Since the birth of the PS3, the Motorstorm series has been Sony’s go-to arcade racing franchise. Up until now, I haven’t played any of them. I must confess: I had no interest in giving the franchise a shot. I do like arcade racing games, but there wasn’t anything that grabbed me about Motorstorm, at least as someone on the outside looking in.
However, since Motorstorm: Apocalypse was included with the PlayStation 3D Display I picked up a few months ago, I figured I should at least give this a fair shake. Though I came into it fairly apathetically, did Motorstorm win me over in the end?
As the name would imply, Motorstorm: Apocalypse takes place in a post-apocalyptic world. Why the Motorstorm universe has devolved in this manner is beyond me (I probably skipped the one cut-scene that explained it), but in the grand scheme of things, the context doesn’t really matter. What does matter though, are the gameplay implications of this universe. For one, what remains of Earth coincidentally makes for some interesting track designs. There’s no shortage of twists, turns, jumps and short cuts to make the races interesting. The destruction also plays a direct role in the boosting mechanics, as driving by fire will heat your car up faster and water will cool it down. The most interesting element that the setting brings to the game is the destruction that happens on and around the tracks as races go on, such as buildings falling onto the tracks and large gas tankers exploding. If you’ve played Split/Second, then this concept will be familiar to you. Unlike that game, however, the destruction is not controlled by you.
Instead, the focus is solely on racing, which I think it does really well. The game offers a number of different types of vehicles for you to race in; everything from a motorcycle to a monster truck and everything in between. Generally, I have a hard time getting accustomed to the feel of a racing game, and spend hours aimlessly drifting into walls. With Motorstorm: Apocalypse, I got the hang of it within a matter of minutes, which is something I really appreciated. I’m not enough of a driving enthusiast enough to nit-pick about the game feeling too arcade-y, but I really like the arcade feel here.
As a single-player experience, it’s pretty run-of-the-mill. You take on one race at a time and must perform at a certain level to qualify for the next race. The progression is extremely linear; giving you only one race at a time to complete, which can suck if you get stuck on a particular race. If you’re more about playing online, the online play in Motorstorm: Apocalypse is pretty solid. It has decent matchmaking, a Call of Duty inspired perks system and the net code itself ran really well.
Since the game did come with my 3D television, I should comment on how the 3D looks as well. For the cut-scenes in single-player, the 3D effect is pretty dramatic. The cut-scenes have a 2D art style to them and are given the illusion of depth by placing each of the 2D elements at different depths. I thought the effect was really cool. As for the in-game experience, it looks good for what it is and I didn’t notice any noticeable dip in terms of performance, though I’d rather play the game without the 3D glasses on. It’s simply a matter of personal preference.
The Motorstorm series may not have caught my attention in the past, but Apocalypse definitely left a positive impression on me. It sets out to be an arcade-style racing game and it meets that objective really well. While I can’t recommend it as a must-have for everyone, I think it’s at least worth checking out.
In Third Person 