Ready to 
You have but a split second
Bobby Miller
June 18, 2009 2:27 PM ET in Gaming
It was the biggest surprise of E3 for me.
Disney is Publishing this?
The Disney Interactive booth was not one that I eagerly made tracks to. Sure, I’m a huge Disney fan, but I can’t say I can muster much excitement for a DS game focused on the hilarious antics of the Jonas Brothers. I didn’t even set foot in their booth until the final day of E3, and that was to talk to PR, not play games. Upon my exit, however, I stumbled upon an absolute gem.
What I saw as I looked upon a throng of gamers with controllers in hand was a racing game. It was obvious to me rather quickly that it was an arcade racer, with the cars wildly powersliding through tight corners laid out on the inside of an airport terminal. The visuals were compelling and very sharp. Light birthed from the setting sun was reflecting off the pavement, objects were blurring past the car as it screamed forward, and the fireball coming from the crashing plane was beau–HOLY CRAP THE PLANE IS CRASHING IN FRONT OF ME I’M GOING TO HIT IT.
Split/Second was the game, being developed by Black Rock and Published by Disney Interactive Studios. It’s an intense, high speed racing game that gives the player a chaotic trigger that either affects their course or attempts to destroy the other racers. As you race, a gauge is filled as a reward for good racing performance. When the gauge is full, the player can trigger an event, which is determined by the player’s location on the track. The event will either help you pull in a faster lap, or destroy the competition.
For example, the first time I filled the gauge I triggered it to alter the course. When triggered, I saw an explosion in the distance. The base of the airport’s control tower lit up in a bloom of fire, the entire tower lurched towards me. It slowly leaned forward and began to fall directly toward me. I was awestruck by the sight of the toppling behemoth. The tower SLAMMED into the tarmac just to my right side, forcing me to drive left. As the tower hit, an incredibly thick and realistic cloud of dirt and debris was kicked out in front of me and filled my screen. When the literal dust settled, I looked behind me to see my opponents crashing into large chunks of debris, and I was pulling ahead.
The game is full of ’OH CRAP’ moments like these, and it stays constantly intense, as your opponents can trigger the events as well. When a destructive event is triggered, you’re given a split second, as the title implies, to make a decision on how to avoid getting totaled. When you fail, you car is shown being torn to shreds, courtesy of the impressive damage modeling. You never know when to expect an exploding, flying bus or terminal glass shattering out towards you or the tarmac below you collapsing. You have to be on your toes at all times.
I walked away very impressed. Despite the fact that I had watched 3 players race and expose almost every trigger on the track before I even tried it, I still found myself constantly surprised when the events happened. If you let your guard down, it’s game over.
I’m excited for Split/Second, and it still has plenty of development time left. It’s slated for release on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC by Q1 2010. About a year to go, and I’m already preparing to dodge fireballs and twisted metal.
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