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Split/Second = Burnout Revenge & Excite Truck with Michael Bay riding shotgun
Lunker
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[vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpnUzI04_1s]E3 Trailer[/vidurl][vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDMW2PpED3A]Awesome 13-minute E3 Stage Demo[/vidurl]I tried running a search but couldn't find an existing thread on this bad boy. I recently went to a Disney Interactive presser and almost forgot they were releasing this, so I was able to get some hands-on time with the E3 build of Split/Second—and I was curious about this before, but now I'm definitely pumped about this game.
The game is completely unabashed arcade racing. It feels exactly like Burnout, though I'm talking pre-Paradise Burnout: None of this open-world nonsense, just place me where I need to be and let me punch the gas. The hook is that there isn't any turbo boost—you do build up a power meter for doing Burnout-y things, like drifting, drafting and such, but the power is instead used to trigger dozens of different Michael-Bay-and-Jerry-Bruckheimer-wet-dream explosions and track deformations placed around the course. With small levels of boost, you can trigger gas station detonations, helicopter missiles and other smaller events, all with the intent of knocking out other players temporarily. You can also open up temporary shortcuts, like having a crane lift steel pipes out of the way for a few seconds. Some of these reset, others don't, but all leave debris and scattered obstacles in the way after they're triggered.
The big setpieces, though, are saved for full boost meter charges, and these change the entire setup of the track—the stage demo above shows an airport race track where an air traffic control tower bursts into flames and comes crashing down, blocking off an entire portion of the course and opening up a new section. You can also bring a full jetliner crashing down onto the course, nuke an entire line of stores in a shopping mall and trigger two lines of explosives that sends everyone into a lower level. This is very Excite Truck-y, and the changes are permanent. They're also—and this is the 14-year-old boy in me talking—completely fucking awesome to see.
I only got to play two rounds of the airport level, but it looks really slick. It's almost completely HUD-less; you've got a very Dead Space–inspired minimal HUD on your back bumper that gives your place, number of laps and how much power you've got stored up. There's a lot of motion blur everywhere, and it really does have some beautiful explosions. The supposed setup for the game is that you're in a reality TV show, so you're supposed to win races while racking up ratings by nuking shit across the course. The end result does feel like a summer blockbuster, with shit going off left and right, either destroying cars outright or feeling the concussion from a blast and having your car get blown around. You get a Burnout (and almost Mario Kart-ish) feeling of competition from timing your triggers, and if you mess up the timing you can miss other cars and actually catch yourself in a blast if you're not careful. There also seem to be tiered triggers, so you won't just set off everything on the first lap and have nothing to two for the rest of the race.
It's also worth noting that the game is developed by Black Rock Studio, aka the team behind the criminally neglected ATV racer Pure (and still the closest thing we'll ever get to a next-gen SSX). And it'll have 8-player online, some kind of local multiplayer (the demo guy didn't confirm how many players or what yet), and some kind of replay and video editing setup that lets you watch and post replays of your races.
Seriously, [vidurl=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDMW2PpED3A]check out the E3 stage demo because it's totally rad.[/vidurl] The only downside is that I'm not sure if there's a release date set. I don't think it's ready for this year; most of the previews I've read say the team has a lot left to do, but the game looks gorgeous for being so early in. Tweet my Face: @heyitslunker | Save money at CheapAssGamer (not an affiliate link)
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Excite and Burnout are the two things I thought of—haven't played Motorstorm but that also seems to be in the ballpark. It also just looks really, really beautiful in motion. The screenshots out there are kind of bullshotty, but check out the trailers, because it looks just like that.
But I want to play the game anyways
If this is similar...I will be a happy man.
As long as this has that over the top, super fast, things constantly blowing up feeling that the other two games have, I'll be snatching this up right away. You all can keep your boring Gran Turismo's or Forza's, give me destruction and mayhem with a car. :P
Seriously though, if this is anything like a match up of those two franchises, it'll be gold.
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
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Burnout Revenge is easily the best Burnout. Combine that with Excite Truck, and throw in a few Michael Bay explosions and I'm a happy man.
All I need are boobs. Tell me there are boobs.
boobs?
Nintendo Network ID - Brainiac_8
PSN - Brainiac_8
Steam - http://steamcommunity.com/id/BRAINIAC8/
Add me!
Also, the below comic:
So, anyone have any reactions/stories to share? Let's get em out here!
As I've been looking for years for the spiritual sequel to Rollcage, this and Blur both got my attention. Blur's being discussed already, but not much about this...let's rectify that!
Anyone got the full game yet? How's it playing for you?
