to play online, except for the helicopter ones, there is a nice degree of playability in this.
At the end of the day it may not be the longest game in the world, but by God it’s tough. It may break some people’s resolve, but the perseverance far exceeds the pain of losing often, especially if you want to get 1st place in all of the races and the achievement (or trophy) that waits at the end. It does what you would expect an arcade racer to do and it does it VERY well. The only real downside is that it came out the same week as Red Dead Redemption, so never really got the look in or exposure it deserved, mainly because anything with a Rockstar logo and an 18 certificate is like catnip to a gaming enthusiast.
If you want to grab something that is a lot of fun offline and a complete riot online then you could do a lot worse than this, especially with the fact that you can pick it up for under twenty five quid. It is a great racer and, for me, it beats Blur because it is a bare bones, in your face, fun fest of a driving game. It may not match those dizzy heights that the Burnout series has risen to, but it can certainly hold its head up high in terms of what it can give the gaming public, as long as enough people go out and buy it, that is. Please do so, it deserves it.
VideogameUK verdict: 8.5/10
