Sure, Rimms, Flash & Bling-Bling. But What Is Really At Work Under The Hood?

Need for Speed: Undercover is yet another EA release which, gameplay and graphics problems aside, suffers from the bundled DRM scheme: SecuROM with Limited Installations.

This is a well known scheme based on a custom-made augmented version of SecuROM 7+, used for over a year now (from BioShock to Mass Effect, Dead Space and Red Alert 3) and it has been proven to offer overall...zero protection from piracy. But, of course, fighting piracy was never amongst its aims.

SecuROM is not a Digital Rights Management system but rather a spyware subroutine that unavoidably comes bundled with most major game releases. It borrows into the Root of our systems, masking itself from the System Manager and refuses to be removed - even after one completely uninstalls the game it came with. SecuROM is indeed used as a cloaked dataminer, gathering information on the system and its user's activities and sending them to its mothership. It is the metho

d the industry's behemoths chose to pave the way for their coveted Pay-per-Play future.

Turning our own PCs into their...insatiable coiners is what the gaming executives are having wet dreams about. Games that we will have to keep paying for again and again.

And that is where the idea of Limited Activations comes ins: not only it nullifies the value of a game once bought, killing the second-hand market overnight, but it also familiarizes gamers to the idea of having to buy the same game over and over in order to keep playing it.

Need for Speed was a series I loved in the past and would love to keep playing in the future once the DRM idiocies get resolved. But not at this price.

Some people are indifferent to these issues - and I respect that. In a free market voting with one's wallet is the most effective expression of opinion - and everyone is free to cast his vote in whichever direction he seems fit. My experience though taught me that most gamers would like, at least, to make well informed decisions.

And who would not want its customers well informed?

Mindless Fun At The Wheel

Let's get something out of the way: if you enjoy Vin Diesel movies, I very much doubt that you consider picking up The Wheelman for its...cultural value. I for one sure did not.

This is fast driving, impossibly jumping, using-your-car-as-a-weapon, how-can-it-possibly-be-exploding kind of game. Fun? You bet!

The graphics are beautiful (similar to NFS: ProStreet but less shiny than NFS: Undercover) and the cars acquire (more or less) realistic dents, scrapes and damages when hit. There are objectives marked on the map and cops giving chase. There are beautiful women giving orders, getting double-crossed and relying on your driving skills to drive through everything and see them right. Need I say more?

Keep in mind that The Wheelman was released during UbiSoft's sane days of releasing DRM-free games. So, you can not only greatly enjoy this game and do so with peace of mind that your computer will come to no harm but the game also becomes yours to keep.

The Absolute Asphalt Driving Experience

I have been playing PC games all my life and have tried most Racing/Driving games, from the legendary Outrun to the latest Need for Speed installments. I have to admit, Grid is the Best - by far!

The collection of cars is not vast but rather exotic and exclusive. The graphics are unbelievable, gorgeous and detailed. And the sounds (although will not accurately follow the engine revs) they greatly add to the total immersion. This is such a beautiful game that I have to tear myself from my screen not to keep playing.

There are three views (hood, cockpit and behind the car), all working as they should but what I really appreciated was the collection of available racing types: from closed circuits to demolition derbies, rest assured, you too will find your favorite.

This is not an easy game: deactivate the driver assists and you will find yourself fishtailing all over the place! And keep in mind that dragging is frowned upon in...LeMans-24. Not to mention riding a rattler! That's wright: Grid features totally realistic damages! Hit another car or the guard-rails and your fine tuned drive will get crashed and bumpers will fall off - and its handling will be affected accordingly!

Choose your name from the setup list and pit-bosses will call you by name (sadly, no...NeuroSplicer option though). Another nice touch is the random events that can occur in a race: from engines failing or bursting into flames to tires going flat or bouncing off, there is not a dull moment and the game keeps you constantly on the edge.

Now, CodeMasters seems to be able to learn from its mistakes. First of all, unlike Dirt, Grid does not require an...ubercomputer to run. The requirements are not "all invited" but not "next generation" either. I managed to run it fine on the 6 years old lab computer (a P4 3.2GHz with 2GB of RAM and a 7600GT nVidia).

Moreover, unlike Dirt which was damaged by StarFORCE, Grid harbors a... milder garden variety of SecuROM (without limited installations RootKits). There is clearly room for further listening to customers' dislike of DRM schemes (hence the star withheld), yet, in all fairness, this is an improvement.

So, if you are boycotting SecuROM you have been warned. Otherwise, recommended.

Street Racing: The ...Jerry Bruckheimer Version

A combination made in heaven. This was like when I watched the movie Snakes on a Plane, my reaction was: of course, why did no one ever think of this before?!

There is a great number of driving and racing games, some better than others. There is even a number of shooting&driving games. However, Split/Second is a breed on its own.

