Massive Damage

I was on vacation during this past week (in the beautiful city of Victoria, Canada), and so I didn’t do a whole lot of research for tech topics or political topics. So what better time to talk about another video game that I recently finished? The game in question is Motorstorm Apocalypse, which kept me entertained through the vast majority of PSN’s downtime (not that I use PSN for a whole hell of a lot anyways).

Positives

1) Looks amazing in action: This is one game where mere screenshots don’t give you the full story. If you want to see just how impressive Motorstorm Apocalypse looks, go to YouTube or GameTrailers and watch this thing in motion. Seeing the environment get destroyed around you is obviously the main distinguishing point of Apocalypse versus other Motorstorm games (or other racing games in general, for that matter), and as far as defining features are concerned, they don’t get much more beautiful than this. The destruction points are predefined (the times are randomized somewhat, but the locations are not), and so you’ll see the same destruction animation as you repeat a track, but that doesn’t detract from its grandeur. When the destruction is combined with the sheer speed and the frantic music (coming from a genre that I’m not particularly fond of, but it’s a solid choice in this case), it really feels like you’re taking part in a high speed chase for an action movie, more so than Split/Second did.

2) Unapologetically Arcade-based: Generally speaking, the racing games that hold my interest are the ones that either go hard towards the simulation side or hard towards the arcade side. Games that try to strike the middle ground typically end up losing my interest rather quickly. This is really just a matter of personal opinion, and I really don’t know why the middle area of the spectrum bores me so much. That said, the arcade-based gameplay of Motorstorm definitely works to its benefit. The vehicles don’t feel the least bit realistic, but they feel fun, and the differences between each vehicle type (supercars, motorcycles, trucks, etc..) feel substantial. The turbo system (which requires you to find water or jumps to cool down your vehicle) is implemented well, and it almost lends a strategic element to the gameplay.

3) Challenging: If you have heard anything at all about Motorstorm Apocalypse, you’ve probably heard about how difficult it is. Pretty much every reviewer has mentioned it at some point. To be honest, I’m glad that the game is a little hard on you at times. For starters, it has been a long time since I have played a game that requires this much focus from the player. If you live in a distraction-prone environment (perhaps your room mate or your significant other insists on having a discussion), you might find yourself crashing a lot. While this may not sound particularly appealing to some, I found that the feeling of satisfaction I got from winning a race in this game was far greater than anything I got from a game like Forza 3 (where success came rather easily and thus became somewhat meaningless).

4) Plenty to do: This is a pretty universal discussion point when it comes to racing games, but you can definitely lose a lot of hours in Motorstorm Apocalypse if you want to. For me, going through the Festival (i.e. the game’s campaign mode) is probably going to be enough (can’t really afford to linger with inFamous 2 coming out this week), but for the completionists, there is a Hardcore Festival mode that increases the difficulty even more. Apart from that, you have your typical set of racing game features - time trial, multiplayer, and vehicle customization are all present. If you’re going for the platinum trophy, you will definitely get your $60 worth.

Negatives:

1) Can be frustrating at times: Admittedly, it’s hard to talk about one without mentioning the other. While succeeding in this game is extremely satisfying, failing time and time again can be completely infuriating. This feeling is amplified by the fact that failure often comes from hitting an obstacle that just appears out of nowhere (perhaps an explosion pushed a parked truck onto the middle of the track). It doesn’t help that the infamous rubber-banding is present in this game, and therefore the opponents are always prepared to overtake you, should you be unlucky enough to hit something near the end of the race.

2) The motion comics are awful: This is probably another thing that you’ve heard about if you’ve been reading the reviews. For some reason, the developers decided to insert a storyline into the Festival, and so each race in the campaign is preceded by an awful cutscene consisting of a series of comics narrated with some voice acting that sounds like it belongs in a YouTube compilation. Thankfully these are skippable, but it’s interesting to note that I have yet to hear from a single person who actually liked the motion comics. At best, perhaps you can have a laugh at their expense.

3) A few instances of crashing: It hasn’t been too terrible, but there have been a couple instances where the game completely locked up on me. To make matters worse, one of the crashes occurred while I was in first place. It’s something that the developers may want to take a look at, since I can’t imagine that I’m the only person having these issues.

All in all, it’s definitely an enjoyable game, and if you like your racing games with a heavy dose of arcade gameplay, I would highly recommend giving it a try. At the end of the day, racing games are always hit or miss with people depending on what the handling is like, and this game is no different in that regard. The vehicles have a bit of a floaty feel to them, and though I was okay with this, it’s something that you should investigate for yourself before throwing your hard earned money down.