MotorStorm: Apocalypse

MotorStorm: Apocalypse is the fourth game in the MotorStorm racing series. The game is set in an urban environment called The City modeled after Bay Area in California. A massive earthquake has hit the location offering an off-road experience and compared to the previous games it puts more emphasis on the storyline. Just like the previous games it is centered around a racing festival, but this time told through three characters — Mash, Tyler, and Big Dog — that each represent a difficulty level; Rookie, Pro and Veteran respectively and unlocked one per one. Big Dog is the leader of the group who travels to the city. The lowest difficulty level allows the player to progress with a much less strict finish place, requiring top five, top three and the first spot respectively. The earthquake is still in progress, so players often have to deal with tumbling buildings, explosions, voids and raised pavements. Cut-scenes further the story between missions, which cover three days per character, with comic book-like sequences and voiced dialogs. There are about twelve races per character and tracks are repeated for each character, but not entirely identical.

Typical controls are used to steer the vehicles, along with a button to boost and one to focus on important events in the background. There is an unlimited amount of boost, but it takes some time to deplete the meter to prevent the engine from overheating. This can also be achieved by driving through water and the engine cools down automatically when airborne. For certain vehicles additional controls are available, such as shifting weight, performing a stunt or taunting the opponents. It is also possible to ram or punch opponents. After crashing the vehicle respawns automatically, but some time is lost. When off track too far it is possible to respawn manually. Most of the races contain three to five hidden cards, that can optionally be collected. There are 150 cards in total.

There are thirteen vehicle classes in the game, almost twice as much as any previous game in the series, but usually one type of class is allowed per race. Vehicles have different statistics based on handling, speed and toughness with a ranking from one to five for each stat. The included classes are: ATV, Big Rig, Buggy, Chopper, Dirt Bike, Mudplugger, Monster Truck, Muscle Car, Racing Truck, Rally Car, Super Bike, Super Car, and Super Mini.

Single races are grouped under the Wreckreation game mode, where multiplayer is also accessed. Multiplayer introduces loadoats and unlockable perks for the vehicles, as well as skins, items and other customization unlocks. Certain alternative designs for vehicles can only be unlocked in the multiplayer mode. There is a global experience level extended by winning races. Customization is limited to aesthetics and does not affect performance. Tokens are used to bet in races and when won a bonus is provided to boost the experience meter. Split-screen races are supported for up to two players offline and four players online. General online races support up to sixteen players.