| 24 May 2010
As an arcade racer, the premise for which sees you driving at break-neck speeds around racing circuits rigged with explosive charges, all whilst being filmed for a TV show, Split/Second Velocity is every bit as exhilarating as you'd expect it to be. It's difficult to describe just how frantic things become when a building in the foreground suddenly collapses in front of you; the camera is showered with dust and dirt, while the track itself is littered with sparks and debris. The resulting shock-waves cause your steering to become loose, whilst your rivals start to slide out, and wreck all around you; all while you're getting ever closer to the thick cloud of opaque black smoke which has obscured a large section of the track. It's in these moments that you know that, for a fraction of a second at least, you'll be racing blind, and that your only option is to pick a line, floor the accelerator, and hope for the best. To say that it's intense, doesn't do the game any justice whatsoever.
These are the moments you'll remember most after playing Split/Second Velocity, and thankfully, these moments are what the game does best. However, the game also has a laundry list of things which it doesn't do quite so well, and while none of them ruin the experience (far from it, in fact), they certainly detract from it.
Probably the first thing you'll notice, is that the handling of the vehicles doesn't seem quite right. Generally speaking, the handling of the vehicles often feels just a little too stiff and heavy, and understeer tends to be a real problem. That is, until you start drifting, in which case oversteer then becomes a problem; the cars in Split/Second Velocity need very little convincing to go sideways when drifting, and you'll likely find yourself wrestling with the games controls when trying to control your drifts. However, this is alleviated somewhat when you start to unlock better cars, which thankfully happens both quickly, and steadily, throughout the game.
Another problem you'll likely encounter, is the acutely aggressive enemy AI, or more specifically, the overly-aggressive catch-up system the game employs to try and keep things competitive. In an attempt to try and minimise the impact of wrecking – which happens extensively – the game employs a catch-up system to try and keep races both interesting and fair. Ironically though, this system often causes the enemy AI to catch up too easily, and it becomes nearly impossible to break away from the rest of the pack. When the shoe is on the other foot though, you'll find it difficult to break away from the back of the pack, and it can be almost impossible to catch up to the leaders once they've been given a chance to build up a substantial lead. It's a system which owes more to Mario Kart than any other racer, and it times it can be incredibly unfair.
Despite its faults though, there's something about Split/Second Velocity that makes it extremely difficult to put down, and when you do, you usually find yourself itching to play it again an hour later. This is because the game is, at it's best, thrilling, and genuinely a lot of fun. There's no mistaking that the game has its fair share of faults, but the gameplay itself will cause your heart to beat so furiously in your chest, that you'll be willing to overlook many of them.
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