Reviews// Motorstorm: Apocalypse

But unlike other cities, this one is falling prey to the aforementioned mega earthquake. As a result, it is literally falling down around you as you race through the streets, and across its rooftops. And this is is Apocalypse's big thing, its USP, the thing that is meant to make it better than perfect.

Instead it makes it different to perfect. The randomness of the changing tracks makes for variety, and some would tell you that that is the spice of life. But it is not the spice of racing games. The purity and beauty of Motorstorm: Pacific Rift was learning the vehicles, learning the tracks, knowing exactly where to boost and where to conserve boost, what line to take, the apex of every bend; where the shortcuts were. Here it's all negotiable, malleable, fluid. And that may make Apocalypse a better game to your mind. To mine, however, it does not!

Linear? Thinnier!
The game is organised, once again onto the main game: The Festival and the side games: Wreckreation. But unlike the previous games, where the festival was a fairly free-from affair, where there were many races open at any one time, and you did not have to finish all of them successfully to proceed, it's now gone all linear. Again, it's a tweak, but it doesn't feel like an improvement.

As well as the gameplay, Evolution has tweaked (fucked around with) the soundtrack of the game. Whereas Pacific Rift placed Nirvana and Slipknot alongside Simian Mobile Disco and Qemists, Apocalypse seems to have a mixture of scored soundtrack and crap we've never heard of. It may be perfectly aimed at the game's target demographic. But as someone who played the living crap out of the previous two games, I think I AM the target demographic, and I don't like it.

In fact the only thing they have not improved is the AI. As always, as the game gets more difficult, the computer controlled drivers become more insanely aggressive and counter-productively obstructive.

Instead of trying to win the race, the AI just tries to make you lose. This kind of man-marking is fine in a team sport, but in an every-man-for-himself, winner-takes-it-all game like this, it's just annoying. They'll spend every last bit of boost to get in front of you, then slam the brakes on. Or they merrily T-bone you into a buckled bridge stanchion even though it results in them wrecking too. This was the only part of Motorstorm 1 and 2 than needed tweaking. It’s the only part that remains untouched.

Mess with Perfection
So, Evolution messed with perfection, and unsurprisingly, they fucked it up. They gave us a game with a naff story line, laughable cut-scene animation, a dross soundtrack, tedious 3D visuals and some annoying gameplay quirks.

The result, however, is somehow more than the sum of its parts. Which, when you look at that list of parts, is a good thing indeed. As it is Motorstorm: Apocalypse completely defies typical logic and maths. Everything about it, when considered in isolation is worse or much worse than the previous games in the series. But in toto, the game itself is compelling, exciting and addictive.

It's a testament to the underlying quality of the Motorstorm franchise that, even when they monkey with all of the elements, improving none of them in isolation, the game as a whole shines through. This is not my favourite Motorstorm game. But it's better than NO Motorstorm game, and with local four-player split-screen, it will be a favourite in our underground gaming nerve centre for months to come.

Conclusion
Unless you've got a whole lot of awesome, it doesn't pay to mess with perfection. Motorstorm: Apocalypse does not hold a candle to Pacific Rift, but it's still a great racing game.

SPOnG Score: 86%