When was the last time you had to race a collapsing overpass, dodge the load of an out-of-control crane or a wrecking ball, drive under a crash-landing cargo plane, survive a missile-firing helicopter attack, drift in an exploding airport hangar, or survive a Terminator-2 canal race?

Drifting (no wall-slamming penalty!), drafting, sling-shooting, close-calling crashes and General-Leeing your car will fill your Power Bar. Once it is full you can unleash PowerPlay attacks onto your AI opponents. And, trust me, you will hate them! From start to finish they will be scrapping your tailpipe - and you only need to slip for a split second to total your car. You can leave paint all over the walls but the moment your grill touches that central pillar or dumpster you are totaled. The good news is that respawning only takes a second - no time for the adrenaline to subside.

Choose the best car for the track and handling it will be no problem. Nevertheless, this is not an easy game - and, frankly, I missed those. Nowadays everything seems designed to be breezed through and quickly move on to the next game. Not this baby. Random events (not to mention unexplored shortcuts) make racing the same track feel like a new experience so memorizing the tracks will not be of much help. You will have to really hone your skills in order to advance. Quick advice: remap the PowerPlay buttons to something convenient as timing your attacks is essential.

Fallen behind and only half a lap to go? Well, drive your A-game - and make sure to... drop a burning bus on the opponents you could not overtake.Careful though: this knife cuts both ways. First, you must learn to avoid the attacks you triggered yourself and then you must be ready to speed around the ones your opponents spring on you. Split-second decisions are required throughout.

You are not a passenger so stop gawking at the scenery. Strap in and drive for your life!

The visuals will keep you at the edge of your seat and the screeching and explosion sounds will make the hairs at the back of your neck stand up every time. This is like actually being in a Hollywood summer action-blockbuster. My only gripe is that there are no licensed cars (what we drive is always sleek and gorgeous but, sorry, no Gallardos, no DB9s, no R8s, no Shelbies...) whereas customizing our rides is kept to a minimum. That would have taken the experience to a whole new level!

Split/Second, obviously, is more of a well-made arcade than a simulation game. And it is great FUN!

I had initially awarded the game 4 stars but any game that brings you home early to experience it again deserves full marks.

A 20/20 Blur

2010 seemed to be a racing season. A great number of new racing games were released, most trying their hand on novel approaches to the genre. But not all GTs are created equal.

Just before Blur I was playing Split/Second so now the comparison is fresh and easy to make. Since both games are more Arcade-racers than Simulators, I decided to do a side-by-side review.

What Blur has over Split/Second:

- Licensed cars. Fantasy cars look great but it is always more satisfying to drive real supercars. Yes, that means you have to start with the obligatory stupid compacts - but good ones get unlocked soon.

- Much better music. Disney simply dropped the ball here, Split/Second is in dire need for some epic music to go with the blockbuster mentality.

- You have a map that shows both your and your opponents' positions, something I would have liked in Split/Second.

- More realistic damage (keyword: "more"). Split/Second crashes are realistically spectacular but you can body-slam anything forever and the only thing that shows are some...scratches. Blur is no simulator but it is more realistic (for a game that offers power-up repairs that is) - unless you dislike driving a car with its rear spoiler hanging out.

- You get a usable rear-view mirror (for as long as you can keep it from cracking). In Split/Second you have to use the NUM-2 to sneak a peak back - and risk crashing since you cannot look both ways.

- No rubber-band AI. You earn a margin, you get to keep it. It may be less thrilling all the time but it saves you the aggravation of driving your heart out only to loose the No.1 position by a cheap pass at the very last second.

On the other hand, this is where I found Split/Second to be better than Blur:

- Much more spectacular driving. Drifting, drafting, jumping and, of course, exploding things is simply so much better than activating a white shield or firing some feeble electric charges.

- Better designed and larger tracks that can even be modified during a race.

- Less complicated. In Split/Second you just drive, drop an exploding truck (or an entire...freeway) onto your opponents and avoid the same happening to you. In Blur you have to choose and pick up power-ups (max of 3), select the next one, aim and fire at your target; you have to pick up and use the repair power-up to maintain the health of your car; you have to drive through a number of yellow gates to win over fans in order to unlock more cars; and then you have to earn lights to advance (I guess it had to be something, but ..."lights"?).

- Customizable controls. Come on Activision, this is not 1995, why do we have to use both ends of the keyboard to drive a car in Blur? Turn left and right with the L/R arrows yet accelerate and brake with the Q- and A-keys? And someone thought this to be such a good idea that there is no customization option? Well, now you know what must be included in the next patch.

Different gamers have, of course, different preferences, so some of the above mentioned aspects may weight differently to everyone. Both games harbor SecuROM disk-checks, so their DRM scheme is comparable.

Nevertheless, in the end, where I think Blur clearly lags behind Split/Second is the pure fun factor. I know this is subjective but I enjoyed Split/Second much more than I did Blur.

I would never though the day would come that I would be recommending a ...Disney game over an Activision one. But life is nothing but full of surprises.