PLAYSTATION NEWS AND REVIEWS
August 24th, 2010

MotorStorm Apocalypse Video Interview

Walking around shows like gamescom, talking to journalists and developers, you pick up on certain ‘buzz phrases’ each time, and this year, one of those was “MotorStorm Apocalypse in 3D”.

Those that had played it were encouraging others to do so with anecdotes of physically ducking out of the way as a racing truck tumbles towards them. The other big news for the boys from Evolution Studios last week was that they were showing the first new track since the game’s announcement.

I managed to prise Game Director Matt Southern from his dark room for some well earned Vitamin D; check out the interview below.

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August 23rd, 2010

MotorStorm 3D Rift Comes to PSN Tomorrow With 10 Tracks

Hi MotorStormers! I’m excited to let you know that we will be releasing MotorStorm 3D Rift to PSN this Tuesday, August 24th for $9.99. Now you can enjoy an immersive 3D racing experience with 10 of our favorite MotorStorm Pacific Rift tracks like Kanaloa Bay or Caldera Ridge, using a selection of festival-favorite off-road vehicles including Bikes, Buggies, Racing Trucks, and Monster Trucks.

MotorStorm 3D Rift for PS3

For those of you who don’t have a 3D TV yet and want to sample MotorStorm Pacific Rift, I can assure you that 3D Rift is still wicked fun on a 2D TV! Check out this video of the adrenaline-soaked MotorStorm Pacific Rift in action.

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In 3D Rift you’ll have 10 unique events to compete in (one for each track) with the full range of competitor difficulty levels through the races, so you can enjoy the brutal off-road racing at your leisure or take on the toughest and most competitive rivals.

With 3D you can naturally judge your speed and proximity, which will be extremely helpful when trying to avoid being side-swiped by a rampaging Racing Truck, ramming a rival Buggy into a cave wall, or timing when to get back on the accelerator as you take a tricky corner. When you are riding a Bike, 3D makes it obvious what you can and can’t duck under — even at high speeds! And you can feel just how monstrous a Monster Truck is when looking down at a rival Buggy just before it disappears under your super-sized wheels. If you’ve played the 3D Collection demo then you’ve already gotten a taste of how awesome MotorStorm is in 3D. Check out MotorStorm 3D Rift for more tracks and greater challenges. If you haven’t, you’ll be blown away by the sense of speed as you fight through the tropical island setting and RIP it up in 3D paradise.

MotorStorm 3D Rift includes 10 tracks, 10 race events, multiple playable vehicles, and is playable in both 2D and 3D. You can get it on PSN for $9.99.

We hope you’ll enjoy it as much as the team here has enjoyed working on it. We look forward to bringing you more breathtaking 3D racing action with MotorStorm Apocalypse next year!

July 22nd, 2010

Motorstorm Apocalypse: EU Livechat with Evolution Studios

Motorstorm Apocalypse’s crumbling urban environments, dynamically distorting racetracks, and stereoscopic 3D support all lead to plenty of new questions for the heavy-hitting PS3 racer. And if you’ve got questions, Evolution Studios may have answers.

Our friends at the EU PlayStation.Blog are preparing to hold a livechat with the team behind Motorstorm Apocalypse. EU Blog Manager James Gallagher and Matt Southern – Game Director, Paul Rustchynsky – Lead Designer and Phenom_Evolution – Community Manager will field questions from the audience.

Won’t you join them? Let’s listen in:

Evolution Studios Live Chat

June 16th, 2010

MotorStorm Apocalypse Video Interview and E3 Trailer

With so many titles shown at yesterday’s press conference, we didn’t have time to do a deep dive into every last one. But here’s one that we announced last month which I think you’ll want to see more of: MotorStorm Apocalypse. Before jetting across “the pond” to E3, SCEE’s intrepid blog-type-person scored an interview with the devs of what is shaping up to be the best MotorStorm game yet.

