MotorStorm Apocalypse Message Board

Every member of the team here would like to extend their gratitude to you for supporting and encouraging us throughout a very eventful year. During the course of developing MotorStorm Apocalypse (and the many updates and DLC goodies that have followed), and since our unveiling of MotorStorm RC, your ongoing enthusiasm has really kept us going. As a thank you, there’s a new MotorStorm Apocalypse livery on PlayStation Store right now, and our artists have created this card for you:

We love this time of year. There are tons of great games out and there are always high hopes for a White Christmas, because few things are as exciting to drive on as freshly fallen snow. Maybe we’ll get to take the truck out for a spin again…

We’re also looking forward to 2012, to showing you more of MotorStorm RC and creating exciting new things. We’re hiring too, so if you’d like to be a part of the family (and you’re particularly highly skilled in C++ programming) then please head over to www.playstationjobs.com

Enjoy your holidays! We hope to see you on the new mirrored tracks playlist in MotorStorm Apocalypse (look out for us in the black carbon ‘Evolution’ liveries)! All the best for 2012 and keep in touch – we love hearing from you!

Like a horseman of the apocalypse, Sony's undeniable spokesperson Kevin Butler has stormed the holiday shopping battlefield, riding a sale horse. The ad above has the juicy details: At any Best Buy across the country, anyone who buys a PlayStation 3D Display -- the Sony-branded, $499 bundle that comes with MotorStorm Apocalypse -- can attach a 160GB PS3 to their purchase for just $100.

Think of it this way: For the original launch price of the PS3, you can buy the console, a game and a television which shoots pictures directly into your brain. The times, friends; they are a-changin'.

Evolution Studios and Sony America have announced the release of an update Motorstorm Apocalypse that's probably beefy enough to charge for -- luckily, they didn't! The update, which went live earlier today, adds a network for sharing your customized vehicles, streamlines a few online multiplayer options, and includes support for the PlayStation Move and select racing wheel peripherals.

The update also adds a "Mode Editor," which allows you to tweak pretty much anything you want in a given race. For example, with two clicks, you can disable both brakes and gravity. The potential for unintentional hilarity here is dizzying.

#motorstorm Don't you worry, Evolution Studios plans to keep the end of the world going on for as long as possible. More »

Today on the PlayStation Blog, a series of additions for MotorStorm Apocalypse were announced. All will be available via a patch that you'll be prompted to download next time you insert the game...

Hello, my fellow MotorStormers! The racing party at the end of the world recently introduced a hot new track and fresh Weekly Challenges for you to play. Now, I’m excited to be able to bring you news of another larger-than-life update, which will empower you to create, share and get much more out of your action racing experience than ever before.

To get this latest update, simply fire up MotorStorm Apocalypse while connected to PSN and you’ll be prompted to download the update.

Design Your Own Game Modes

The new Mode Editor allows you to create your own fun game modes within the MotorStorm template and then play them straight away with other players (online and offline).

The possibilities are vast: Tweak the standard Race mode so that vehicle attacks are disabled…or set-up a five-round Eliminator mode, on mirrored tracks, for 15 Monster Trucks and 1 Buggy, with moon gravity, infinite boost and no brakes…or do something completely unexpected – we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Share Your Customized Vehicle

Customize and share your proudest vehicle designs with your friends via motorstorm.com, and download any that you like the look of from the website to apply to any of the vehicles in your collection – they automatically work across all vehicle types.

Sharing your personalized vehicles is simple: upload them from MotorStorm Apocalypse to your personal Profile area on motorstorm.com and other players can view them immediately. Downloading shared vehicles from other players is just as easy: find one you like the look of on motorstorm.com, sign in with your PSN Online ID and download it – it will be waiting for you when you next go into Customization in the game!

Up Your Game With a PS3 Steering Wheel or PlayStation Move

PlayStation Move controllers and certain PS3 steering wheels are now fully supported in MotorStorm Apocalypse (including customizable configurability options), so you can get even closer to the racing action with a more tactile and realistic control set-up.

I’ve been lucky enough to experience the game using a Logitech G27 force feedback wheel, on a 3DTV with surround sound set-up, and I can honestly say it’s the most exhilarating gaming experience I’ve ever had. Pumping the accelerator and gripping the wheel as you drift your muscle car through a tight city corner at break neck speeds feels incredible, and when an apocalyptic earthquake aftershocks kick in and tears open the ground beneath your wheels – while you’re trying to avoid gangs of crazy looters and rivals throwing their weight around in monster trucks – it ups the ante even more. If you can, you absolutely must experience MotorStorm Apocalypse like this. Words just don’t do it justice.

