By John Walker on March 11th, 2010 at 11:31 am.
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the slightly slipped Disney racer, Split/Second. But it’s reappeared at GDC ahead of what’s now a May release. It’s a trailer that asks that all-important question one should always raise at the car dealership: can it outrun a building?
Playing games where shit blows up is clearly the reason Sir Clive Sinclair invented the first Turing Machine in 1857. Any racing game that doesn’t have buildings/towers/aeroplanes falling on the track clearly isn’t trying. Which is why I herald Split/Second for getting this right. How will it perform as a racer? That is a question. Here’s the video:
11/03/2010 at 11:44 Dan says:
That looks a bit good.
It’s not very Disney, though, is it? Or is the entire Disney franchise getting the dreaded ‘gritty reboot’? I have visions of a cover based co-op shooter starring Mickey and Donald…
11/03/2010 at 11:51 AndrewC says:
Pirates Of The Carribbean is Disney too and, as Disney owns Miramax, so is Resevoir Dogs, technically. And The Black Cauldron was hardcore, yo.
11/03/2010 at 12:03 diebroken says:
TRON had quite a dark tone.
11/03/2010 at 12:52 billyboob says:
Really? TRON?
All I remember was Bridges having this almighty cheesy grin throughout the whole thing.
Maybe I saw the happy go lucky edition
11/03/2010 at 13:10 AndrewC says:
TRON does date from a time when Disney were deliberately trying to get more ‘mature’ – making things like Something Wicked This Way Comes, Dragonslayer, TRON and Black Hole. Not ‘mature’ in our modern sense of the word, but slightly more sophisticated and serious in tone. Results were mixed, but I wouldn’t feel too bad about recommending any of those films.
11/03/2010 at 13:12 AndrewC says:
Uh, Split/Second? I thought PURE was amazingly professional and amazingly dull. I’m on the side of BLUR in what promises to be an incredibly damp squib of a war.
11/03/2010 at 13:26 diebroken says:
How can anyone forget the MCP from TRON, or even Sark? Or being forced to finish the game?
Dragonslayer is fantastic (what 80s fantasy films aren’t?), and still holds up well today (IMHO).
As for Spit/Second, I lost interest in racing games after the first The Need For Speed game. :S
11/03/2010 at 13:31 AndrewC says:
Krull, Sword & The Sorceror, Hawk The Slayer, Red Sonja and Conan The Destroyer all weren’t fantastic. Anyone saying anything bad about Beastmaster gets thumped though.
Racing Games!: the genre is far wider and richer than the Need For Speed games – try some other ones!
11/03/2010 at 15:22 Poltergeist says:
“Pirates Of The Carribbean is Disney too and, as Disney owns Miramax, so is Resevoir Dogs, technically. And The Black Cauldron was hardcore, yo.”
Also, From Dusk Till Dawn.
11/03/2010 at 23:05 neems says:
I can’t believe you didn’t mention LadyHawke there.
Come on people!
11/03/2010 at 11:52 phlebas says:
…or a dark Warren-Spector-designed platform/RPG featuring Mickey as a morally ambivalent antihero and Donald as a creepy cyborg?
11/03/2010 at 12:01 Fashigady says:
Is it wrong I thought that sounded kinda cool?
11/03/2010 at 12:15 John Walker says:
It’s a shame that could never happen.
11/03/2010 at 12:22 AndrewC says:
The irony unfortunately breaks when PC Gamers refuse to accept that Wii software are real games.
11/03/2010 at 20:27 Carda says:
The Wii might actually GET some “real games” if consumers would stop buying every craptastic minigame compilation that comes out for the dang thing.
11/03/2010 at 22:41 AndrewC says:
yeah
11/03/2010 at 11:57 BigglesB says:
Gotta say, this is looking great! Love the HUD-less HUD apart from anything else
I miss the Black Rock guys : (
11/03/2010 at 12:00 Pew says:
I have a lot of faith in this game vs. Blur, as the Black Rock guys also did the wildly overlooked Pure. Hopefully they will market it properly this time though!
11/03/2010 at 12:13 jarvoll says:
I must be dumb: what’s the obvious joke?
11/03/2010 at 12:23 Azhrarn says:
@John: which is why it is happening.
Because the description Phlebas gives is for Epic Mickey, designed by Warren Spector, which is just what he says. And indeed it is a Disney game.
11/03/2010 at 13:21 John Walker says:
I was making a little joke.
11/03/2010 at 12:26 Quasar says:
Not heard of this until now, but it looks very interesting… Any idea if there’s a demo in the works? I’d love to give it a try, don’t tend to buy racing games unless the demo grabs me by the balls (like Dirt2)
11/03/2010 at 12:27 wiper says:
Faintly curious to see what this is like, but more glad to see that John’s alive. Yay John!
11/03/2010 at 12:48 KBKarma says:
Has Epic Mickey been confirmed as the official title? If so, awesome.
11/03/2010 at 13:14 duel says:
It’s like Burnout nicking all the set pieces from a drivey movie blockbuster
11/03/2010 at 13:49 diebroken says:
Legend, The Dark Crystal, Willow, The Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Time Bandits, The Barbarians (a hilarious film on the fantasy genre: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6BAd7xJuU0), … ahh pure fantasy nostalgia!
There’s at least 500 reasons why Krull is better than… ;)
11/03/2010 at 14:12 Persus-9 says:
The only problem with this game is I think it’ll be the game that finally proves to us how good we are at seeing through special effects and seeing the game behind it. Few times round the track and I think we’ll stop noticing that it’s massive explosions and it may as well be a blue shell taking out the leader.
It’s still looking good but there is something I find quite worrying. Every set piece in that trailer is from the same level and it’s the same level that they had as a playable demo at E2 back in October. I guess they just don’t want to show any more cards just yet but I am getting slightly worried that this game might turn out kind of small.
11/03/2010 at 14:13 E says:
That demo is showing the docks track – the E3 demo showed only airport.
11/03/2010 at 15:40 Persus-9 says:
Yeah but I was referring to E2 or as everyone else calls it the Eurogamer Expo.
11/03/2010 at 16:41 Blurr11 says:
umm “Sir Clive Sinclair invented the first Turing Machine” i really hope your joking with this
11/03/2010 at 17:01 Persus-9 says:
I really hope you aren’t serious in not being completely clear that he was joking.
11/03/2010 at 17:09 phlebas says:
Finding an infinitely long tape was the trickiest bit.
11/03/2010 at 23:47 El Stevo says:
Blur11 is right, guys. I think John made a mistake.
12/03/2010 at 04:47 Vinraith says:
And now I’m no longer sure who doesn’t get it and who’s pretending not to get it for comedic effect. Make the meta stop!
12/03/2010 at 01:31 Zerotime says:
Burnout Paradise But With Explosions? I am so there.
18/06/2010 at 19:19 Chris says:
For those commenting on Disney doing non-kiddy stuff…keep in mind they created the Touchstone imprint for just that very purpose.