Air Strike

**Air Strike** is a game mode that is featured in Split/Second. It is featured in Season Mode and Quick Play only.

## Description

> *"In today's episode, fiery obstacles will rain from above in; Air Strike!"*
> -Splashdown cutscene.
>
>

Air Strike involves the player enduring waves of guided missiles shot from a hostile attack helicopter, getting harder as each wave passes.

The player has three lives at the start of the game mode and anything that can result on the player being wrecked will not only restart their current streak and combos but will also lose a life. There is no time expiration.

The Power Meter and Powerplays are both disabled in the duration of this mode. Unlike Air Revenge, the player cannot fight back against the attack helicopter.

## Gameplay

> *"The Split/Second Helicopter is locking missiles on you! Markers show where the missiles will land. Drive fast & dodge missile waves to beat the target score. Get a wave streak to increase your score multiplier. Three direct hits & and your car is toast!"*
> -Pre-game description.
>
>

A starting sequence begins, showing the helicopter in a few angles before panning to the player's vehicle, leading into gameplay.

3 lives are given at the start and the amount of lives are shown briefly along with three things: A streak counter, with a bar segmented into three parts. A number above it, showcasing the player's current multiplier, the player's current score above that, and next to it, the player's personal best score or a target score that the player has to beat, pertaining to Season Mode.

* m = amount of missile dodged
* p = perfect wave
* s = current streak multiplier
* sc = total points scored

The regular formula is (m . s = sc), while the perfect wave formula is ((m + p) . s = sc).

The scoring is determined by the number of missiles (m) the player has dodged (a missile will equal 100 points each) times the current streak (s) they are currently on. If the player achieves a perfect wave evasion (p), an additional 1,000 points will be added with the number of missiles that were dodged by the player. All of this will equal to the final score at the end of each wave completed. If the player is hit by a missile, the 100 points for that missile will not count, and will only count the missiles the player has dodged, although the streak multiplier will continue to count. The streak multiplier increases when 3 waves are completed without wrecking.

The helicopter will launch between a minimum of 3 missiles (a single or two missiles on rare occasions) and it will progress to a maximum of 12 missiles. Depending on the track the mode takes place in, the amount of missiles launched will depend on the location of the player and will often reduce the amount of missiles if there is a sharp turn or a short piece of track (4 to 7 missiles maximum). Any other part of the track that offers decent space will have the helicopter fire between 8 to 11 missiles. On roads with space maximized, the missiles will always range between 11 or 12 missiles max.

The helicopter will scan the player's current momentum with the use of locking onto areas close and far ahead (shown in flashing blue), before being locked to set spots (shown in flashing red). One can easily become overwhelmed with the missiles' landing spots becoming sporadic as a curveball will be thrown in the middle to near end of a missile wave. Since the landing zones are hard to see from a distance as they are set a considerable distance away from the player, it will become hectic as they dodge and traverse through the wave while being aware of their current surroundings, not knowing whether the next bunch will involve one taking a hit to progress into the next wave for a chance of survival.

Current position is crucial when dealing with 12 missiles, especially in tighter areas where there is little room to wiggle and move around as the missiles will land closer to the next spot. This matter is only made worse when attempting to slow down to regain one's bearings, as the missiles' zones will be bunched extremely close to the player, leaving a slim chance of survival.

Although the description states that three sustained hits will result in the player's demise, which remains true, the closer the player gets towards a missile's impact zone, the weaker they become, as evidenced by the screen's change in color. So much as a second dose of the next impact zone will result in a wreck. This can only be described as a "stress meter" due to the "cooldown" that is needed to insure to not get taken out so easily. After each takeout, the amount of lives will be shown briefly up until the end of the game.

Air Strike can be played on **6** tracks only:

* Downtown Central
* Airport Terminal
* Port Bridge
* Airplane Graveyard
* Storm Drain
* Quarry

Although, with the use of modifications, one can add more tracks to the mode and the helicopter will follow them on said track. However, in doing this, the chopper will fly lower and will either phase through structures or come to a stop.

## In Season Mode

Air Strike first appears in Season Mode as a regular and bonus event for "Splashdown" and has appeared in other episodes, totaling 4 times with being in "Big Rig Boom" as a bonus event and "Hit The Skids" as a regular event. The other half of the season consists of hosting 5 events of Air Revenge.

## Tips

* Managing your momentum and speed will help keep the impact zones spaced out. Caution is needed when entering a curve while the impact spots lock in place, as it will slightly move the remaining spots closer to you.
* Cars with agility and light handling such as the GT RS and Severus will serve as good choices as those vehicles can help allow quicker movement before and during a missile wave.
* Tight roadways are proven to be detrimental, especially at higher missile counts. Telegraphing the missiles' trajectory before their landing would aid you in rough situations like these, although the closer you are to the helicopter, the faster they will be fired.
* One can get a lot closer to the missiles than you might think. Use this to your advantage in tight areas and weave through the middle.
* Fast cars can go through the landing zones of the first few missiles in a wave before impact.

## Unlockable Stickers

Once, Twice, Three Times Evasive - Get Three perfect waves in a row in either an Air Strike or Air Revenge event.On The Run - Win your first season Air Strike event.

## Gallery

Air Strike Icon.Defense against the helicopter in Airplane Graveyard.The Split/Second Attack Helicopter.Weakened.Description.( SURVIVED )( GOOD )( PERFECT )The missile icons in the beta, showcasing a row of three for a barrage.The Attack Helicopter in the beta.Defense against the helicopter in the beta.Air Strike in Quick Play
## Trivia

* It is not seen, but if one were to look through Air Strike's parameters, it has a set lap count of **42**.
* On tracks with the "Sunset" weather condition, if a missile is fired while nearly blocking the sun, the sun will travel across the sky and into it's original spot.
* Although the introduction sequence shows the helicopter hovering near the player, if one were to look back, the helicopter will spawn behind them from a certain distance and fly ahead of the player.
* If the player were at a standstill, the impact zones will be placed on their vehicle. As a result, the missiles will hit their vehicle, instantly destroying it.
* If the player is by any means going faster than the helicopter, it will not fire missiles nor lock on to the path ahead of you.
	+ The same goes for Air Revenge.
* If there are structures on top of the player, fired missiles may explode mid-air.
* Some missiles may appear at the very end of the lock-on phase, catching the player off guard.
* Air Strike's introduction cutscene in Splashdown features the Air Revenge icon instead.
* Impact zones will not have any indicator arrows on top of them if the player has their graphics settings set to highest.
* In the beta, there were a few differences:
	+ At one point during development, the Attack Helicopter was going to be programmed to trigger powerplays with its missiles, however this only happens once on Airport Terminal.
	+ The helicopter fired a barrage of 3 missiles into one spot alongside the singular missiles.
	+ The amount of missiles fired were increased, up towards 16 singular missiles or more than 20 missiles including barrages.
	+ The barrels from the truck's trailers in Survival served as placeholders for the missiles.
	+ The Attack Helicopter itself had white stripes at the beginning of it's tail boom and yellow stripes under the cockpit.
	+ A notification would be shown on the player's screen if they either gained a perfect wave evasion, completed an evasion with one hit, or completed an evasion regardless of how many hits they have sustained with the messages "PERFECT", "GOOD" and "SURVIVED" respectively.