Stunt drivers wanted

Review: Split Second: Velocity
Systems: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Ever used your imagination to put yourself in the cockpit of a movie stunt driver, wondering what the feeling of escaping a massive explosion at the last minute via sports car in a very James Bond manner?

Well, this is the premise of Split Second, taking competitive stunt driving to the streets.

Across twelve episodes, each with four events plus a bonus and final 'elite' race event, Split Second is presented as an action TV show, each with its own promo and increasingly ludicrous destruction sequences.

Indeed, Split Second is all about destruction and to be honest, without the ability to blow stuff up, this game would be a mediocre racing title at best; here is how it works.

Each event allows players to choose a car; no licensed vehicles here, the fantasy brands are all distinguished by speed, drift, strength and acceleration characteristics. Designs don't vary much: Most are the low-slung, high performance super car style, like a Lambo Murcielago or Lotus Europa S. Later in the game, where chassis strength can be important, there are high riding super SUV's to be unlocked.

The game is quite simple. Rack up action levels by drafting, jumping and primarily drifting through the race. Each car can 'hold' three action levels; the first two can be used to trigger disruptive and destructive actions down the road against competitors. Or if your car has stored up three levels of action, these can be used up in one go to cause a cataclysmic explosive event and sometimes even changes the course of the road ahead.

Petrol tankers can be triggered to explode, walls will topple on competitors, concrete blocks will obstruct racers, choppers will drop napalm on the track, the list goes on. To call this racing game dull would be an understatement.

There's a neat trick called 'shockwave' that can cause racers to lose control and wreck themselves against the side of the track, but nobody is ever totally out of the game, even if they've been brutalised by all manner of explosive devices. With only eight cars in the race, and everybody out to cause havoc to those in front of them, the racers usually bunch up at regular intervals after collisions, allowing back markers to catch up.

The cars look nice, but they run as a second fiddle to the environments. The predominantly urban construction-themed tracks are littered with plenty of flotsam and jetsam junk to be negotiated or blasted through.  

One disappointing aspect to this game is the lack of throaty vehicle audio. While there is plenty going on in terms of audio-visual candy, particularly on the cars' periphery, there just isn't enough aural satisfaction as a driver during the rest of race.

And there's another criticism. About a third of the way into the single player part of this game, players may be disappointed by the repetitiveness of tracks.  It is apparent that the developers have crafted each 'event' race track out of the building blocks of those that have come before. Ultimately this means the track elements are somewhat limited, with a city suspension bridge merging with storm drains and power plants all becoming very samey.

This same-y-ness will keep you on your toes however, as there is no traditional mini-map, and this means what was the perfect left hand exit from the tunnel in preparation for a right hander at the end of the straight can turn into a disastrous wreck-inducing approach to the 90 degree left hander that instead presents.

But the repetition hurts this game. Even the explosions become a little routine after a while, and in order to trigger one, you need not only at least a level one action gauge, but also sight of the driver(s) in front. Care must be exercised when triggering explosions, particularly when opponents are nearby (more than once I was destroyed by my own devices).

It is satisfying to wreck multiple opponents with a single explosion, but even more satisfying is using the three actions on a single massive alteration to the track. Watching the track ahead transform when a suspension bridge collapses, or an aircraft carrier drifts against the docks is spectacular.

Strategy is important to winning in this game, and there is an uneasiness to being in the lead too early in a race, because the only options available to the leader are to open shortcuts (expending one action gauge level in the act) or the massive course alterations (three action gauge levels). 

At rare times, usually when using a high level vehicle on an early race, you can get so far out in front that nobody behind can trigger a nearby explosion through lack of sight, but for most races as a leader you are just waiting for the moment when car and wall collide.

Finish high in the results and you can earn points to unlock the 'Elite' race as part of the current episode. This is pretty much the same as the other race events, but with named characters as part of points for the overall championship in the single player game.  Race result points also unlock new car choices that can be used in new events, or improve the results of former events.

The other scoring mechanism is car wrecks; wrecking opponents unlocks the bonus event in each episode.

Apart from regular stunt racing, Split Second also offers other event modes. The best of these is the eliminator, where a countdown clock eliminates whichever car is at the back of the pack when the timer reaches zero, and this continues until the player's car is wrecked or you are the last driver standing.

There is also a mode which requires the player to circle around giant armoured eighteen wheeler trucks, dropping deadly exploding barrels from their rear.  Another involves an attack helicopter firing locked on missiles at you and a variant of this where building up the action gauge enables the player to deflect missiles back to the copter. 

Finally there is a time attack mode where explosions are triggered automatically. These side-games are more of a minor distraction than anything and can't measure up to the intensity of the main racing mode.

Compared to a game like Blur, Split Second's multiplayer is a disappointment, with no online ranking system, leaving the most enjoyable human-on-human match-ups as the split screen (two only) option.

There are plenty of 'Wow!' moments in the game, and at times there is tension and relief at pulling off a close victory, but if ever there was a game that required a comprehensive replay system, especially one where the cinematic is part of its basis, it is Split Second.

Sadly there is no option.

This is a quality title, amazing to look at, at times fun and addictive, but is let down by its repetitiveness and rather inflexible unlock system, both of which shorten the time drivers will want to spend with it.