Comments on: Actually, That’s Quite Clever: Split/Second

By: ikigeg

ikigeg — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 22:39:15 +0000

That does indeed look awesome, especially the bit with the girders falling from the crane!

I am however left thinking of Deathrace, and also adding a gleam of hope that they will make a speed-based “Running Man” game… something where you have to balance speed and running (like Mirror’s edge) with the violence and power (along the lines of Condemned or The Chronicles of Riddick) and the oh so important TV ratings.

On the TV side of things, can anyone remember the name of a game released around 98/99 where you played a man that could turn into a demon-woman, which saw you investigating a house for a TV show. I remember it having slow-mo rotating camera angles for bullet-meets-head moments and you having to keep the audience entertained for ratings?

By: Martin Edelius

Martin Edelius — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 16:45:45 +0000

As mentioned, NFS: Most Wanted have stuff you can trigger to slow down your opponent.

By: Masked Dave

Masked Dave — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 23:53:36 +0000

Mario Kart.

Sure instead of a blue shell it’s a dropping a bridge, but it looks like the same ‘level the playing field’ style of racing.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:38:25 +0000

A bit like Excite Truck on the Wii, maybe? That didn’t have such grand explosions and cityscapes, but you could trigger vast deformations of the land to mess up the race of those opponents in front of you, often whilst giving you a nice shortcut as well.

This, however, looks prettier. And didn’t look like the terrain shifts were so limited, either – rather than run into set icons to trigger something, you have to experiment with your power and launch it whenever to see what it can do. Colour me intrigued.

By: FhnuZoag

FhnuZoag — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:38:21 +0000

Sooo, mixing racing with terrorism, eh?

By: El Stevo

El Stevo — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:48:20 +0000

There was a preview in Edge about this. Basically, you have a Power Bar, which is filled up through skillful driving (jumps, drifts, chaining near misses, etc). Once it’s full you can trigger a bomb (some of which open up shortcuts).

By: c-Row

c-Row — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 23:37:09 +0000

@ Joe

Well, I do. Best racing shooter ever!

By: EyeMessiah

EyeMessiah — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 22:47:21 +0000

Uh outrun??

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:52:26 +0000

High Octane had tracks that changed as you raced. Ah – High Octane, how no-one remembers you…

By: MrFake

MrFake — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:05:49 +0000

@El Stevo: I mentioned QTEs, and it may be a mistake. I was thinking reflex-based triggers to upcoming or passed obstacles and landmarks. After all, I thought there was an implied duality with the name “Split/Second”; i.e. a split second to react to obstacles and a split second to trigger them (before someone else does).

I don’t have quite the hate for this mechanic as most people do, because it massages my complete lack of skill at most things video game. I just think this is the wrong mechanic to fuse into a racing game. Racing is meant for speed and control, while QTEs are usually used to take a breather from controls without actually slowing the action.

By: DeliriumWartner

DeliriumWartner — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Ace! I know it’s just CGI pretties, and it’ll become repetitive within a few re-races, but still – splode-tastic!

By: ZIGS

ZIGS — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 19:54:22 +0000

rob says:

So this is what Spector’s been working on!

Nope, Spector’s studio is called Junction Point, not Black Rock :)