Motorstorm Apocalypse has arrived and with it comes an apocalyptic racing event that is a whole lot of fun. In this game you will race through San Francisco (titled “The City” in the game) as it suffers violent earthquakes and other disasters. The city has been evacuated which means it is the perfect place to hold “The Festival”. The Festival is a series of races to see who is number one. As you progress in the story you will see cut scenes in between each race that help to further the story. The game is pretty light on story, however, there is one there and there are three main avenues to go down to get through the campaign. At first you will play the part of the Rookie, however, once you prove you have what it takes you will move up to higher difficulty races with higher stakes. Playing through this title I noticed that the development team were fans of Split Second as the environmental destruction fell right along the line of what that title accomplished. As you raced through a crumbling city tall skyscrapers would fall which would alter the track itself so that each lap had the potential to be completely different. The difference between the two is that with Split Second you controlled the destruction whereas in Motorstorm Apocalypse you just watch it happen around you as you race to the finish line.

There are a variety of vehicles that you will get to use throughout the campaign and each one handles differently. You can take some pretty tight turns on a dirt bike, however, you have to be a lot more cautious when driving a big rig. There are, of course, pros and cons to each vehicle you use with the bigger vehicles making it easier for you to run people off the road and not taking turns very well. During the campaign you don’t get to pick which vehicle to drive which is a shame. It would have been nice if I could have chosen my favorite vehicles to always race in but that is probably the reason the development team did it this way. They want you to experience all of the vehicles in the game. With that said the vehicles in this game crash way too easily. There were times when I barely touched a wall and my vehicle would crash. It was also way too easy to get spun out as my opponent would seemingly appear out of nowhere and always hit me in the “perfect” spot to make me spin out. The game is a little unbalanced in that regard and your frustration will begin to mount after experiencing this after a little while.

Motorstorm Apocalypse also features some multiplayer action which seemed to run really smoothly. There were times when I couldn’t find a race to join, however, in the instances that I was able to get into a race the game performed great. There wasn’t any lag that I noticed and everything ran as smoothly as it should. You can also place bets before the race starts which adds another layer of tension to the races themselves as you have some of the in game currency on the line as well. You will also have access to different perks which are vehicle upgrades that alter the way your vehicle behaves. There are three different types of perks with Handling, Boost and Combat. Additionally, there are part challenges where you can unlock new parts for each vehicle and even unlock new vehicles altogether.

If you are a person that likes to customize your ride in racing games then Motorstorm has you covered in that aspect as well. You can change the look of any unlocked vehicle and tweak everything from parts to stickers and save your custom creations. You can choose the different perks that the car will have, who will represent you as a driver and more. If you are someone that enjoys motion controls you can even change your options so that you can control your car with the motion sensor function. I enjoyed the tracks themselves and thought that they were really well designed. One of the better tracks in my opinion was when you were racing on rooftops and through buildings. This added another layer of challenge as you didn’t want to fall off the rooftops you were racing across and you want to make sure that you hit your jumps just right so you that you don’t go from first to last in the blink of an eye. Your car does have the ability to boost to try and give you an edge against your opposition, however, you will want to watch your meter carefully. If you boost too much your engine will become overheated and explode. If you see a puddle of water on the track it would be a good idea to drive through it as water instantaneously cools down your engine.

As a complete package I had a lot of fun with Motorstorm Apocalypse. The game is beautiful and I really enjoyed the courses. The apocalyptic idea definitely added more challenge to the game as you had to quickly dodge falling buildings and be able to choose a different route before you crashed into falling debris. Even with the complaints I mentioned above this is a fun title and if you are a Motorstorm fan you definitely need to check out this game. If you aren’t a fan of the series be sure to check it out as you might find yourself having a good time racing through a city that is falling apart. I haven’t been the biggest fan of Motorstorm in the past, however, I am now looking forward to the next iteration in the franchise. Be sure not to miss out on this fun PS3 exclusive.

Score: 7.5/10

Originally posted on Totally Gaming Network