DVDChris

tried the demo. Pretty cool. I keep wanting a boost button though.

jdslater1

I quite liked the idea of no boost button, kinda made it like a deranged NASCAR race. Drafting behind everyone. Also made you concentrate on the power-ups.
Gonna get this on day of release. After seeing more videos this looks like a great bit of fun, the AI looks pretty good. The sound is great through my speakers.
A lot of people compare this to Blur. I didn't get the satsifaction with Blur of taking out another car as I did with Split/Second. In Blur you seemed to fire a plasma ball and you might see it take out a car before it turned a corner. With this it was great seeing the flaming plane crash and get a triple wreck!

maingon

Me too, I was doing the same thing with the boost button. I played the ps3 demo and the visuals do look amazing. lots of crap going on and the detail is great. Though the game does seem pretty random and not a ton of skill involved though.

chess

I played the demo...kind of interesting I guess, but their last game looked and played better IMO. Honestly, the game feels slow to me and super-simple, even for an arcade racer. Other than tapping the brake to drift, I never did anything but steer.

And this is NOT EVEN REMOTELY a BP-Killer. Paradise is much faster and much much more interesting. I didn't even think this felt as good as the GRID demo a few years back.

chess

IGN liked it more than I did...but I only played the demo once and didn't get to see the plane crash.

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Michael Corvin

yeah, I can't imagine anyone making a decision based on a 1 car, 1 course demo. Pure rocked, so I'm mostly sold because of that.

I hope some of the bigger shit, like the plane crash totally blow out your surround sound. That would kick ass.

collven

The only problem I'm seeing from some of the reviews is the same issue Mod Nation Racers has, which is terrible rubber banding for the AI. I hate racing games where you can have a perfect race, but make one little mistake on the last lap, and get passed by 3 or 4 other cars.

Michael Corvin

Joystiq Review:

So like IGN, they agree that the fun seems to outweigh the cons.

stingermck

I'm still on board with my pre-order. Ive been wanting a cinematic type racer for a while. NFS Undercover was suppose to be, while still a good racer, didn't really hit that mark. And I'm ready for a new racer anyway, after overall disappointment from Shift. In fact if the cars feel like they weigh more 5 pounds, this has an advantage over Shift.

chess

I played the demo couple more times. It just feels slow to me, and the shrapnel looks a bit wonky graphically.

I thought Pure was a much better looking game, and it had a better sense of speed as well.

Michael Corvin

I was still on the fence up until yesterday, but for $45 and a $10 credit, I figured I'd let it ride. I'm dying for a new racer. Actually I think Pure was the last one I played.

Decker

Yeah, I sort of liked the demo, but since I didn't like it as much as Burnout, I couldn't see spending even $35 on an inferior Burnout clone I wouldn't play much. I'll get around to it once it drops to $20 perhaps.

TheBigDave

I haven't noticed any problem with rubber-banding. So far I've played the demo around a dozen times. There have been at least 3 games I won by 6 seconds or more.

Michael Corvin

FWIW, according to Garnett on Weekend Confirmed, the demo is the same one from last years E3.

Ravenous

The best thing about this game: 2 player split screen!!!

Ive been waiting for a game like that, not even BP or Pure could do that! The demo was fun enough and the crashes/explosions were cool on the surround sound. But I detest rubberband AI. I hope its not as bad as Mario Kart. I witnessed the plane crash and I drove RIGHT under it as it hit the ground. I yelled out "Oh shit!" It was fun, and though I almost wish there was a boost, itd be awesome if there were take downs!

Decker

You hit the nail on the head there -- it's a game that gives you Burnout longing.

One thing I absolutely LOVE about Split/Second is the Heads-up display. I've never seen one as elegant, functional and non-distracting. I hope other racing games copy that model.

