Written by: Mark

 

 

 

Motorstorm is the popular driving series exclusive to Sony’s machines in the form of two previous releases on the PS3 and a singe PSP exclusive. It would be fair to say that on both machines the games have proven popular enough to spawn sequels which have been pretty well received.

 

In this review we take a look at the latest in the series entitled "Motorstorm Apocalypse" to see if this takes the series forward or proves one race too many.

 

 

The one thing that the Motorstorm series has going for it is that each release has seen the action take place in a variety of well presented locations including deserted wasteland, Pacific environments and treacherous ice covered Arctic conditions all of which ensured that the action stayed fresh and offered enough differences to stop the games from becoming stale.

 

Motorstorm Apocalypse is no different in seeing things move forward with the setting for this game being an American city which has been devastated by natural disasters. At this point it could be worth mentioning that some gamers may find this a little disturbing particularly with recent disasters which have taken place across the world and with this in mind it is no surprise that the game’s release was delayed to avoid public backlash.

 

 

The actual cities have been put together very well indeed with the track designs working incredibly well and offering the usual muti-route approach which has become synonymous with the series. Each track is packed with hazards such as damaged buildings, broken roads and bridges to the more impressive earthquakes and devastating weather conditions which means that tracks change in real time and one has to say that this in particular does have the wow factor and gives the game a much more intense experience.

 

To back up this the vehicle designs have also been implemented well with each class looking good rather than stunning however the action is backed by a pumping soundtrack which accompanies the action well and means that the game will almost certainly impress in the presentation stakes.

 

 

The one glaring omission from previous Motorstorm games has been a storyline and this has been addressed in Motorstorm Apocalypse with the new festival mode which is very story driven and sees the player taking on the role of a driver entering the festival and having to go through various scenarios before each event. This sees the action preceded by cut scenes which sets the scene for the race ahead although I must say that these are not particularly memorable and by the time you have viewed a few you may find yourself skipping them to jump straight into the races ahead.

 

The one thing which I did like about this mode is that rather than selecting your vehicle class prior to each race the player is automatically allocated a vehicle and thrown into the action and this gives more of a flavour of the whole experience rather than becoming too familiar with one of the vehicle types which you may find more suits your style of play.

 

 

 

As previously mentioned the game continues with the multi-route approach to races which are packed with hazards and can lead to some frustrating collisions and crashes. I must mention however that Motorstorm Apocalypse no longer seems to punish your mistakes as bad as before by thrusting you from first to last and now it seems that with each crash you will lose a few race places which gives you more time to once again get back into the leading positions.