Supported steering wheels include: Logitech G25, Logitech G27, Logitech Driving Force GT and Logitech Driving Force Pro.

Further Improvements to Online Play

In response to continued feedback from MotorStorm players, the update also includes additions and improvements such as; new racer ‘clan tags’, changes to gambling (bets are now won when a rival is disconnected or disqualified), and changes to lobby privacy (so that private rooms can only be joined by invitation).

Stay Up to Speed With MotorStorm Wherever You Are

The community website has also been updated to include player profiles which show off player activity, stats, performance over the last 10 races and shared vehicle designs. The update also includes a mobile version of the website which lets you use an internet enabled mobile device to keep up to speed with the latest MotorStorm activity (and your friends) wherever you are.

There’s a lot here to keep you rocking the party at the end of the world! If you’d like to keep up with the latest on Apocalypse, or learn more about the game, make sure to keep tabs on motorstorm.com. Thanks for your time – Cheers!

A storm is coming to PlayStation Network! The MotorStorm Apocalypse multiplayer demo arrives on PlayStation.Store in today’s Store update and will be available to everyone for one week only. Here’s an overview of what you can expect from the demo of Evolution Studios’ latest adrenaline-fuelled action racer, which is out now on the PlayStation Store.

Seven days of intense action racing

Get ready to experience the simultaneous challenge and excitement that comes from trying to win races while a city comes crashing down around you! You’ve only got from Tuesday, June 28th until Tuesday July 5th to get in on the action, so make the most of the opportunity by taking part in this special week-long demo event while you can.

Incredible visuals

The action looks stunning, especially in high definition if you have the set up. To really bring every race, crash and explosion right into your living room, try to experience the game with a mind-blowing stereoscopic 3D setup!

16-player online races, including two-player split screen

Face down the competition in brutal races against up to 15 players world-wide. Go in alone, take a split-screen buddy into the action with you or meet up with your friends to form a party online.

You’ll earn new Ranks and rewards for surviving the carnage, beating opponents and racing with style. Boost your rewards from every race by wagering on any rival you think you can beat; There’s a healthy bonus awarded if you beat them and you can choose whether to add it to your career earnings or risk it all on the next race for an even bigger reward!

Three of the full game’s 35 online races to survive

You’ve never seen races like these…

The Mile High Club
Smash through offices and across the sides of downed skyscrapers in a lunatic adventure over the breathtaking rooftops.

End of the Line
A gigantic rift has ripped the subway system open…and MotorStorm is holding races in it! Barrel through the fiery subway tunnels and into the rifts themselves as crazy looters attack and trains bail straight into the station.

Ship Shape
An abandoned shipyard is the perfect playground for intense, high-speed action-racing, where there’s little room (but plenty of opportunity) for costly mistakes.

Five of the 13 vehicle types from MotorStorm Apocalypse to customize and race

Stamp your unique identity on the Superbike, Buggy, Supercar, Racing Truck and Big Rig and then equip your preferred performance boosting perks to give you an edge when you go out to battle in the concrete jungle.

You’ll earn better body parts, customization designs and perks as you race and improve with each vehicle. Make use of the kit you are awarded to modify your vehicle so that you stand out from the crowd!

…only Seven Days?

The demo will be available for download on PlayStation.Store for 7-days only, however online play will be possible until Thursday July 7 at 02:00 PDT, so you will have extra time to run a few more races before the free demo runs out.

If you didn’t already know, the full game is available now and has just been updated and expanded with the free After Party update, which introduces an all new day-and-night track, Weekly Challenges, multiplayer playlist updates and more. There are also regular community events taking place in MotorStorm Apocalypse: check the MotorStorm community space to see what’s taking place right now.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about the demo, please visit the MotorStorm community space on playstation.com.

To keep up to speed with the latest MotorStorm news, keep it locked to the blog, follow @PhenomEvolution on twitter.com and follow the official MotorStorm Apocalypse page on facebook.

This past Wednesday, the folks at Evolution Studios rolled-out some new DLC for MotorStorm Apocalypse, the most recently-released title in the PlayStation-exclusive racing series. As many are already aware of, the game itself was ready to go earlier this year, but was delayed due to what frankly amo...