It felt appropriate seeing MotorStorm Apocalypse in London’s Fabric nightclub. With hard dance music throbbing out of the cutting-edge sound system and a selection of journalists seated on the vibrating dance floor, we were presented with the third MotorStorm festival on PlayStation 3.

The premise this time around, Evolution Studios’ Matt Southern explains to us in this video interview, is urban off-road racing. This is not a post-apocalyptic city; you’re there during the apocalypse and every second of every race you’re bombarded with earthquakes, explosions and other environmental madness.

For sheer lunatic ambition the team at Evolution Studios are hard to beat and with MotorStorm Apocalypse they seem to have outdone themselves. Quite simply, you’re racing through a city as the world ends around you.

Wanna see more MotorStorm Apocalypse? Check out the new E3 trailer:

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June 10th, 2010

Introducing MotorStorm Apocalypse

More than two years ago we decided where the MotorStorm festival should head next, and I’ve been itching to talk about it ever since. Now, as part of the global announcement, and with E3 just around the corner, it’s so exciting to finally be able to share some information about the MotorStorm Apocalypse.

MotorStorm Apocalypse

Here are some of the headlines…

You May Have Heard…We’re Heading to the City!

But this is no ordinary city. In the same way that the first MotorStorm was set in Monument Valley, and MotorStorm Pacific Rift was set on ‘The Island’, inspired by Hawaii and other Pacific islands, we’ve set this MotorStorm in ‘The City’, inspired by the West Coast of America, and, in particular, the Bay Area of California.

MotorStorm’s brand of racing is not about ‘going urban’ though. We all know that the lunatic ‘Stormers would take every expectation about street racing and turn it upside-down. So this is what they’ve done. Welcome to Brutal Urban Off-Road Racing!

MotorStorm Apocalypse

Post Apocalyptic? NO!

The city has been abandoned and somewhat damaged after a tremor. When the ‘Stormers find this out, they head straight in. Pretty soon, two things become clear: it isn’t completely empty and Mother Nature isn’t done yet!

Throughout the game the city will be ripped to pieces, in real-time, as you race. Routes will be affected, as will our emergent gameplay.

Buggies using collapsing walls as half-pipes. Big Rigs on the rooftops of skyscrapers as they collapse. Superbikes gunning into the basements of enormous rifts. Supercars flicking on their headlights to barrel through the subways and sewers. Multi-vehicle pile ups on giant bridges as they buckle and twist. Driving through someone’s office and smashing up their desks. It’s all there.

Two groups have also stayed behind, and neither takes too kindly to MotorStorm’s arrival. I’ll talk more about them another time, but for now I’ll say that when they realise there isn’t going to be much of a city left, they start to destroy it too.

This isn’t post-apocalyptic. It’s apocalyptic. You are there when it happens. It’s survival racing.

MotorStorm Apocalypse

Variety, Chronology and Depth are King

We’ve listened to everything people said about our previous games and, as a result, one of our priorities is to make a more satifsying overall game experience. In our single-player mode, every race is unique. When a building comes down it stays down. When you race a track again, the buildings will still be down and the MotorStorm crew will have carved yet more routes into the ruined landscape. The only time you’ll see the same thing twice is when you choose to. Underscoring this chronology is the fact that you’ll get to see the game from three different viewpoints.

Nothing annoys me more than the notion that an accessible action racer must also be shallow or plain dumb. So once you have experienced the single-player journey, the true depth of our title will come to the fore. Our overhauled ‘Wreckreation’ mode has been heavily influenced by the best online titles: from shooters and action adventures, RPGs and platformers. It features:

  • Sixteen player online multiplayer.
  • Four player split-screen.
  • Combinations of the two. Play with three friends in the living room against 12 more online.
  • Massive vehicle customisation. Change vinyls, vehicle parts, vehicle shapes and more. Upload them to the community site and share them with others. They automatically work on all vehicle types, and include your PSN ID.
  • Vehicle perks. Modify your handling, boosting and offensive abilities as you unlock new perks.
  • A wealth of rankings to progess through online with associated rewards and recognition.
  • Stacks of online rewards to earn and persistent progress giving the most determined and successful racers the status and recognition they deserve.
  • Persistent matchmaking. Keep your party together throughout your gaming session.
  • A Game Mode Creator. From a completely blank canvas you can design your own game rules and victory conditions, play them online, and incorporate them into tournaments.

