Disney’s Split/Second racing game is loads of fun

I am generally not the one to play racing games on consoles for a variaty of reasons. I don’t have the fine thumb control needed in most games for good steering inputs and I don’t like the overly complex controls of the vehicles. Therefore, it is rare for me to play, let alone get sucked into, a racing video game.

Disney’s Split/Second is unlike most of the games in that respect. For me, it offers a very large amount of fun without a lot of the things that I don’t like about racing games. If you are a gamer who likes fast cars, explosions, and don’t want to spend the first two hour learning car controls, you’ll probably like this game.

The essence of the game is that the player is a driver who is part of a TV show that takes place on various track which have all been rigged to blow. The player is supposed to make his or her way around the track avoiding the explosions and the destruction which they bring. Not only that but through performing drifts, drafts, passes, and jumps, players can get power which can be used to trigger said explosions and crash the other drivers. Below, there is another video, which better explains the explosions and triggers that are part of the game.

Besides blowing parts of the track up as part of the race, the game offers several other race modes – Elimination, Air Strike, Domination, and Survival. From those four, the ones that really deserve a mention are Air Strike and Survival. In Air Strike mode, you are racing around a track as an Apache attack helicopter shoots missiles at the road just ahead of you. You collect points for making it through the barrage. Survival mode puts the driver on a track that resembles the LA river channel. In front of you, there are a number of big rigs carrying explosive barrel which get released and bounce around. The drivers collect points for passing any of the rigs.

The single player part of the game is divided into Episodes. Each episode offers several events of various types, a bonus event, and an Elite Race. Depending on your placement in each of the events, you collect credits, which unlock new cars. In order to qualify (unlock) the next Episode, you have to place 3rd or better in the Elite Race.

Along with the split screen racing, the game also offers online play, where you can setup a private race with your friends or a public race with random online players. However, currently, it doesn’t look like there are many players online. I tried to setup/join a public race this weekend but no one else joined and after “Waiting for other players” for five minutes without anyone joining, I gave up.

Just like with a lot of other games, I first played Split/Second when I downloaded the demo from the PlayStation Store. However, unlike many other games, I has hooked after playing the single track that was offered in it.

The game has some beautiful graphics. The cars are nice and shinny, the environment is beautiful, and the explosions are stunning (even thought, from time to time the explosions, smoke, and debris make it very hard to tell where the clear path actually is). The sound in the game is also great. Sounds effect (engine noise, crashes, explosions) change depending on the current surroundings – the car’s engine will sound differently depending whether you are currently driving through an open field or a tunnel. The games music is a very dynamic, hard-pumping industrial techno, which, in my opinion, suits the game very well.

I also wanted to say something about the controls – they are a breeze to learn. The main controls involve 4 buttons and the left analog stick. Steering the car with the analog stick is also pretty easy, despite the fact that different cars will behave differently when subject to the same steering input. Besides steering, the game uses the usual gas and brake controls, and also the two buttons (X and O) which trigger the power plays. Not only are the just a few controls to learn but using them to initial and control drifts, passes, etc. is pretty easy.

Overall, this game is very enjoyable, especially if you are not one of those gamers who want to have realistic, complete control of the cars. If you want to do some racing and blow stuff up while you are doing it, this is the game for you. The game does have only 11 tracks but each with multiple configurations possible (see video below), it does provide variability. There is also the possibility of new tracks through downloadable content.

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