Gran Turismo-loving petrolheads will be frustrated at the lack of under-the-hood tinkering, real cars, and complicated racing tracks, and kart lovers will miss the childish fun of Mario Kart, but somehow the explosion-filled Split/Second is well worth a look for those in either camp, and especially for those in neither.
Its appeal lies in its simplicity: there are no upgrades, no driver stats, no power-ups. Just intuitive handling, a lot of racing, and a lot of explosions.
These explosions are the games hook, and for the most part, are within your control, as you blast around a series of themed tracks (city centres, docks, industrial zones) and build up points by powersliding, following in other cars slipstreams and leaping from steepling jumps. These points are used to trigger power plays that make parts of the scenery, be they power plants, cruise liners or sheer cliff faces, explode all over the road, taking out competitors at the press of a button.
Coming from Black Rock Studios, the team behind 2008s quad-bike racer Pure, its got similarly excellent graphics thatll occasionally take your breath away. Although, as the game goes on, its simplicity becomes its greatest flaw, as driving déjà vu starts to set in.
Until that point, however, it may not be the World Rally championship, but its a decent and beautifully-crafted attempt at cracking the already very crowded racing market, even if players might occasionally feel like theyre in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie.