Motorstorm Apocalypse: First Look

Earlier in the week we noticed some screenshots of a new Motorstorm had been leaked onto the internet, revealing a new racer taken place in a torn apart San Francisco. It's unknown whether or not this was intended on being premiered at E3 or not, but the secret is out now and game developer Evolution Studios and its director Matt Southern aren't afraid to talk about it.

It appears that the official name will be Motorstorm: Apocalypse, although the first look images displayed it as Motorstorm 3, with a tagline of San Francisco. The Motorstorm series has took us through the desert, jungle, and snow, but appears to be taking a more urban approach with the next entry in the series. The thing making this interesting, is the earthquake that has torn this western city apart. Not only has this created hazardous racing environments, but you will experience aftershock during races, changing the terrain and forcing you to alter your driving.

The setting isn't the only thing that will change this time for Motorstorm. This time around, the career mode will be about more than simply completing races and working your way up the ranks. Instead, it will feature a legitimate story mode, telling the survival tales from the perspective of three different characters (which will also serve as difficulty curves). The storylines occur over a 48 hour time period, and all three are said to overlap at some point in the story.

The gameplay will feel largely the same as the past two PS3 versions, but not without slight enhancements and upgrades here and there. Night races will be introduced for the first time, spicing up the atmosphere in Apocalypse. Vehicle customization will also be more heavily explored, with the option of changing paint jobs, stickers, and other visual aspects, along with upgrading performance of combat, boost, and handling. The customization is controlled by your funding, which is earned as you play through more races.

Online play will have up to 16 racers, but the twist is that up to 4 can join and be playing split-screen from the same console. There will be a game mode creator, which allows you to tweak just about any rule or setting for the race as you could imagine. A betting system has also been added, allowing you to predict the winner of the next race for (in-game) money.

Motorstorm: Apocalypse has been in development for over two years now, and by the time they are finished it will have been worked on for roughly three years. It was already in development before Pacific Rift was finished. So with the amount of time being dedicated to it, along with some promising early info on it, this game is shaping up to be a step-up from the already solid series of racers. Expect Motorstorm: Apocalypse to arrive on the PS3 sometime in 2011.

Logan Smithson, Noobfeed