Disney

[05.07.12] Review: 'Split/Second'

Black Rock Studio

Black Rock Studio

Split/Second for Xbox 360

Rating:

5 Stars

Have you ever gone down to the airport with all of your luggage packed, ticket in hand, only to find out that your flight actually left two hours ago? That’s a classic case of being in the right place, but at the wrong time. The good news is you’re not alone. It happens to tons of people all the time. Sometimes, it even happens to video games, and that’s the case with Split/Second. This racing game, surprisingly published by Disney Interactive Studios, was released roughly two years ago to what most would consider mediocre sales. Despite great reviews, the game's poor performance ultimately led to the closure of the developers, Black Rock Studio, the same studio that brought you Pure back in 2008. Split/Second was brave enough to take an incredibly unique spin on the already popular battle racing genre.

Seeing as you’re surrounded by established hits such as Mario KartBurnoutTwisted Metal, and Flatout, it’s a tough enough field to make a name for yourself in. What’s even worse for Split/Second was the fact that many other blockbuster games were being released around the same time. Alan WakeRed Dead Redemption, and Mod Nation Racers were all making their debut, while many other hits such as Modern Warfare 2GTA IV, and Borderlands were all rebounding with DLC packs. Sadly, Black Rock just couldn’t gain any ground despite their unique take on the concept.

The thing that makes Split/Second so special is the way the game is set up. It takes place on a remote man-made island built explicitly for the purpose of a hit reality TV show, Split/Second. Throughout weekly episodes, racers make their way around tracks on the island rigged with block-buster-action-movie-like explosions. As you drift, draft, jump, and skillfully navigate the island, you fill up your power play meter, which grants you access to the set pieces.

Remember that plane you missed? It’s a good thing, because it’s about to come crashing down right in front of you. Next thing you know, the radar dish comes rolling across the track, and then the highway explodes beneath you, and suddenly you’re in an underground tunnel with an all new path for the race track. There are barges to blow, towers to topple, and bridges to break all in the name of pure adrenaline fueled racing.

The Fun Stuff:

Let’s face it, blowing stuff up is an absolute blast, no pun intended. That’s why Hollywood spends so much on creating larger-than-life explosions for movies. Admit it, when you were a kid, half the time you spent ‘playing baseball in the backyard’ was actually spent trying to light something on fire or setting off the rest of the Fourth of July fireworks that ‘mysteriously’ went missing. It’s something everyone loves doing, and that’s what makes Split/Second so much fun! It gives you the opportunity to blow lots of stuff up. It’s the most important part of the game, thus consequently - and fortunately - it’s the part it does best.

The set pieces in the game range from small cars parked on the side of the road exploding to entire buildings toppling over. The power plays, as they’re called, are broken into two categories. The smaller ones, such as the cars or shortcuts, are indicated by a blue notification icon and only require one-third of the aforementioned power play meter to be full. The other category, which requires a full power play bar, is denoted by a red icon. These are where the game really shines.

Some of them are attacks on a grand scale, such as a giant dump truck being dragged across a bridge causing support beams to crush the other races. Others are course-altering explosions. Entire sections of a highway are blown out, giant towers fall across the racetrack, or half of a dam crumbles forcing you to drive up on top of it. These changes are sometimes even layered multiple times on the same track. Should you time everything perfectly, it’s possible that you’ll end up driving three very different laps around the same course. There’s nothing more exhilarating than narrowly avoiding a Boeing 747 as it crashes down right over you.

If you grow tired of blowing up other racers, there are a few other game modes to soothe your palate. One pits you against all of these explosions as you race for the fastest time with everything blowing up around you. There’s also a mode that has you avoiding missiles launched from a helicopter above you to rack up the highest score possible. A similar mode has you attempting to avoid explosive barrels being launched out of the back of semi-trucks while simultaneously attempting to overtake them. There are others which are slight variations on these modes, such as the classic elimination style race where the person in last gets eliminated when a timer hits zero and one that allows you to fire missiles back at the helicopter attacking you.

The Frustrating Stuff:

Unfortunately, despite all of these awesome, multi-leveled explosions and the numerous race types, there’s one thing that is severely lacking in Split/Second. You can choose what you play, where you play, and what you drive with… but you can’t choose how you play. Not even the number of laps can be adjusted. With that in mind, it’s also no surprise you can’t personalize your car beyond the paint color.

Another thing you’ll likely notice while racing is that some of the tracks overlap in sections, or at least sit near each other. It’s a shame there’s no way to define a custom path around the tracks that do interweave for even more fun. Better yet, there could have been a track editor allowing you to customize your own path and your own explosions!

Bottom Line:

It’s clear that Black Rock put a lot of work into the game. From the gorgeous car models and stunning explosions that flawlessly resemble their Hollywood counterparts to the games upbeat original soundtrack and the pre-show or post-show cut scenes that really make it feel like a TV episode, no detail of the presentation was left untouched. All of the fun continues while the challenge is amped up when you take the races online against 7 other human opponents.

