Split/Second Velocity Demo

Split/Second Velocity is a Burnout-style racer, wherein the player  can destroy the track-side scenery, thereby taking out fellow racers and remodelling the race circuit while it's being raced on.  Imagine Lewis Hamilton being able to explode the Fairmont Hotel during the Monaco Grand Prix, while Sebastian Vettel was driving through the tunnel underneath and you have a fair idea of what the game is about.

A one-track demo has recently been released on Xbox Live and (even more recently) on PSN and I've spent quite a bit of time on it.  I'm not a great fan of 'proper' racing titles, like the Forza series, as they require more gaming time for the player to get to a decent level than I have at my disposal.  I prefer arcade racers, such as Burnout, where there is more emphasis on fun than simulation.  Split/Second Velocity is very much in the latter camp - there aren't many simulations where you can bring about the crash landing of an airplane onto the racetrack (fair enough, it is set in an airport) while the race is still going on.

I've played the single race  available (three laps) and each time the race was different, due to the destruction of the track.  Although these can only be actioned at certain pre-defined points on the track (having first powered up a drift & draft powered gauge), I was still seeing fresh changes on my eighth or ninth play through of the same track.  I do wonder if this level of invention can be kept up for the whole game - it is one thing to be bowled over by half an hour on a free demo and another thing entirely to be content with  hours of what has become repetitious gameplay having spent £30 on a new game.  However, I saw enough in the demo to make it  very likely that I will buy the game when released.  Unfortunately for the publisher, it is out (in the UK) on 21 May - the same day as my most anticipated game of the year, Red Dead Redemption, so Split/Second Velocity will have to wait until my Wild West adventures are over.