On behalf of the team at Evolution Studios, I’m here to bring news of the biggest update to MotorStorm Apocalypse so far! We’ve always known that feedback from players and continued development of the game post-launch would be a key ingredient, and we’re still committed to supporting this goal. Read on for an overview of the free After Party update that hits PSN tomorrow. We hope will enhance and extend your enjoyment of the MotorStorm Apocalypse!

A New Day-and-Night Track: The Rock

The stage for this After Party is an abandoned prison island near the bay, known to the lunatic racers and ravers as The Rock. Multiple routes have been carved into the island’s varied terrain, so expect off-road racing action reminiscent of the legendary island in the Pacific Rift.

Expansion of ‘Special Events’

A heap of fresh single-player races, hand-crafted by the design talent at Evolution Studios, are being introduced via Special Events Packs. Each pack sees you play as a distinguished character from the Festival, offering the grand sum of 120,000 chips if you can take 1st place in six unique events. The first pack (Stone: Jack of Clubs) is included in the update. Further Events Packs will be available in coming weeks via PlayStation Store, for free.

Weekly Challenges

Weekly Challenges offer you a great opportunity to boost your chip total. There are 30,000 chips on the table every week and to claim them you’ll need to beat the specified target in a Rookie, Pro and Veteran challenge. Chips, if you didn’t already know, unlock new Ranks and rewards in the game, as well as several PlayStation Trophies.

The available races change at the same time every week (on a Wednesday), meaning that there are new challenges to take on and more chip rewards if you can beat them. Good luck!

Vehicle Performance Re-tuned

Feedback from the MotorStorm racing community, along with the game data and statistics we’ve analysed since the first day of online racing, highlighted that a number of vehicle types would benefit from a slight performance re-tune.

In response to this, changes have been made to several vehicle types to support more evenly balanced and competitive races. Most noticeably improved are the Supercar, Dirt Bike and Superbike classes. The Racing Truck, Muscle Car and ATV types have also been tweaked.

Game, Servers and Connectivity Improved

The update includes many ‘behind the scenes’ changes to the game and the online servers, to make the overall experience more robust and reliable. Important improvements have been made to online matchmaking lobbies, player profile records and leaderboard browsing.

The After Party is a healthy update to the game, which we hope will keep you entertained while we continue to develop another big update – which will include the Game Mode Editor, steering wheel support and several other surprises we’ve yet to announce. In the mean-time, enjoy the After Party, look forward to the free Event Packs on PlayStation Store and watch out for a refreshing change to the Matchmaking playlists soon.

Keep tabs on these along with upcoming community events on motorstorm.com and follow @PhenomEvolution on Twitter for all the latest on Apocalypse.

Cheers!

#gameover Disaster racer MotorStorm Apocalypse's rolling out has been a...disaster. The game features buildings falling down, which led to a delayed release in earthquake-affected New Zealand. And then earthquake-affected Japan. More »

3 out of 5

Imagine Harold Camping's earthquake-laden Rapture, but with only extreme sports fanatics, PMCs, and homeless crazies left to sort out the rubble.

MotorStorm: Apocalypse is, on several levels, a game about making the best of misfortune. In this apocalyptic world, massive earthquakes devastate the planet, laying waste to urban landscapes. Rather than run around screaming about it, people of this terrible future take the tack of, "When life gives you lemons, build a deadly race track out of lemons," and turn all this destruction into an opportunity for some remarkably dangerous auto racing. External to the game itself, Sony was forced to deal with misfortune outside of its immediate control, with both its release hype being hampered by the horrific earthquakes in Japan, and the costly PSN outage that robbed players of the game's best feature--its online multiplayer--for weeks following release. Yet, for all these misfortunes, both purposeful and not, only one really matters, and it's the one that MotorStorm: Apocalypse ultimately can't quite overcome: it's a driving game in which the driving often isn't all that fun.

It's not because of the admittedly divisive driving style this series has always employed, mind you. You're either bought in on MotorStorm's central conceit--multiple vehicle classes, from motorcycles to semis, all racing on the same track--or you aren't. Nor is it strictly a matter of the series' sometimes sluggish, often floaty-feeling physics. While those looking for an improved feel to the game's driving style will be disappointed--it seriously feels a lot like the first MotorStorm game across the board--those floaty mechanics aren't always to the game's detriment.