Lots More

We’ve got a lot more to reveal too; things like replacing loading screens with cut-scenes that finally reveal what it’s like to be a part of the MotorStorm subculture, to changes to handling and boosting, to the five completely new vehicle classes making their way to this festival.

The end of the world…is just the beginning.

Let me know your thoughts.

MotorStorm Apocalypse MotorStorm Apocalypse

October 13th, 2008

MotorStorm Mondays: The MotorStorm Festival, Demo Coming This Week

Since Day 1, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to put a soundtrack together that would have the right vibe for a festival of racing like MotorStorm. You see, Music is one of those things that no one is ever “wrong” about. Everyone has an opinion, and everyone knows best, but no one is ever wrong! After countless discussions with various people involved in creating the Festival Infrastructure around the MotorStorm racing events, my challenge was set: I needed to put together a lineup that not only fit with a racing game, but one which could feasibly be the Festival line up to end all Festival line ups. It had to be Anarchic, Aggressive and Raucous. That was the easy part. The tough part was making sure that the soundtrack became as much a signature of MotorStorm as the racing itself was.

With Pacific Rift, I faced the same challenge, but this time, it had to go one better. Up to eleven, if you like. First things first, considering this time around we were allowing the player to play their own music while racing: How do we give the player something that, no matter which way it’s looked at, is valuable? How do you put value back in to a licensed soundtrack, when the player can play their own music? After much consideration, the answers came; We are going to be giving you a soundtrack that not only stands up to MotorStorm’s first outing, but also has more than twice the number of tracks of its predecessor, along with a healthy peppering of tracks that we’ve gone directly to the original artists about, asking them to stamp an element of MotorStorm on them. Exclusivity. I’m sure that while everyone will have an opinion on it - and none of you will be wrong - you will all agree that what we’ve ended up with is an absolute monster of a soundtrack, with more than just a little something for everyone!

Lunatics of the world, Unite… The MotorStorm Festival is upon us once more, and promises to pump your ears full of Dirt, Petrol, Mud, Fire and Water… Line up announced!!!

Ok, here it is –


Full track list –

    Alex Metric – In Your Machine
    This guy is just gonna get bigger and bigger. MotorStorm festival organizers tip Alex Metric to be the new kid on the block when it comes to chops, beats and twist up mixes. Currently working on a debut album, he has yet to explode onto the scene, but he will… The MotorStorm Festival is the perfect platform for Metric to make his mark on the Dance scene!

    Amon Tobin – Trickstep (Pacific Rift Remix) Exclusive!
    We got our hands on some new exclusive unreleased tracks from Amon. We loved them all, but Trickstep was top of the bill for MotorStorm. Amon revisited it for us to “MotorStormify” it a bit more, too. Exciting stuff! And Exclusive to the MotorStorm Festival!

    Animal Alpha – Fire Fire Fire
    With a voice like sand and glue, and a band that’s full of energy and drive, MotorStorm seemed a perfect fit for Animal Alpha’s Fire Fire Fire, especially since we were setting some of our races in and around a volcano!

    Aphex Twin - Come To Daddy (Pappy Mix)
    Classic Aphex. Dirty, Raucus and edgy. Some might say a little scary too, but that’s all the elements you get in a MotorStorm race anyway…

    Black Daniel – Gimme What You Got (Alex Metric Remix)
    Alex Metric puts his shines on Black Daniel; Awesome track!

    Black Sun Empire & State Of Mind – Red Velvet VIP
    Dark Drum and Bass. It’s edgy. BSE have proven in the past that they can do for underground D&B what Pendulum did for Mainstream D&B.

    Black Tide – Show Me The Way
    These guys Rock, Hard! First heard a Metallica cover from them, and I was sold. These guys had to appear at the MotorStorm Festival, and they were keen to oblige! And what an addition it turned out to be! Fantastic band, great sound. Hair rock doesn’t get much hairier than this!

    Bodysnatchers – Twist Up
    Reminiscing back to the first MotorStorm Festival, we had Krafty Kuts feature. When I heard this track from the Bodysnatchers, it reminded me of Bass Phenomenon from Krafty. It fit really well, and it certainly twists itself up!

    Boys Noize – Lava Lava
    Boys Noize are making waves with everything they do at the moment. Lava Lava is no exception. It’s gritty, dirty, and it has great attitude. Sick track!

    Queens Of The Stone Age - Sick Sick Sick
    Speaking of Sick, There’s never a dull moment with Queens of the Stone Age! These guys kick serious ass and a MotorStorm Festival simply wouldn’t be the same without them.

    Bullets and Octane – I Ain’t Your Savior
    Truth be told, it wasn’t only the sound of this track that caught my attention. The energy it has, and the raw sound hits a nerve that makes this stick in your head. Great track to race really, really fast to!

    Cut In The Hill Gang – Soul To Waste (MotorStorm Edit) Exclusive!
    An Exclusive edit of a fantastic track from Cut in the Hill Gang. These guys know how to do dirty Rhythm and Blues!

    Hervé – Zombie Dance (MotorStorm Edit) Exclusive!
    Another exclusive edit for MotorStorm Festival goers to enjoy!

    The Exploders - Wolf Cub (Pacific Rift Edit) Exclusive!
    Another fantastic dirty blues track that simply had to be featured at The Festival! The Exploders were keen to give it a little treatment for us too and came up with this awesome mix, just for our MotorStorm ears!

    Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod
    We wanted to include this in the original MotorStorm, but it works just as well in MotorStorm Pacific Rift! A great track and a classic sound for the MotorStorm Festival I’m sure you’ll agree!

    Nirvana – Swap Meet (Diplo MotorStorm remix) Exclusive!
    This is our big hitter. First time ever, and it’s exclusive to the MotorStorm Festival. MotorStorm has, in the past, managed to sway Nirvana towards the Festival (we had a fantastic reception to Breed, featuring at the first festival), so we wanted to bring them back again, but this time, with a difference. Hotter than hot cakes at the moment, Diplo was fired up to give it some remix treatment and, I think you’ll agree, this is Nirvana like you’ve never heard them before! Incidentally, its 20 years ago that Bleach was first released, and this is a fantastic opportunity to revisit the album and bring some of today’s hottest talent to the table to give it a squeeze. Great track; Great remix. You heard it here first!

    Pendulum - Tarantula (ft Fresh, $pyda & Tenor Fly)
    MotorStorm wouldn’t be MotorStorm without a big dollop of hoover led, raucous Drum and Bass action: Pendulum. We brought the Aussie Drum and Bass crew back to the festival with a brilliant track, Tarantula.

    The Qemists – Stompbox
    We loved it as soon as we heard it. We snapped it up and immediately set to work cutting our E3 movie to this track. This one had the potential to “Stomp” its authority as the new MotorStorm Signature track. It would seem we weren’t the only ones to think this was a fantastic track!

    The Qemists - Speed Freak (MotorStorm Remix) Exclusive!
    The Qemists are a new breed of warrior on the Drum and Bass scene and I just love to seek out not only what’s hot right now, but what will be hot round the corner, and the Qemists certainly have a fire in their gut right now that MotorStorm simply couldn’t overlook. When we asked the guys to let us bring Stompbox to the stage, they jumped at the chance. Not only that, they offered to knock up something exclusive for us, too! As good as Stompbox was, we couldn’t very well say no – that would just be rude. So we happily said, “yes please”, and boy what a job they did with this track! They took all the elements of a MotorStorm race, all the elements of a MotorStorm Theme, and shoved it all down the barrel of a Shotgun, pulled the trigger and shot this track straight to the main stage! This track Stomps Hard! Another Exclusive track you’ll only hear at the MotorStorm Festival!

    Saving Abel – New Tattoo
    Proper Rock n Roll. We love this track and we’re sure you will too! It has everything you need to drive faster than you should and more dangerously than you can imagine!

    Slipknot – Sulfur
    As of writing this, Sulfur remains unreleased. Though we’re pretty sure not for much longer as the Slipknot guys have nailed it once again. A superb track that sits with the whole vibe of the Festival and the racing action.

    Simian Mobile Disco – Parachute
    SMD have taken the UK scene by storm. Another one the Festival could not overlook! Great track, and again, as of writing, it remains unreleased.

    Supa Bajo - Lalula (instrumental)
    Aka – Freelance Hellraiser. The bass line on this one is outstandingly catchy. It alone ticks all the boxes for a MotorStorm race. What a track!

    Ulterior - Weapons
    A cross between Underworld and NiN. These guys rock hard in a tech kinda way. Another one to look out for…

    Noisia - Groundhog (MotorStorm re-edit) Exclusive!
    Groundhog is a great track anyway, but Noisia, as awesome as they are, agreed to give it a bit of MotorStorm treatment. Once again, another exclusive track to shove in your ears whilst tearing it up in Paradise.

    Clutch – Pure Rock Fury
    With their strangled guitar riffs and fuzzy raw sound, Clutch were ideal candidates to feature at the MotorStorm Festival. I have no doubt that you’ll agree this track comes armed with enough horsepower to blow the wheels off your vehicle mid race!

    David Bowie – Queen Bitch
    MotorStorm has never, and will never be about music that simply “Fits the Game”. It’s about a way of life. Lunatics from across the world, all shapes and sizes, all ages, unite to race their way to glory, and we make sure that although we feature tracks to suit everyone, we had no qualms about including something from as far back as the 70’s. It’s an absolute classic, from way back when… I was hugely skeptical as to whether we would be able to license this one, but it’s an absolutely killer track, so we pleaded, and we got it!

    Death From Above 1979 – Blood On Our Hands (Justice Remix)
    Though Death from Above 1979 disbanded, their music has left its footprint on the music scene, being picked up by dance producers, bands and remixers alike. Having this remix from French duo Justice feature at the Festival is something that always makes me smile! It also makes me drive extremely dangerously on the track! You gotta love the dirt and filth this track exudes from the very offset!

    Death From Above 1979 – Romantic Rights (Erol Alkins Re-Edit)
    “Two tracks from the same band!?”, you may wonder, but believe me, when you hear this, you’ll understand why the phrase “Erol keeps the kids dancing” is so appropriate! Erol Alkan’s remix of this fantastic DFA 1979 track is sublime! It brings you right up to the very top, then lets you go free-falling through the drop! A powerful remix of an adrenalin fuelled track. Outstanding.

    DJ Fresh – Chainsaw
    DJ Fresh has been a pioneer of the D&B scene for many years, working with some of the best over the years including Pendulum. He’s the bread and butter of Drum and Bass, and to have an opportunity to include an unreleased track at the Festival didn’t sit long on the table. I snapped it up as soon as I heard it. I’m sure those of you into the D&B thing are gonna be in for a real rare treat with this one!

    Fatboy Slim - Everybody Needs A 303 (Plump DJs remix)
    Take a jug, add Fatboy Slim, Plump DJ’s and one of the most prolific and prominent commercial dance tracks ever, and give it a shake. What do you get? Conviction behind the claim that Everybody needs a 303. This track is classic too, but in a different way from Bowie or Nirvana. Works great when you’re tearing up the mud through the thick jungle!

    Goose – Black Glove (Bloody Beetroots Remix)
    The Bloody Beetroots are coming out of the blocks at 90kph right now, and when they lent their touches to this fantastic track from Goose, they really pumped it! Brilliant track, great drive and it just oozes class.

    Hadouken! - Liquid Lives (Noisa instrumental mix)
    Fast cars go hand in hand with fast guitars. Throw a thick heavy beat under it and you get Liquid Lives with the Noisia touch. More than ample pace and tempo to make you wanna take out your opponents rather than just beat them to the finish line.

    The Hives - No Pun Intended
    The Hives have a certain energy to them. Impossible to overlook. They are a great outfit and definitely know how to put a driving track together!

    In Flames - Move Through Me
    In Flames are huge. And deservedly so. They can go toe to toe with the best of them, and this is evidence that they are more than capable of holding their own at the MotorStorm Festival. We wanted this track as soon as we put it in the mix.

    Leftfield - Phat Planet
    A lot of you are going to recognize this track as “The Guinness ad music”. And right you’d be. But let me explain why I chose this one for the Festival. The Guinness ad is all about Hawaiian Surfers, waiting for the perfect wave. “He waits. It’s what he does.” I wanted to convey this ethos by using this track in a similar capacity. Sure not many would get it at first, but the fact that this island, through all its years of being shaped by the land and clothed by nature, has been waiting for the perfect storm to hit its shores… MotorStorm brings exactly that, and it brings with it an end to The Island laying in wait. The wave has arrived, in the form of lunatics and masochists converging on the slopes of this land, ready to tear it up! …but the island won’t take it lying down. It WILL fight back. The bass line on this track says it all. The Island has been waiting for you…

    Machine Head – Davidian
    Machine Head go all the way up to eleven! There’s no doubt… and Davidian is a long standing classic. An anthem for anarchy. It’s time to rumble.

    March – Influence Exclusive!
    March are no strangers to the rock scene, and when I approached the band about featuring at the festival, they set straight to work. When they threw this track at me, it completely floored me. It’s dynamic, aggressive, and fresh. Exactly all the ingredients for the MotorStorm Festival I’m sure you’ll agree.

    Megadeth - Sleepwalker
    One of Megadeth’s newer tracks and, as you’d expect from classic rockers Megadeth, this is the very definition of power rock. \m/

    Nick Thayer - Mind Control
    With flavors of Big Beat and tech house synth lines, Nick Thayer nails it for the Festival. Perfect dance track to suit the atmosphere of the racing and festival.

    Parker - Western Soul featuring Rasco (Aphrodite Remix – MotorStorm Dub)
    Yet another exclusive! Parker joins up with Aphrodite to bring us this drum and bass mash up. The bass line wraps itself around you and completely pumps the adrenalin. Great track!

    The Planets – Slasher Exclusive!
    This track was dropped on my desk as we were approaching the finishing touches to the soundtrack, but it was too good to pass up. The guys revisited the track for us and gave it a bit of MotorStorm flavor. It sits right up there with the best of the soundtrack

    Primal Scream - Necro Hex Blues
    We featured two Primal Scream tracks on MotorStorm, and when I heard they were releasing a new album very close to Pacific Rift’s release date, I managed to get my hands on it for a listen. This track features Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age on guitars, and the opportunity was not one I wanted to pass up! It’s everything you’d expect from Primal Scream, and everything you’d expect to hear at the MotorStorm Festival. Brilliant!

    Saviours – Caverns Of Mind
    From Oakland CA, Saviours rock hard. This track was one of the first tracks we had on the table for the MotorStorm Festival, and after I’d played a couple of races to this one, it had to be featured. Pedal-to-the-metal rock.

