Motorstorm: Apocalypse is Evolution Studios third entry in the franchise.  This time around the game takes place in a urban apocalyptic setting in a broken down environment called The City.  Apocalypse has a more story driven feel to it then the other two Motorstorm titles, no matter how ridiculous it tends to feel.  The single player is broken down into three players, Mash “The Rookie”, Tyler “The Pro”, and Big Dog “The Veteran”. With each also playing as the game’s level of difficulty.

Gameplay

The visuals in Motorstorm: Apocalypse are definitely above average, but it’s not what I was expecting, especially coming off some of the great racers we had last year, like Split/Second and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.  The game definitely does a good job at making you feel like your racing through an apocalyptic “end of the world, no hold-barred” environment.  Though, sadly at times you will be frustrated by the tracks that your racing on.  While the destruction in Motorstorm: Apocalypse is a welcomed change of pace, the layout can be quite a confusing ride.  One of the most irritating things in the game is navigating your way to the finish line.  I never had a sense of where I should be going next because the tracks I thought were very confusing.  Even though at times, it made for some pretty eye candy, watching the building debris fall from above, or the ocean water slam onto the shores, it didn’t make the ride that enjoyable due to a lack of consistency on the race track.

The controls on the other hand seemed very responsive and I never had much of a problem with them.  You can nudge and wreck your opponent by hitting the circle or square button depending on which way you want to attack.  You can also pick from five new vehicle classes; muscle cars, chopper, hot hatch, superbike, and the supercar. Each class is good for the variety of different tracks you come across.

Multiplayer

In most racing titles, the multiplayer is what keeps the racing genre going.  Motorstorm: Apocalypse has a similar ranking experience to that of Blur.  Basically it’s a level progression system in where your performance on the track dictates how quickly you level up to start unlocking more cars, perks, and other items like stickers to decorate your ride.  Multiplayer supports up to 16 players across two different modes; Race and Elimination.  Race is pretty self explanatory and the Elimination mode eliminates each driver that happens to be in last place when the timer reaches zero.  Unfortunately, don’t expect a whole lot of people playing that mode, it was very tough for me to get into a game of Elimination with more than five people at a time.

I was pretty underwhelmed with the Multiplayer in Apocalypse.  It’s a very bare boned experience given only the two modes you can play, while one of them almost being non existent. At times I just felt like I was playing a game of “who can crash first”.  While my frustration with the tracks is well known, it adds even a more unpleasant feeling when your playing against human opponents.  Aside from that, the leveling up works pretty well.  You can also bet on certain players in the lobby before each race to earn chips towards your ranking up progression.  The idea is too only bet on the players you think you can beat during the race.  So look for the noobs!

Verdict

Motorstorm: Apocalypse is a title that I have been waiting on for quite some time now.  While it’s not a bad game, I think I was expecting just a bit more from Evolution Studios.  Instead of feeling like a constant crash test dummy, I wish they could of made the tracks just a bit more direct for fans who just like arcade racing, and not have to be plagued by trial and error.  If you were a fan of the previous Motorstorm titles, then by all means give Apocalypse a chance.  Just don’t expect to be blown away.

[starreview tpl=46 size=’30’]