Motorstorm Apocalypse

[Nisa]

I got a promo copy of this from a friend and have put about 3 or 4 hours of play time in. Game is basically a cross between Motorstorm,Split Second & Mad Max and is incredibly enjoyable. The first thing that's noticeable is the addition of a story line in the single player which is told through animated comic book style pages. I didn't pay much attention to the story as I skipped most of the cut scenes, it's all a bit unnecessary tbh.

Gameplaywise it's much the same as previous instalments with the addition of destroyed/collapsing scenery which changes the layout of the track. Anyone that wasn't too keen on the handling of the other Motorstorms will find little has changed, which means that you'll be seeing the crash cam just as much as before. The changing scenery is very impressive and anyone that's played Split Second will have an idea of what to expect.

Evolution seem to be going for a much more cinematic feel than in previous games. Not only have they added a story but they've changed the soundtrack from licensed songs to mixes of a film style score by artists like DJ Shadow and Noisia, which reminds me of David Arnold's work on the Bond movies. The courses themselves offer a more cinematic experience, one of them takes place on a coastal town in the middle of a Saving Private Ryan style military beach landing for instance. Another nice feature I came across by accident was a dramatic slow motion camera which kicks in if the race is a tight one, it happened to me as I just managed to overtake the driver in first who was tumbling towards the finish line in a flaming wreck.

[Matt]

When you get to the later levels, can you let us know what the AI is like. It got frustrating in the other games

[englishbob]

A story?

[dvdx2]

hot for this one....

dont suppose that promo copy could make its way over to Belfast? ;-)

[Super Monkey Balls]

mixes of a film style score by artists like DJ Shadow

Sweet!

[Nisa]

When you get to the later levels, can you let us know what the AI is like. It got frustrating in the other games

The way they split the game is by having 3 characters with their own side of the story that takes place within a span of 24 hours and each character represents the different levels of difficulty. I managed to do all of the first character's races and all but one was won on my first try. I spent about half an hour on the one I didn't win first time and even then I could only ever get 2nd place as crashing toward the end of the final lap meant I lost 1st place every time. I only tried a few races from the second character's set and it didn't seem like a huge jump in difficulty, although one or two of them did take a few tries to win. You don't have any choice in the vehicle you use in each race as well so if you find driving certain things like dirt bikes or quads to be more difficult then that can make things tougher as well.

Another thing I forgot to mention is that there's 4 or 5 playing cards scattered through out the tracks that you collect when you run through them. I don't know if these have any kind of bearing on the gameplay though, from what I can see it just unlocks character profiles and artwork. I guess it encourages you to explore the tracks a bit more as there are plenty of different routes and shortcuts that you can take.

[Matt]

Thanks for that man. Adored the first two games, but the rubber-banding was frustrating. I'm definitely going to get this, just can't decide whether at launch or wait until the price drops

[dvdx2]

i hope the full game is better than the demo....

[saturn-gamer]

I hope so, too.

Tried the Bike, and its almost useless to drive in the narrow demo stage. Its impossible not to crash/get overrun/avoid collision etc.

[Family Fry]

For me it's best summed up in picture form.

Bastards.

[Neon Ignition]

I might just skip this till it's £20 now. For the collision and rubber banding to not be fixed in 4 games is frankly p**s poor

[Matt]

I don't think there's anything that bad with the collision, it's more the physics that follow [based on previous titles and the demo, not got this yet]. Sometimes, a small innocuous object would make your truck explode. Being on a bike or quad, you get chucked off if you even look at an object more than an 10cm high. It's frustrating, but I guess you learn to accomodate to an extent.

If the rubber banding is still in place though, well... ahhhhh.

It's a £20 purchase for me as well TBH. No doubt I'll enjoy it, but with seemingly those old issues still there, and the fact you can only "rank up / get perks" online, it's just not what I want to spend £40 on right now.

[crocky-chocky]

Demo didn't do much for me really. It's just a constant struggle to not crash and bounce uncontrollably all over the shop, rather than the powersliding joy I crave in a racer.

Maybe the track and vehicle types were an odd choice for the demo?

[JP]

I've played through this a few times now with both vehicle classes and I've enjoyed what is included in the demo.

There certainly seems to be a far more simplistic handling model from what's shown here as in the previous three games the boost was essential for getting round corners, moving other drivers out of your way and of course for straight line speed.

In this there seems to be little need for boost outside of making your car/bike go forwards which has made the demo worryingly easy.

It's difficult to judge much more than that as this demo seems to be there to demonstrate two of the new vehicle classes with both the Superbikes & Super Cars being by far the fastest and lightest in the game.

It's not exactly the best course for these vehicles as both are designed for tarmac which is a bit daft as there is hardly any here. At times driving in the floatiest models of the bike and car classes along railway tracks and over dirt bumps at full speed doesn't exactly give you the most control but I suppose it balances out the simplicity of the new driving model.

My favourite vehicles in the franchise are the Dirt Bikes and Monster Trucks and I'd like to have tried those two but I do understand them wanting to show two of the brand new classes. I'm hoping that the use of boost in the heavier off road vehicles is closer to how it is in the earlier games though as I enjoyed it more when the boost was a far more tactical choice of when to use it, you could use it on the straight but you know that if you do you're going to have to take the next corner at a slower pace due to not being able to boost around.

I did enjoy the demo though and I've now got this pre-ordered for next week

[MisterBubbles]

The demo was good but not great, but Split Second totally trashed it for the destruction going on the both demo's alone.