Very fun arcade action
Let me say this straight out of the gate; Motorstorm Apocalypse is a fun, fast and frantic arcade racer. Fun as it is though, it is definitely not without it's flaws.
This entry to the series is the first not to be set in a natural setting, instead taking place within the ruins of a city torn apart by horrific natural disasters (hence Apocalypse). In the city, lunatics have decided to call the city their own and start rioting the place. You'll be driving past these lovely locals in the races while they throw molotov cocktails and shoot guns at you. Oh, and you're part of the festival which decides that having races here will be a pretty good idea. The crazies are just one obstacle to overcome in this city however, as the buildings are falling over due to quakes and piers being blown around in a massive thunderstorm block your paths through the remains of the streets. This all looks extremely impressive, and in some cases the game even lets you hit triangle to get a better view of it in slow mo as you wizz past at stupid-miles-an-hour.
All this destruction is very impressive visually, however this brings me to one of the things that bugs me about this game. I feel that not all of the courses are very well sign posted or designed, leading to me repeatedly crashing in to a wall where I thought I could go or end up making a wrong turn and going the completely wrong way. There are also irregular lumps on the ground which lead to you either crashing for no good reason or flipping you into the air out of control. It feels like I was punished with no explanation as to why. Another example is a course where you drive over the roofs of tall towers and it's not entirely clear where you should jump to in some cases, meaning I end up missing where I'm supposed to land by miles and plummeting to my death. As you can imagine this is quite frustrating. When this all plays out correctly though, racing on these courses is still a really good time filled with adrenaline pumping moments that make you want to come back for more.
Standard racing modes are included including an elimination mode. The multiplayer is a good laugh with a perk and betting system which are pretty unique for a racing game. One brand new addition for the series however is a story mode. This is not very good though. Where the single player offerings in the previous games would let you choose what vehicle you'd like to drive of at least 2 per race, here you're given a car to drive, like it or not. Also, the story is told by extremely cheap looking motion comic cutscenes and boast some pretty terrible voice acting. The actual writing itself doesn't fare much better.
I would definitely recommend this game to someone who enjoys racing games and people who like games filled with 'HOLY CRAP DID YOU JUST SEE THAT?!?!?!' moments, as this game is full of them! I feel that Pacific Rift is a better game in general though, but that has a lot less collapsing buildings and earthquakes.
