BitSnark

In what appears to be the current fad, Sony have fired their big release guns early prior to E3 with a reveal of the third Motorstorm title known as Motorstorm Apocalypse.

Apocalypse really takes the whole ‘world gone to shit during a race’ idea and ups the ante quite considerably on the hostile environments of its predecessor, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift.

Set in a predominantly urban setting, you get buildings falling down around you, explosions, fire spreading everywhere, helicopters attacking you and just, well, lots of things going to complete shit. That’s not to suggest that the game is a ‘post-apocalyptic’ racer in the Fallout sense, but rather a game which embraces chaos in an urban setting.

Motorstorm Apocalypse doesn’t just let you roam the city streets either, it also allows you to race in sewers, across rooftops and even down on the beach, each with a huge amount of stuff blowing up and a healthy dose of chaos thrown in.

A nice twist to the proceedings is the fact that you have three different characters to choose from, with each representing not only a level of difficulty but crucially, a different stage of destruction in a particular level. For example, playing as one character you might be racing through the city already destroyed, with many of the downed buildings and structures acting as ramps and alternative routes through the level. If you were to play as the next character however, you would be playing that same level at the point when all of the destruction is taking place, providing a number of different longevity expanding ways to approach any given race.

Motorstorm Apocalypse also boasts sixteen player online multi-player, four player split-screen, persistent matchmaking, rankings, 3D support, vehichle customisation and a game creator mode.

Gaming website VG247.com has a pretty sweet interview with game director Matt Southern (which can be seen at the link below) and they described the game as ‘fucking lunacy’.

http://www.vg247.com/2010/06/10/interview-motorstorm-apocalypses-matt-southern/

Even at this early stage, Motormstorm Apocalypse is shaping up to be quite the formidable racer indeed and a solid component of Sony’s PS3 lineup at E3.

Can’t wait to see more on this.