What is to the game's detriment is, sadly, also the game's most compelling feature. Namely, that of the wanton obliteration that covers every inch of the game's tracks. First, the good: this stuff looks incredible. When you're racing on a track in the game's fictional city (which is more than loosely-based on San Francisco), everything is in an ever-morphing state of disrepair. Earthquakes have already completely ravaged the city, leaving highways, buildings, and miscellaneous debris scattered every which way.

It's impressive destruction made even more so by the real-time nature of it. As you drive through courses, more tremors will often strike, leading to new deformation of the environment and adjusted paths and jumps for you to take. Sometimes you'll even find yourself dodging (or ramming) random survivors with firearms and rocket launchers, who clearly have taken none too kind to a bunch of no-goodniks rampaging through their obliterated burg. The game's visuals are top-flight, creating impressive amounts of debris and chaos around you at all times. It's exactly as insane-looking as a game like this should be.

The scope of the game's destruction is often breathtaking.

So, why isn't it more fun? For the same reason it looks so great, Apocalypse is frequently a frustrating mess. The on-screen chaos is, at times, indecipherable. Is that piece of freeway that's jutted outward part of the track? Or an untraversable obstacle? Whoops, before I could figure it out, I exploded. Any number of variations on that theme rear their head throughout the game's various tracks. There are jumps that aren't quite jumps; derelict cars that look like other racers, but aren't; showers of sparks and fire and whatever else that morph into a aesthetically pleasing, yet borderline dysfunctional track environment.

Fun fact: crashing over and over again isn't that much fun, unless you're Burnout, where that's the point. It's not the point here. Success or failure hangs on the thin string of your personal reaction time, in which case, the game's sometimes sludgy controls can actually be a detriment on occasion. If you're the controller-destroying type, somewhere around your umpteenth surprise explosion, you may find yourself attempting to recall some images of a calm blue ocean to avoid another expensive, rage-induced tantrum. Perhaps you can use the game's exceedingly lengthy between-track load times to rub your temples and do a little deep breathing.

It's a shame, because once you break past that wall of irritating, accidental death--which you'll likely do by just memorizing all the courses and their destruction patterns, since they don't change from race-to-race--there is certainly some fun to be had here in a multiplayer environment. Going online and playing against up to 15 other racers can be a blast under optimal circumstances, especially if you get into playing around with the unlockable perks--which aid elements like your boost ability, traction, and reset times--and the online betting system, where you can choose an online rival and make special effort to beat them for fun and profit. Online races are certainly competitive, but they also just happen to be kind of a crapshoot unless you've memorized all the courses.

I haven't mentioned the game's single-player element, because honestly, I'm trying to forget it. The game's "story" mode is an atrocious, dim-witted, utterly unpleasant experience from top-to-bottom. It tries to give copious amounts of context where none is really needed. Do we care about the personalities behind this absurd racing league? I'm guessing not. And yet the mode is replete with talky cutscenes filled with miserably animated "comic-book" art that looks roughly equivalent to Rob Liefeld attempting to draw a Mountain Dew commercial. Every scene draws so heavily from that weird place of hyper-cheesy "extremeness" that so permeated sports culture of the early 2000s that it feels like the game should have just been introduced by a shot of Jonny Moseley positing the question, "What if it earthquaked in San Francisco?" followed by a record scratch, the opening refrain of a Zebrahead song, and a shot of two girls in bikinis eating apocalypse-flavored Doritos.

Because crappy motion comics are totally what MotorStorm was missing, right?

Were it limited to a single, crappy storyline, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But the story mode forces you to trudge through three different stories featuring three increasingly insufferable assholes. Difficulty increases as well, which doubles the drain on your patience as you attempt to slog through this ill-conceived endeavor. On the plus side, the cutscenes are skippable. Again, the load times are not.

When the elements align and the clouds of frustration break, MotorStorm: Apocalypse is kind of awesome. In the right situation, blasting through the cluttered remains of a major city in a souped-up ATV or comically-huge monster truck is nothing short of sublime. But those moments are fleeting, and eventually, you'll find yourself snapped back into Apocalypse's tragic reality of calamitously awkward racing that's too often hamstrung by its own grand ambitions of scope and destruction. It's a cleverly ruinous game frequently ruined by its own cleverness.

