Release Date: March 17, 2011
Genre: Offroad Racing
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Evolution Studios
Platform: PS3
Payers: 1-4 Splitscreen, 2-16 Online
I like my Library, the Yarra Plenty Regional Library is cool
enough to have Music CD’s, Graphic Novels and Magazine subscriptions one of
which happens to be the Official Playstation magazine. I especially like it
when they have the newest issue out for the month and it happens to have a slip
for 1 months free access to
Playstation
Plus which hasn’t been used yet. I suppose you can see what I’m getting at,
I obtained Motorstorm Apocalypse for free through the Playstation Plus site
plus other things though I wasn’t really interested in what else was there, oh
there was LittleBigPlanet 2 and Infamous 2 and Just Cause 2 and Bulletstorm… er
1 though I’ve some of them already on PC or otherwise and others I really
couldn’t be bothered though I did get some cool ‘dynamic themes’ for my PS3
menu. I‘ve had a little bit of history with
Motorstorm as I may
have detailed in my
Pacific
Rift revie
w.
Since I saw Motorstorm as a launch title for the PS3 I always
wanted to see what it was like, motorcycles and ATV’s racing against monster
trucks and big rig’s? So when I finally got round to buying one I had three to
choose from though I wanted to try out the first one as I think the Monument
Valley canyon setting really suited the genre though I soon had to take it back
as I hadn’t realized it was 1 player only which was pretty unacceptable for a
game like this. So I bought Pacific Rift which was the second in the series and
had a blast tearing up a remote volcanic island in the pacific and was even
able to do it with friends and online once or twice.
 |
| Pacific Rift: "To hell with nature I've got a truck" |
I’d never intended to purchase
Motorstorm Apocalypse as
in my opinion one of these games was enough, though it was apparently said to
be pretty exciting as it’s the first racing game I’ve come across where the
track changes as you race. Apocalypse is set in a earthquake-ravaged city which
is practically still quaking and has an ongoing war between the “crazies” who
refuse to leave the city and an increasingly aggressive military security
force. In case you didn’t realize, Motorstorm is in fact a
racing tournament yes these people actually came to this place via
some kind of unused aircraft carrier intending to build tracks and race around
incredibly dangerous crumbling city, the logic is all there. The other two
games were in at least believable places you could have a race tournament yet
still incredibly dangerous but of course it’s just a game isn’t it.
 |
| This is what is a usual race is like. |
There is a few new vehicles added to the lineup, the
Superbike, Chopper, Super Mini, Muscle Car and Super Car are all new additions
bringing the total up to 13.
The
controls are slightly differently set out but are the same as usual, you
basically go full bawl most of the time taking your foot of the accelerator and
powersliding occasionally and sometimes actually braking though unless you do
it perfectly the other racers always seem to overtake you. One of the most
important features is the turbo boost which overheats your engine to get a
temporary speed boost but you have to be careful to keep your engine from
blowing up, you can also ram your opponents out of the way which also takes up
boost. The graphics are largely the same but the racing is as hectic as ever
this time with tracks set in the suburbs, the trainyards and subway, the
shipyards and boardwalk, downtown, some place that looks a lot like the golden
gate bridge and of course track set along the rooftops of buildings themselves.
 |
| Yep, Motorstormers are this crazy, though I'd like to know how quickly they got this track set up. |
You’ve got to wonder how they build these tracks but they all seem to have a
hastily cobbled together sign proudly displaying the name of the current
“track” that it’s the start of, sometimes the only way of knowing where to go
is the yellow signs in the distance pointing left, right or sometimes down. But
of course this is a major example of a game where knowing the track really
helps especially with the multiple routes and chaos of the track as I’ve had to
do some races twice cause I’ve needed the first race as practice specifically
because this latest Motorstorm is possibly the hardest of all of them to see
where the fack you’re going, it’s true I did feel sorry for anyone I got to
play the game with me as if you’ve never played the game before and are racing
at breakneck speed through a city that is sundering in itself with debris
flying everywhere and the screen shaking all the while you’re playing 2 or 4
player split screen, not matter how big your TV is you’re going to have
problems.
 |
| Actually it looks pretty clear in this shot. |
I only played this one split screen multiplayer briefly both
at home and at a lan, and I didn’t see all that much difference. There was
apparently supposed to be some kind of new singleplayer “story mode” but I
wasn’t expecting much when I booted up my copy at home. In the singleplayer
there is basically three different stages you go through rookie, pro and
veteran,
there isn’t much in the way of
story, in each section you just basically arrive to the city on the aircraft
carrier and have an intro race then do races for a short two days (that’s all
the adrenaline you need I spose) then you always seem to have this amusing
outro race where you have to race the clock or someone else to the carrier, the
end of the veteran one is quite epic. The singleplayer was fun and frustrating
at times as usual and it didn’t take me long to complete, though the replay
value comes with going for gold and completing all the extra events inc the
Hardcore festival which pits you against a series of the same tracks except
with faster meaner opponents and a time limit, needless to say I only did a
couple of these before leaving it for some other time. There’s also time attack
though the rules are interesting, instead of racing a ghost all you have to do
is complete the course without crashing, which is sometimes a bit harder than
it sounds. I found that this time around I didn’t unlock much by completing the
story mode, only the hardcore events if I came first in them.
 |
| Well thats one way of getting back on the carrier. |
A lot of the unlocks are through playing Multiplayer, things
like the
Perks
which allow you to modify certain things about your car handling, boost and
combat for example: increased grip or faster boost cooling. There is also a
“Weekly Challenge” where you complete 3 races of varying difficulty to unlock
new vehicles and parts. You can fully customize your vehicles this time, not
just change the paintjob completely you can spend hours designing the perfect
vehicle even changing the parts to get a different look. With the drivers
instead of random rough and tough looking individuals, this time around you get
a selection of rough and tough looking
named
individuals some of which who you unlock in the story mode.
 |
| And this guy doen't even wear a shirt, seriously I do try to pick the most safety-conscious-looking person I can find. |
I felt a little
discouraged that I didn’t unlock any more vehicles doing the singleplayer
though it doesn’t really matter that much I guess. A thing I liked doing with
Pacific Rift was to change all the colours of my currently selected vehicles to
match my driver, I’ve noticed that they do this in the singleplayer mode and it
looks awesome, though it’s hard to imagine needing 13 vehicles just to enter
the tournament. I didn’t actually check out the numbers of who was playing
online multiplayer but it would definitely be more than Pacific Rift, I’ll have
to go on for a bash sometime as like Wipeout Fusion, playing against real
people who have played the game before is a lot more challenging then both the
AI opponents and random friends.
 |
"oi, we're trying to have a race here"
|
I really don’t know what else to say that I haven’t said
before in the other review, it’s really just a lot of crazy fun, this time
especially. Apocalypse is the most feature-rich of the series so there should
still be a few people playing it on the PS3 network, I wasn’t going to bother
with it really until I got it as a freebie, but the experience has been fun,
and extra fun with friends (who have possibly played it before) so if you’re in
the mood for a cheap or possibly free game which is possibly the most chaotic
and fun racing you’ve ever had where barrel through an earthquake ravaged city
and crash spectacularly every so often then look no further.
JD
Speeding in a blind rage.
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