Motorstorm Apocalypse Review

I’ve never been a huge fan of racing sims, favouring instead the arcade or novelty alternates of which there are no shortage. Amongst these favourites are Mario Kart, Destruction Derby and 1nsane. Motorstorm has always been another, although I’ve never really gone much further than constantly replaying the demo until Apocalypse turned up.

Motorstorm ranks second place on my list of racers that make my brain explode when played on a projector (Wipeout HD is first), and I really am disappointed that I don’t currently have a projector to play Motorstorm Apocalypse on. The game is all about intensity, and having the track destruct as you race around it is a pretty good way to create some. But at its very core the track destruction is simply a very artistically disguised method of altering the track as you progress further into the race. This is a good thing, it keeps each track interesting and gives you a lot more nuances to master for the perfect race, the destruction is definitely not a gimmick and definitely not just aesthetic!

Like most games these days, Apocalypse is infused with far too much plot than I care a about. It’s nice that the producers care about presentation, but ultimately I like to delve straight into the racing destruction and not waste time trying to justify exactly why it is I’ve come to be racing through a collapsing city. The game exhaustively tries to set the scene, however, and as it turns out you’re part of a weird bunch of competitive thrill seekers, or something like that, who have access to a … mostly… abandoned island city. They do the obvious thing, and race in it.

It’s not so much that I hate plot in all games, it’s fine in games which are built around it, but racing, really? Next you’re going to tell me they’ve put RPG elements and the ability to get married into GT5, aren’t you?

Plot aside, the racing itself is fun, satisfying, graphically fantastic and definitely worth a look. It’s what you’ve come to expect from Motorstorm, with added destruction for good measure. If you’re a fan of realism, this is not for you (then again, neither is GT5, ha!), but if you’re a fan of fun, Motorstorm Apocalypse has it in droves.

Motorstorm Apocalypse is definitely the kind of game where you sit your brain on a shelf, slouch back, drool slightly and enjoy the ride, and it’s got no shame in being that way.

What more can I say? If you’re even slightly intrigued by this game, you should try it out. There aren’t enough pulse pounding and destructive racers out there, and with no new Destruction Derby (Oh, how I loved that game!) or 1NSANE to sink my teeth into, I find Apocalypse a refreshing change… although I’d rather it had more facility for granular destruction and less total-immediate-instantaneous-vehicular wipeouts.

Whew, that was short. Let’s shoot for 500 words just to annoy people! Ah, five words short. D’oh!

Saturday, May 28th, 2011, Featured, Playstation 3.