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.
Now that Steam is on Mac and Valve has shown that it's willing to branch out, how long do you think it will be before they announce that they are developing for the PS3?
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that by the end of the year, Half Life: Ep. 3 will be announced along with the announcement that the HL series is headed to the PS3. Who's got my back on that?
This week serves up a double-dose of "pew pew", as two shooters arrive on XBLA this week; Metal Slug XX and Aqua.
First off, Metal Slug XX is actually a revamp of Metal Slug 7 and not Metal Slug 20 as you may have guessed at first. The game will release on XBLA on May 19th, for 1200MSP.
Aqua is a steam-punk styled, top-down, naval-based shmup, made by Slovak developers Games Distillery. It is set to release on May 19th, for the price of 800MSP.
If you're completely psyched for Alan Wake, and can't wait until it arrives in May, (like, for example, me!), you'll likely be quite excited about Bright Falls, the six-part, live action prequel to the game. The series is due to release soon on Xbox Live, Xbox.com, and brightfalls.com, and is set to run right up until the games North American release. In even better news, The New York Times has been given exclusive access to the first two episodes, which are available to watch now on The New York Times' website.
In these first two episodes, the series introduces the prequels main protagonist, Jake Fisher, and starts setting the scene for the the game. Right from the start, the series is filled with enough intrigue, menace, and down-right quirkiness to draw more than its fair share of comparisons to cult classic TV show Twin Peaks, and is an entertaining watch for those desperate to get their hands on the game. We'll just have to hope that we don't have to wait long for the final four episodes.
In a strange turn of events, likely due to the fact that developers Remedy are based in Finland, Alan Wake is due to hit retail shelves on May 14th in Europe, and May 18th in North America.
As I write this, it's currently early morning, on Friday the 14th of May here in the UK -- which has been officially renamed here in Europe, as Alan Wake release day. So, all I have to do get my hands on all of this survival horror-y goodness, is survive work, manage a trip to whichever shop I decide to purchase the game from without getting over-excited and passing out, and hope that they don't sell out of copies before I get there. Suddenly today feels like it's going to be a really long day.
As a closing thought, I'd just like to point out that, from the above screenshot, we can clearly see that Mr. Wake is clearly looking for something. In the immortal words of everyone's friend, Lionel Richie (especially if you're a blind chick): "Hello? Is it me you're looking for?"
I'd just like to make one thing clear: I never played the original Little Big Planet. I always wanted to play it, but just never got round to it. So when Media Molecule released the trailer for the recently announced Little Big Planet 2, I couldn't help but notice that it looks... Oh, what's the word I'm looking for? Oh yeah, ABSOLUTELY FRICKIN' RAD!
I mean, did you see the sackboy mech? Or the mouse racing game? OR THE SACKBOY WITH THE 3-D GLASSES AND THE NEWSPAPER BEARD?!? AWESOME!!!
WAIT, WHY AM I SHOUTING? OH RIGHT, IT'S BECAUSE THERE'S JUST TOO MUCH RAD IN THAT TRAILER!
Back to Gamefly goes Batman: Arkham Asylum, and in comes Super Street Fighter 4.
For the most part, I really liked B:AA, and I feel the demo that came out last year didn't do it justice. What I absolutely hated was the way that Joker taunts you over the loudspeaker throughout the entire game. God, that was annoying. Equally annoying was finding one of those Riddler things and every time the Riddler would say some variation of, "That was an easy one..." Ugh, that made me cringe every time. I didn't finish Arkham Asylum, but I got what I imagine to be about halfway through it, so I really feel I got the gist of the game.
Speaking of gist, does anyone else think Harley Quinn and Poisn Ivy were strangely super-sexy? They make me want to gist all over the place.
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Bloguin is the revolutionary blog network specifically focused on helping bloggers get the most out of their websites. We're currently working on building a large network of online communities and hope to expand our blogging coverage to include a wide range of topics. 
The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
The Bloguin Login gives you full access to everything our network has to offer. Your name and password will work for each and every one of our sites. Signing up is simple, and will allow you to post in all our forums, create member blogs, and access other cool features! What are you waiting for? Create an Account!