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Flashback: Split/Second delivers explosive action

You know how some people only watch car races on TV in the hopes of seeing a wicked crash? Split/Second was undoubtedly made by those people. They've packed so many huge explosions and crashes into this game that you'd think Michael Bay had a hand in it. If there isn't something over-the-top happening every 30 seconds or so, you're playing a different racing game.

Players race around the track and [build up points to] trigger Power Plays, which can do everything from blowing up a parked car to dropping a ocean liner on the other racers [depending on the location of the Power Play and how many points the player has accumulated]. There are a staggering number of explosions going off almost constantly, especially if the player is winning. If you've ever been leading the pack in Mario Kart, you know the feeling.

If you want to see nearly every one of those explosions, which looks a lot like the second coming of Jesus, play Detonator mode. In it, players will need to do one timed lap around a track while dodging every possible Power Play. Dodging those is pretty tricky, even in a normal race.

When an opponent crashes, players can plow right through the wreckage with no trouble, but if a Power Play makes a parked car roll into the road, grazing that is like slamming into a tank. It's hard to tell what what is safe and what isn't. Other than item's from Power Plays and the track's guardrails, almost everything is destructible. Players can run through fences, fire hydrants, wooden boxes and barrels without a second thought.

Crashing is not a huge deal in this game, though; it happens to everyone all the time. You could be in last place, but a good Power Play could catapult you into first, and vice versa. If you want to play this game, get used to getting wrecked.

Split/Second is also one of he rare current-generation games that features offline multiplayer, though for some unfathomable reason it is limited to two players. Why waste the potential for this to be a successful party game? To play with three or more people, gamers would need to buy two or more copies of the game.

All in all, this is a solid racing game. Even gamers who don't usually like racing games can enjoy it easily. Maybe it's the great graphics, the interesting tracks or a difficulty level that makes you actually fight to win. On the other hand, maybe it's because of modes like Air Revenge, in which players dodge a rocket-shooting helicopter and eventually shoot back. Yeah, that may be it.