 

With online multiplayer back in full swing, legions of MotorStorm Apocalypse owners are already enjoying this chaotic racer’s enhanced 16-player races. But not so long ago, we solicited your MotorStorm Apocalypse questions via Twitter and posed them to Evolution Studios Art Director Simon O’Brien to get the full story.

Jeff learned more about the artificial intelligence improvements, why a certain degree of “rubber-banding” is necessary for competitive races, how epic events mid-race can upset your carefully laid plans, and how MotorStorm Apocalypse takes its multiplayer cues from online shooters in the form of deeply customizable vehicles and races. O’Brien also details how players earn XP in the form of “Chips” that unlock new emblems, vehicle parts, and other customization options that affect your racing style — whether it’s sneaky and strategic or fiercely aggressive.

Have you tried MotorStorm Apocalypse online? What’s your favorite track and game mode so far? Let us know in the comments!

#crashsmashbash Motorstorm: Apocalypse is a fun, frenetic rolling tour through a world torn asunder by natural devastation. More »

The launch trailer for Evolution Studios' newly released (in North America, anyway) MotorStorm Apocalypse shows off some of the game's most bullet-pointable features on some huge, in-game billboards. Then it blows those billboards up. So, basically, we hope you're a really fast reader.

#theregoestokyo Despite being set in a fictional town along the U.S. west coast, Motorstorm: Apocalypse has been inexorably tied to Japan and the earthquakes there. More »

#tornadoalley Delayed and delayed again by earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan, natural disaster driving game Motorstorm: Apocalypse finally hit store shelves today, less than a week after the deadliest tornado outbreak in U.S. history. More »

#frankenreview After pausing to pay its respects to victims of Japan's earthquake crisis, the latest Motorstorm races to store shelves today, but first it must navigate the assembled video game critics in the Motorstorm: Apocalypse Frankenreview. More »

Hear the developers' side of the story in this diary showcasing the look and feel of MotorStorm: Apocalypse.

As far as awesome spectacles in gaming go, MotorStorm Apocalypse is up there with the best. I don't know if I've ever seen a game, let alone a racer, with this amount of action happening at any given moment. I can't help but marvel at the degree and detail of the destruction it renders on a city-wide scale -- which is a problem, since I'm supposed to be focused on racing.

Everything comes at you so fast, furious, loud and bright that opponents trying to ram you off the "track" (little in this game resembles an actual race course) are the least of your worries. No, the greatest risk is running into the scenery ... over and over and over again.

Does Apocalypse make a deep impact or is it racing armageddon? Find out in our official MotorStorm: Apocalypse review!

After suffering delays largely due to the rather bad timing of its storyline in conjunction with real life events, MotorStorm Apocalypse finally has a North American release date...

The indefinite delay that struck the North American release of MotorStorm Apocalypse has become specific: Sony has announced that the game is delayed until May 3. The game's launch date was shaken up in all regions in an effort to distance the racer's eye-catching urban destruction from the recent events in Japan.

As compensation for the delay, Sony is offering up a Premier Pack DLC voucher -- which enables two exclusive in-game vehicles -- in "every new copy of the game."

After missing its original April 12 release date due to issues stemming from the tragic earthquake in Japan last month, the PlayStation 3 earthquake racer MotorStorm Apocalypse finally makes it to North America on May 3. More »

#impressions This is natural disaster as roller coaster ride. More »

One week after Sony made the decision to postpone the launch and remove marketing materials for MotorStorm Apocalypse, Sony Europe has confirmed to VG247 that the racer will arrive in the UK on March 31. The title had already begun shipping to retail locations in the UK when Sony decided to delay it, due to the parallels between its earthquake-centric gameplay and the earthquake and tsunami which devastated Japan earlier this month.

There's no word on when the title will reach North America, after being delayed indefinitely from its rescheduled April 12 launch date. We've contacted Sony to see if a decision has been made on the game's U.S. release.

Earn your day in the spotlight by proving yourself in a subterranean labyrinth.

Does it take twice the man to ride half the axle? Renew your life insurance and prove your prowess on a superbike.

Crash through dilapidated rooftops with this high-flying gameplay.

Hop into a turbo-charged truck as the racer in last place is eliminated every few seconds!

After being delayed everywhere else, can't say we didn't see this one coming. PlayStation 3 disaster racer Motorstorm Apocalypse's post-quake release has been officially delayed in the U.S. No ETA yet, but it definitely won't make its originally planned April 12 release. More »