Split Second Preview

By Travis Moses
March 27, 2009 13:20 PM PST
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GDC kicks off the starting line in an explosive way, to say the least.

At GDC, Disney Interactive Studios unveiled the newest game from Black Rock Studio, the development team that created 2008's offroad ATV trick-racing game Pure, and the new hotness is nothing short of a major Burnout contender.

In a New York Minute

Split Second is the name of the game and it?s an action-arcade racer like Burnout, but with a twist. Instead of smashing into other cars to achieve "takedowns," Split Second is all about "Power Plays" that trigger environmental explosions to take out the competition. The story is set up to be a prime-time TV show, like Death Race in a way, where everything from buildings to bridges are rigged to explode, topple, or change the route of the course -- called "route changers."

In Split Second, you race against seven other non-licensed cars at a time with simple steer, gas and brake controls while blowing up the environment with Power Plays. A digital readout HUD is displayed on your car?s rear bumper so you can see what position you're in and how much Power you?ve acquired by drifting, drafting, jumping, and near missing other cars to perform these Power Plays. Power Plays break down down into two types -- smaller and bigger -- displayed by blue highlights for the smaller Plays and red highlights for the big ones. This is displayed onscreen by entire environmental objects being highlighted by flashing blue and red lights.

As you drive, the environment lights up and you'll have roughly a "Split Second" to react and trigger the Power Plays. "Timing is really, truly everything in this game," one developer of Split Second said. The race we witnessed took place at a highly explosive and over-the-top international airport. Smaller Power Plays ranged from building facades exploding onto the track, the concrete smashing the other cars off the course, to baggage lifts raising into the air and exposing route changing shortcuts. Bigger Power Plays were the most breathtaking and ranged from control towers exploding and toppling over, also changing the route of the course, to air trams derailing.

The biggest Power Play featured an airplane crash landing onto the runway right as you drive under it, taking out everyone behind you. It was by far, the most epic thing I've ever seen in a racing game. Yes, even more epic than slow-motion 200-car pileups.

As you can see, the graphics in Split Second can't compete with Gran Turismo 5, but the explosions and toppling buildings look hyper realistic, and the game is still a ways out -- early 2010 release window. For those that played Pure, you know Black Rock Studios can create an adrenaline fueled racing experience with crisp graphics and tight controls, even the car customization was hinted to be better than Pure's. We can't wait to see and play more Split Second later this year. We'll keep you updated.