Disney’s gone a long way from Mickey Mouse on this one.

Imagine a racing game modeled loosely after Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Running Man — one where you have to compete against other dirvers in a new psychotic reality show, and come in first place using the environment to make the other cars go boom. That’s developer Black Rock Studio’s Split/Second.

If you’ll forgive the pun: it’s a blast.

The actual racing aspect of the game isn’t too far removed from other titles in the genre. The controls are tight and responsive. Drifting increases the amount of juice for your ‘powerplay’ meter (more on that in a minute). And the driver’s your competing against over the course of 72 events across 12 episodes are (obnoxiously) good.

In fact, this game features some pretty harsh AI. It’s not quite at the level of rubberbanding in ModNation Racers — but’s brutal, and sometimes frustrating. The reason being that your place in the ranks directly impacts what cars you unlock. Now, if there were an ‘easy’ mode for folks who just want to have fun, it would be a different story. But there isn’t. The enemy drivers in this game hate you and they want you to fail.

Thankfully, you have ‘powerplays’ at your disposal.

Powerplays are, essentially, moments where you can trigger environmental destruction and totally screw up someone’s day. When you can do this is contingent on your meter (filled up by drifting and performing other tricks) and waiting for just the right moment. Too soon, and you may wind up exploding your own damn self. But when you nail three or four of those crazy AI drivers (and reduce them to smoldering ash), it’s a wonderful feeling.

The tracks you’ll be screaming around on are, as one should expect, fantastic and interactive. They’re gorgeous — but more importantly, they’re functional. You can use cranes and debris and whatever else is around to your strategic advantage. Actually, you’ll have to, because of the aforementioned difficulty in beating other drivers.

In addition to standard lap-races, there are other modes like ‘Survival’ (where you’re stuck with a time limit) and ‘Air Attack’ where you’re dodging missiles from an attack helicopter that hates you as much as the other drivers do. There are enough game modes (aside from the utter, wonderful chaos of multiplayer) to keep you entertained.

Split/Second is a damn fine racing game.

But what makes it stand apart is the glorious, destructive mayhem.

Final Grade: B+

Split/Second is rated E10+, suitable for those 10 and up, and is available for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.