Game review: MotorStorm: Apocalypse

MOTORSTORM: APOCALYPSE

RATING T for Teen

Each MotorStorm title is centered on a racing festival of ragtag, foul-mouthed drivers. The vehicles include muscle cars, superbike-style motorcycles and enormous trucks that can plow over the competition.

This time, the festival is held at an unnamed West Coast city that is a dead ringer for San Francisco. The landscape is littered with debris and the crumbled corners of Victorian homes, which have been shaken to their foundation by massive earthquakes, many of which occur during the final lap in the races.

The various levels don't matter much as far as the actual in-game driving experience. It's all very pedal-to-the-metal for pretty much the entire length of each race. We're not saying the courses are easy, but players can speed through most sections without braking.

The graphic details are impressive, especially the scenes that involve water. When we drove through a torrent of water from a broken fire hydrant, we had to endure a few seconds of blurred vision until it cleared off our windshield.

To make matters more complicated, there's a squad of security in helicopters trying to rid the city of race drivers by launching rockets at them. It's madness and, despite being a bit easy once you get the hang of the steering physics, it's also a lot of fun. -- AP