Split/Second Demo

Pure: the racing game that made people take Blackrock Studios, and by proxy Disney Interactive Studios, seriously. You remember the game, right? Racing on quads, doing stunts to gain points and boost…. Pure put Balckrock on the map and made many people’s list of overlooked games in 2008.

Well, Blackrock and Disney are back. This time, though, its not about doing tricks; it’s about taking your opponent out.

Welcome Split/Second, a game set in the televised world of destructive auto racing. The goal is simple: win the race. To do this, you will need to do what you would expect from any racing game: draft, drift, jump, maneuver and trigger explosive traps to wreck your opponents or change the course.

Wait, that last bit is not something you normally do in racing games.

The Demo for Split/Second has just hit the Xbox Live marketplace, and if you are a fan of racers, I encourage you to try this game out. You race around and through an airport terminal, filling your power bar as you draft behind opponents, drift around turns and get air off jumps. Once you have enough power, you can call upon Power Plays: traps activated around the track designed to give you the upper hand. These can range from exploding barrels to demo charges taking out the air traffic control tower. These Power Plays can wreck your opponenet, or they can wreck you if you are not careful. Some can even alter the track itself, giving you the chance to change up the gameplay and maybe even unlock hidden short cuts.

Now I will grant you the demo is rather short. You only have the one track, and after 3 laps, it is over. You can choose to race the track again, and with the route changes it can feel different, but that is all there is to it.

In the end, however, this small taste of what this racer has to offer may just be enough. Balckrock has the making of another hit on its hands. The only question is whether it will be able to compete with Blur, which comes out the same day.

In my eyes, there is no competition. The Split/Second demo has managed to do something that racing games rarely do; it has made me consider buying the game the week of release.