    South Central – Golden Dawn
    Dubbed as a Post Glitch; Indie/Electro; Dance-Rocktronica band. When I heard Golden Dawn, I knew it would work almost instantly. Brilliantly produced, and full of energy, the South Central guys hit the nail on the proverbial head

    The Whip – Trash
    From Manchester UK, The Whip are “whipping” up a storm on the scene and will soon explode worldwide! This track is fantastic and sits perfectly well in the festival environment. These guys are not to be missed!

This week the demo for MotorStorm Pacific Rift will be available on the PLAYSTATION STORE for free download. The demo includes Rain God Spires, one of the 16 courses exclusive to MotorStorm Pacific Rift. Race against the computer in single-player mode or grab a friend for some split screen multiplayer action. Log on to the Store from your PS3 system and download it this Thursday, Oct. 16th!

September 29th, 2008

MotorStorm Monday: Crashing in Pacific Rift

Today the staff at Evo are doing a little dance and breathing a huge sigh of relief. For today is the day of our fist gold master candidate, which as I write this is winging its way to assorted testers around the world ready for them to give MotorStorm: Pacific Rift one last hammering. This isn’t the end, chances are there still a few bugs to be fixed, but we’ve finished dessert, and are now just waiting for coffee and the bill. Phew.

But rather than browsing through vacation brochures, I thought this impasse would be best spent writing a few blog posts which answer some of the questions that have been floating around the internet about Pacific Rift. The first one of which I noticed is how many people I’ve seen decrying the fact the lovely little pause camera from the first game isn’t present in the recent demo.

Well guess what? We’ve taken it out because we’ve introduced a photo mode to the main game, essentially the old pause camera on steroids. Hopefully it will be a good substitute and give your greasy little paws something to do while the game is paused, other than just going to the khazi. No doubt some of you will probably use it for rubbing our noses into any graphical glitches you may find, or taking comedy pictures of dismounted drivers looking like they’re humping trees, but hopefully more of you will use it for grabbing some ace action pictures of the carnage and destruction we’ve worked so hard to give you in the game. You see we like the carnage in MotorStorm.

Years of doing more sanitized racing games, coupled with an unhealthy obsession with breaking stuff really made us try and push the boat out with the amount of things that falls apart in the game.

This desire for destruction gave us a few headaches when designing the game. The problem with racing games (and Motorsports in general) is that crashing is probably the most spectacular and exiting part of the whole affair. Unfortunately, crashing is also mutually exclusive to winning.

After much deliberation we were left with two solutions to the problem -

    Option 1 - Every time you crash in MotorStorm one of our army of in-house vivisectionists ritually sacrifices a cute kitten to punish MotorStorm players and make sure they learn that crashing will only lead to kitty Armageddon.

    Option 2 – Make crashes look awesome, dismember the vehicles, spew bits across the track, crumple them, crush them and toss the drivers into the path of other vehicles causing bigger and more spectacular crashes. Most importantly allow players involved in the crash to savor the carnage and then get back into the racing with as little time lost as possible.

Guess which one we picked?

The levels of destruction in the first MotorStorm were pretty good, but this time around we really wanted to go to town. First off we developed a completely new vehicle deformation system that realistically crumples mashed vehicles into twisted wrecks, as well as throw components across the track. The end results are, in our honest opinion, smashing (excuse the anglo-centric pun). Secondly we took a real close look at the way we throw ragdoll drivers around, because breaking cars is amusing, but seeing your driver fly through the air to land in a crumpled heap only to be run over by a monster truck, tossed around and end up as a hood ornament on a big rig is the pinnacle of the whole MotorStorm experience. Don’t worry though, it’s more ‘Tom and Jerry’ than ‘Faces of Death’. Good clean wholesome fun.

So, crash a lot, enjoy it, and send us your photo mode screenshots of all that lovely carnage. And if you’ve used photo mode to take pictures of things you think we got wrong, please address them to -

Uzbekistan Automobile and River Transport Agency,
3 Usman Yusupov Street
Tashkent
Uzbekistan

Till next time.

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