Split/Second is an exciting and one-of-a-kind racing experience, but sadly it's short-lived and quickly wears thin.
Now what makes Split/Second a one-of-a-kind racing game is the colossal destruction that can be activated by the press of a button. These destructive events are called power plays, which can distort parts of the track, demolish structures, and all sorts of other occurrences that unleash hell on your opponents. Level 2 power plays are even more destructive and chaotic, but take longer to earn. Power is earned simply by drafting, drafting, and getting some air time, and can even be used to activate short cuts for a short frame of time, or even destroy parts of the environment that can annihilate other vehicles and then force drivers to take a different route. Overall, these predicaments create an intense environment for racing. Getting wrecked can easily send you towards the back of the pack in a close race, and quite frankly, opponents can be really cheap when it comes to driving tactics and activating power plays themselves, but you can be just as cheap right back to them. The 11 race tracks are engineered to certain calamity, so there will practically never be a point in time when you are comfortably in first place, all though it isn't excruciatingly difficult once you get used to it.
As mentioned, basic racing isn't the only game mode to be played. There is an event in which missile strikes from a helicopter must be dodged, a time trial event in which you must dodge automatically detonated power plays, a survival event where you must pass semi-tucks carelessly tossing exploding barrels at you, and an elimination event in which the person in last gets booted out of the race after a certain amount of time. These modes add some variety to the game, but even so it still gets repetitive and unexciting after a while. Once tracks along with their according power plays and so forth are memorized, it makes everything predicable and monotonous.
There is a competitive racing series that is played in the last event in the episodes called "Elite races". These races are a bit more difficult than standard ones, and you are forced to finish third or better to even continue to the next episode, which means being forced to repeat the race will probably be inevitable thanks to the vamped up AI. It does make it feel like you're racing for something as it does lead to a final race, which really isn't any different from the others. Split/Second is continuously rewarding throughout the story mode as more points are earned for finishing higher up events, thus unlocking new and more powerful cars. The controls are primarily simple. Cars handle somewhat smoothly, but tend to slide more than it seems like they should at times making it a bit challenging to master. However, it's still rather easy to get into the game even for newcomers.
Seeing the same explosions and mass destruction manages to wear thin, and the 12 episodes somehow seem to drag on after a while. The same tracks are played many times considering there are 72 events and 11 tracks. The tracks, cars, and overall visuals look quite well, and the scale of the destruction is amazing. Cars seem to take no damage other than when they are completely dismantled by colliding with an object at a high speed or getting caught in a violent destruction sequence. However, this doesn't really matter considering how ridiculously unrealistic, yet entertaining game is. Sometimes Split/Second can give you a solid kick in the groin when it comes to unavoidable power plays and infrequently absurd respawning. Obviously you must play dirty yourself, but this as a result removes some of the skill factor.
Once all events in the episodes are played through, there's not much of a reason to go back, and once it was all done, my interest in going back to improve my results in some events was rather low, but it was something to do. The once fun and adrenaline inducing experience turned into a more frequently frustrating and mundane ride. It was still exciting throughout at points in short bursts, but in all wasn't an all-out addicting experience.
The online multiplayer portion of Split/Second gives a modest amount of additional life to this shallow game. Three of the game modes found in the single player bit of Split/Second can also be found in the multiplayer including basic racing, elimination, and survival. There aren't many options, but it's simple competitive action. Unfortunately it gets just as shallow as the single-player counterpart of the game, all though it is more enjoyable and sometimes frustrating to race against others. Sadly, there is inadequate stat tracking for online races. There is a lackluster skill rating system, that starts at 99 being the worst, and 1 the best. It goes up or down depending on what place you get. However, the system is complete crap considering I won 3 races in a row, got my skill rating up to 83, lost connection towards the end of a race, and then it fell all the way to 93. That's a severe punishment for a disconnection that wasn't even my fault. A win will give you a mere 4 points to your skill rating, and losing 10 for points for an unintentional disconnect is ridiculous. Furthermore, racing online is in no way rewarding. Cars earned during the single player story are used, and there is no leveling system other than the flawed skill rating nonsense. Despite all that, the online is easy to jump in and play, making for a quick and easy competitive experience.
Despite all of the positive aspects of Split/Second like the gorgeous graphics, smooth racing, and exciting gameplay, the game simply loses its fun factor in a seemingly short amount of time. There's not much to do in terms of replayability, but that's insignificant once the game loses its initial charm. Still, it's worth playing through, especially for any fan of racing games, namely arcade-styled ones. There are many incredible moments to be had, but reliving them over and over just ruins the fun. Definitely worth a rent though, or a search through the bargain bin, but don't expect it to be a long-lasting and consistently enjoyable experience.