3 big racers came out almost at the same time ... I'm thinking most people like me picked one and are hoping for the best. I'm really enjoying modnation racers, although I have to admit the ravings of the Blur thread are weakening my resolve to stick to "one" racer.
When it drops down to 30 bucks.
EDIT: Okay, wait, I just saw the Survival mode video. Might have to get this sooner rather than later.
Despite the comparisons they feel completely different, Split/Second is almost like a puzzle game. Timing your power plays with your drifts/drafts is providing a nice challenge. Gonna jump on multiplayer later, should be a lot more hectic.
Also the music is awesome, it's like a constant Bourne/Bond action scene.
And what is the mode called where you are in a time trial, but the entire track is exploding around you. They finally made time trials fun.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
I was on the fence for the longest time, trying to decide between this and Blur. Because of Tycho's post I finally decided to just go with Split/Second. I really enjoyed the demo, so even if it was just more of the same that would be cool with me.
I picked it up after work and put in a couple hours tonight. I have to say I really enjoy it. The gameplay definitely leans more toward Grid than Burnout, with the emphasis more on skillful driving than straight-out aggresson.
Knowing when to use your powerplays most effectively seems like it will take some time to learn. It's not just a blue turtle shell "Press A to win", if you don't time them right your opponents will just swerve out of the way. Motoring along in first place while trucks explode around you and bombs fall on your head is an awesome rush. Just knowing that the guys behind you are trying their best to take you out.
I only did one round of the mode where the helicopter shoots at you, but was great too. Even if the spectacle wears off over time (Here comes another plane, woohoo.) I enjoy the core mechanics and the graphics/presentation enough that I can see myself playing it for a while.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
I'll probably end up renting it.
- Very much like burnout meets need for speed undercover, (with a hint of MEGARACE) with no direct shunting of enemies off the road, more emphasis on using certain (awesome) exploding landmarks to your advantage.
- Game really (really) feels much more fun once you've gotten some of the faster cars unlocked (very much like burnout, the game feels really sluggish to start, but at the point I'm at now the cars are starting to kick.)
- I still wish there was a boost button.
- Quite enjoying the music, although there could be more track selection, it beats EA Licensed Tunes anyday.
- Hate the announcer. I expected to hate any voice work I encountered in this game and I sure did, just awful.
and the missile dodging minigame is really fun once you get a car with decent traction. I've definitely had a few "wow" moments thus far and that's enough to make the rental very worthwhile.
The PC Port isn't actually that bad IMO. Besides the menu and the problem with exiting the game, it is pretty good. Everything in game seems good and works well for me. Though I do use a 360 controller for it.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad
Simon Cowell make this show instead of those shit talent shows.
Only thing I don't like are the detonator stages, because I absoloutely must get gold before I move on and the level of perfection required is insane. I looked up a youtube of the second one (where you drive the truck with no accelleration at all) because I was sure I must be missing a shortcut somewhere. I was not.
I did however find a very useful glitch mentioned in the comments:
You are in full control of your car before you cross the start line. It is possible to stop short without starting the timer, turn around and drive off in the oposite direction. once you get far enough away the game automatically resets you back at the start line, but at full speed.
Well I didn't mean it's horribly broken and doesn't run well type lazy. What I meant where the following things. One big one and several small ones that add up to it seeming like a rather lazy port by today's standards.
Well the one really bad thing is I can't for the life of me figure out how to get online. There's no registration for anything to be found and it asks for some password. Worse than that I can't actually find out how to click the area where I have to put in the password. Also pressing enter in the username area does nothing as far as I can tell. I've never had trouble like this before and I've been playing PC games for a good long time. So until someone points out to me what I'm doing stupidly wrong I'm assuming this is some of the worst implementation of multiplayer I've ever come across.
Other than that it's small things.
Menu things you already mentioned.
The graphical options suck. You can change resolution and then put the graphics from low -> very high, but there's no "advanced" type mode that lets me tweak things. That's pretty standard nowadays.
Doesn't directly support the 360 pad (pretty much all other modern games that are also on that console do). What I mean is in the tutorial section it will say stuff like press button 1 to do this. It wasn't that hard to find out what button 1 was but it was kind of annoying.
I haven't tried to get online yet. That sounds pretty horrible. Does anyone have any suggestions for Barrabas?
I also forgot about the 360 pad buttons not being displayed properly. That bothered me too. Most games nowadays do that correctly. Maybe they'll fix it in a patch.
"Read twice, post once. It's almost like 'measure twice, cut once' only with reading." - MetaverseNomad