From start to finish, this game just screams adrenaline and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It’s a shame that the planned sequel was canceled because the slight imperfections this game had probably would have been fixed. Those imperfections shouldn’t keep you from experiencing Split/Second; however, for some, it may be a game best served up with some friends around. With the likelihood that it’s now at about a $19.99 price point, anyone who even vaguely enjoys arcade racing games should pick this one up.

Split/Second was developed by Black Rock Studio and published by Disney Interactive Studios. It was released in North America on May 18, 2010 with an E10+ rating from the ESRB and an MSRP of $59.99. This review was based on a copy of the game purchased after the release date.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you

[04.28.12] Review: 'Where’s My Water?'

Creature Feep

Creature Feep

Where's My Water?

Rating:

5 Stars

After making quite the splash as the Amazon Free App of the Day back in December of 2011, Where’s My Water? has continued its success since then across both the Android and iPhone platforms. This innovative puzzler, surprisingly from Disney, features well over 250 levels, two separate story lines, and plenty of bonus items to collect. Swampy, our poor alligator protagonist, just simply wants to take a bath to clean up for his love interest Allie; however, the dastardly Cranky has foiled his plans for relaxation and cleanliness by destroying the pipes that deliver water to his tub. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to traverse the sewers and wipe away sand, dirt, or whatever else gets in your way to carefully transport water to Swampy’s living quarters. Don’t forget to pick up some rubber duckies on the way, because everyone knows bath time isn’t complete without a little yellow squeaking companion.

The Fun Stuff:

Puzzle games may be an oversaturated category in the mobile gaming market, but the geniuses at Creature Feep boldly decided to drop the use of word puzzles and forgo flinging animals at each other in favor of a very original and clever game mechanic. Although attempting to utilize the flow of liquids is almost foreign to game design, that concept of understanding the basic physics of the flow of water is something that everyone learns and understands from a very young age. Creature Feep zeroed in on that knowledge and designed a game that’s accessible to almost everyone capable of handling the devices the game is on. You simply drag your finger through dirt to remove portions of it allowing liquid to flow through winding pathways to ultimately land in the severed end of the pipe connecting directly to Swampy’s bathtub. It’s simple, intuitive, and very unique, as is the subject matter of the game.

It’s not too often you hear “adorable” used in the same sentence with “alligators”, but Creature Feep has worked some Disney magic and created a little alligator named Swampy you really care about. It helps that all of the graphics from the game match the typical animated art style from Disney’s repertoire. Between the shower curtain loading screen and the various rubber duckies wearing lab coats, capes, and hats; there is plenty of charm to go around. If collecting things is your favorite, there’s plenty of achievements to unlock throughout the game. Additionally, a la Disney’s The Little Mermaid, there are also plenty of trinkets to collect, with everything from a miniature Statue and an old radio to the basics such as a bar of soap and floss, all of which unlock bonus levels.

These bonus levels have an entirely unique game mechanic, different yet from everything else included in Where’s My Water? Although still affecting the flow of water, it’s now done by rotating your phone around as opposed to letting gravity take its natural course. Although this is never featured later in the game, the normal game mode does have more than just swiping away dirt. There will be switches, moving parts, pipe systems, different liquids to use in various combinations, and even the clever use of steam. All-in-all, there’s plenty to do and enough variety that you’ll never get bored.

The Frustrating Stuff:

In a very abnormal decision Disney and Creature Feep have decided to release a free version which contains extra levels not available in the full version of the game. The decision to withhold content from paying users in favor of giving it exclusively to those who didn’t runs completely against the grain, none-the-less it can be forgiven seeing as it’s free and anyone who purchased the full version can also download the free version. Still, this could be a bit troubling to some who want to add those twenty levels to their already staggering list of accomplishments from the full game.

Bottom Line:

Where’s My Water? has everything going for it. It’s incredibly unique, flawlessly designed, and as if there wasn’t enough content already, more is continuously being added. This game is definitely on the “must have” list for mobile games. If you’re hesitant, you can always check out the aforementioned free version first (links below), but soon you’ll realize that the $0.99 asking price for the full game is highway robbery. As an added bonus, you can also get a free $1 in Amazon MP3 credit if you buy the full version – as of April 28, 2012 – although there’s no word on how long that deal will last.

Google Play

Where’s My Water? Free

Where’s My Water? Full Game

Amazon App Store

Where’s My Water? Free

Where’s My Water? Full Game

iTunes

Where’s My Water? Free

Where’s My Water? Full Game

Where’s My Water? was developed by Creature Feep and published by Disney Mobile. It’s available for both Android and iOS devices for $0.99

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he would love to hear from you