Michael Corvin

Alright I've done the first "Season" and this game is a total blast. Pun intended. The game is structured exactly like Pure in terms of events, earning points and unlocking cars/decals etc. If it ain't broke...

the racing: a part of me wants a boost, but with the way the game plays, a boost would almost be a cheat. Maintaining your lead is the challenge because you can't cause destruction on the cars behind you. Boosting would make things too easy. Also a part of me really wants Takedowns, but again, with all the shit going on in the game, it would almost be too much. Other than the start of the race the cars stay pretty spaced out (I assume to allow for triggering the mayhem). So it would be a nice touch, but honestly, not a huge loss.

the tracks I've done the first 6 or so events, and replayed quite a few trying for 1st and none felt all that redundant the second or third time through. Also, I'm not quite getting that argument anyway. Outside of Burnout Paradise, what other racing games have dynamic tracks that change? Hasn't every racing game essentially been get from point a to b on a set course with an occasional shortcut tossed in?

the cars: I noticed a huge difference from the demo right away. I've tried four different cars so far and all handle better than what was in the demo. So I'd have to chalk that up to being a 12 month old demo. Do they handle with Burnout precision? Of course not, no game has come close, but they handle fine for the game they were built for.

No real problems with rubber-banding, but this was just the first set of events. Hard to tell there. So far the only real gripe have have is the lack of car damage. Once you come out the other side of a huge wreck, your car is pristine as it was as the beginning of the race and drives like new.

The game reminds me a lot of the first Burnout game. A kick ass game with some awesome ideas that will only get better with some fine tuning in a sequel.

slop101

How many actual tracks does the game have - and no, backwards/mirrored/etc don't count.

Michael Corvin

I think I read it has a dozen. Honestly between the different modes the tracks change up quite a bit. Even if you are on essentially the same course you just played, the next one may force you through routes that you normally wouldn't hit, making it seem like a different course. Think of a "track" as a giant concourse that has 3-4 different routes. I don't think you'll see them all in a single race, so the game routes you through them separately on different modes.

Air Strike is a beast. I've unlocked a couple and the best I can muster after a half dozen tries is 3rd on one and 5th on another.

Figured I'd give online a go for some, what I thought, easy achievements. Win a race, how hard could that be on day 1? Well, your online car options are limited to what you have unlocked in single player. Fail. What's worse is you can pony up 320 spacebucks to unlock all the cars to have that advantage. Double Fail.

I did get a secret 'viral/beat a developer or someone who has this' achievement already.

slop101

Just watched the Gametrailers review - they said it has 11 tracks.

So while it looks like a blast at first, I don't think it'll have much, if any, longevity. I think I'll look into it when it hits the $30 range.

TheBigDave

I keep killing myself with the power plays.

Having played through the first "episode", I'm a little concerned with the longevity. Once you've run through the track a couple times, you know what to look out for. But I'm having fun right now.

TheBigDave

Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild did that. Every lap was different. Loved that game. Wish it was backwards compatible on the 360.

Michael Corvin

Seems like a valid concern, but I've already dropped about 3 hours on the first two Seasons (out of 12). I've only netted all Gold on the first season, and about half of the second(stupid Air Strike) in that time. Assuming the game doesn't get tougher(which would be crazy) at this rate, I'd be looking at 20 hours minimum just to finish, ignoring golds.

But yeah, it still doesn't feel like a $60 game.

TheBigDave

I'm up to Episode 7 (of 12). That's about 5 hours of play. I'm guessing probably 10-12 hours to play through the entire season. Going for 1st Place in all events will probably double or triple that time.

I haven't seen any problems with rubberbanding. The fact is, it's easy to go from last to first place fairly quickly. That's just the way the game is. But if you run a perfect race, you can smoke everyone by a few seconds. I don't see any AI cheating so far.

One thing that disappoints are the tracks. There's only 11. I've already unlocked 10. Some of them share the same stretch of road. So you'll see the same shortcuts and powerplays. That seems kinda lazy. I would have liked more variety. I wonder if they held some tracks back for DLC.

TheBigDave

Game Trailers Review: