Interview: Motorstorm Apocalypse

Last week TheSixthAxis played Motorstorm: Apocalypse. It’s fab, but after a good few hours hands on we were still left with a few questions unanswered.  Enter Matt Southern, the game’s director at Evolution, to help us out with the queries still outstanding.

Hi Matt.  So, Apocalypse wasn’t running in 3D at the demo – will Apocalypse eventually feature a 3D setting, given the updates to several other PS3 games recently?

Watch this space! Evolution has been working on stereoscopic 3D for nearly 5 years now and has been involved in most of the 3D work you’ll have seen on PlayStation 3. It is without doubt one of the most exciting new technologies for gaming, and it’s definitely something we’d like to take a closer look at.

The demo featured a track which ran over a single route without lapping, will there be tracks which run over several laps?

Indeed – in fact the majority will offer that classic multi-route, multi-vehicle insanity. We chose to show a track that highlights our new stuff rather than the old favourites, but it’s still MotorStorm at its core.

The festival atmosphere that was in the first Motorstorm but not so much in the second. Is it back? Will the story mode feature cut-scenes to help build the atmosphere?

The festival will feature more prominently than ever before, using the story that underpins the whole game. We are creating a story that is right for the genre and for MotorStorm, and that means something which finally shows what it’s like to be a part of this insane racing subculture, to be part of the festival.

How will the career modes pan out? Have you abandoned the ticket system of old in favour of a more linear story mode?

The single-player campaign will be a story-driven experience. We’ve been inspired by titles in other genres such as action adventures and shooters, but naturally given it the MotorStorm treatment. Players will get the same festival seen from the perspectives of three unique characters, each of whom represents a different difficulty level. Our approach to story is very gameplay-driven. On top of this Wreckreation is now massively expanded, featuring customisation, a Game Mode Creator, a Perks system, Experience-based Ranking and much, much more. We really think we’ve got something very special on our hands.

From the demo track it appears the dynamic events play out the same each race, will there be some variation in the final game?

Firstly in single-player, every race is different – over 40 races, all unique. If the player chooses to re-play a track then they will experience a carefully balanced blend of emergence and control, so the big-scale events happen every time, but the consequences are completely emergent and unpredictable. If you think about MotorStorm’s usual approach to the behaviour of the AI opponents – well, we’ve applied that same system to the city. We’ve taken a lot of time and care to find the right balance here.

But how dynamic is the destruction? Is there a physics engine at work or is the destruction pre-canned?

We realised that there is no need for one of these solutions to exclude the other. It varies per stage, and is always a blend of very sophisticated Havok-based physics with top-tier destruction animation. Events can also switch between the two dynamically, which gives us some degree of control whilst allowing for the type of emergent gameplay I talked about earlier.

And speaking of destruction, the dynamic headlights are cool, but will it be possible to smash them?

MotorStorm has always featured a spectacular damage system, and the headlights are now part of that system. That being said we obviously need to avoid situations where the player finds themselves unable to see! Headlights, night time tracks and more varied lighting was communicated loud and clear to us by fans as a highly desirable feature.

The demo featured a sports car – will the final game feature any new vehicles or environments not yet hinted at?

To confirm – we’re adding Super Cars, Super Bikes, Hot Hatches, Muscle Cars and Choppers. We spent some time asking ourselves ‘what new vehicle should we add?’ before realising that there was nothing stopping us from adding stacks of them. All of the existing favourites will still feature too, and in classic MotorStorm style each has a fighting chance of winning the race depending on how they approach it. Want to ride a Big Rig across the roofs of skyscrapers and offices? Go for it!

Let me quickly say something else about vehicles – if you customise a look for one vehicle class, it will work across all classes. That means you can share them with friends and all race with the same livery, even if you’re in different vehicles. Each vehicle can also display your PSN ID so we’re hoping we’ll get some team rivalries appearing online.

Thanks for your time, Matt.

You can read our hands-on with the game here.