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.
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