They turned me loose on a downtown circuit that looked like a mashup of any number of major U.S. cities--filled with tall buildings, freeways, and tight intersections on surface streets. Developer Black Rock has been at working tuning the different car types, and they let me use a supercar this time out. The difference was really noticeable when an explosion went off near me and I had to fight the shock wave in such a lightweight car.

The track also showed they have plenty of creative ideas for road hazards. One of my favorites was a giant excavation crane that, when triggered, swept across the road with its giant bucket wiping out anything in the process.

The setup for Split/Second is that competition is some sort of crazy reality show. One of the cool little features of that is each time the game starts up, it does a "Last Time on Split/Second" montage of highlights from your own races while it loads.

My concerns that the game might be just a one-trick pony were also laid to rest, as a completely new mode was revealed. "Survival" is a last man standing race on a track with semi-trailers that drop explosive barrels across the track. Among the tracks is a wide concrete drainage ditch that has players weaving in and out of supports and other obstacles while dodging the barrels. The boost system isn't finalized, but it will change some from the combat mode to include bonuses for staying alive and chaining passes.

Like E3 last year, I left wishing I could take the game with me and keep playing.

Developed by Black Rock and published by Disney Interactive, Split/Second is due on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 come May 18 (North America) and May 21 (Europe).