Evolution Studios' game director Matt Southern and senior designer Paul Rustchynsky answer questions from the PlayStation Community about their storming new PlayStation 3 title.
What's new in the multiplayer mode? (Westdogg57, France)
We've really gone to town with multiplayer this time around, adding in persistent matchmaking, a new ranking system, 16 player racing, two player split screen online, medals and accolades. But two of the biggest additions are Perks and Betting.
Perks are performance modifiers that allow you to change Handling, Boost and Combat attributes. There are 21 perks in total that are unlocked by progressing through the ranks, and exclusively here is the full list available in the game:
Handling Perks
Burn Rubber - Increased grip.
Swift Return - Halves the time it takes to reset to track after wrecking.
Sunday Driver - Improved brakes.
Flight Control - Increases the amount of in-air control.
Hot Rod - Improved acceleration.
Part Fish - Reduced water drag.
Aerodynamic - Faster top speed.
Boost Perks
Critical - Stay longer in Critical Boost before exploding.
Up and Away - You can hold Accelerate and still gain in-air Boost cooling (at a reduced rate).
Asbestos - The effect of fire on your engine temperature is reduced.
Chilled - Faster Boost cool down rate.
Aquatic - Increases the cooling effect of water on your engine temperature.
Shoot the Breeze - Improves your in-air Boost cooling.
Slow Burn - It takes longer to reach Critical Boost.
Combat Perks
Parting Gift - Creates a shockwave whenever you wreck.
Cheap Shot - Performing a Ram uses less Boost.
Heavy Weight - Your Rams are more effective against other vehicles.
Armour - Take more damage before wrecking.
Immovable - Rams against you are less effective.
Critical Strike - Whilst in Critical you can perform Rams without a Boost penalty.
Explosive - Increases Shockwave range when over-boosting.
Betting gives you the opportunity to win extra chips, that contribute towards your rank, by wagering on other players online. Simply pick a player prior to the race who you think you can beat based upon their current form and overall ranking. If you beat them, you're rewarded with a pot of chips that you can either bank or bet. Banking them adds them immediately to your rank, but betting them means you have to win the next race or you lose them all. If you do win the next bet though you enter a hot streak and the number of chips gets multiplied, allowing you to win big!
Are there going to be different environments like we saw in MotorStorm Pacific Rift? (Schatttensonne, Germany)
The fictional west coast city that we've taken MotorStorm Apocalypse to is much more varied than anything you've seen in MotorStorm Pacific Rift. We don't just race on the streets, we take it to the rooftops of skyscrapers, down into the sewers, onto train tracks and down to the coast along the seafront. It truly is the most diverse location we've taken MotorStorm to yet. Plus there are environmental differences in every race - not just every track. That's 40 unique races.
Will new parts of the game support fully dynamic weather and daylight cycles? (Hetf, Russia)
The Festival, which is the single player campaign, takes place over a period of two days. This chronology is important to emphasise your progression through the story, as it really feels like you're taking part in an intense weekend of racing.
The weather isn't dynamic, but it does have an effect on gameplay. Rain that falls continuously cools down your boost gauge, allowing to you reach crazy speeds. And, of course, on tracks where it is raining the surfaces will be wet so the handling will also be affected.
Are we going to be able to modify vehicles? (XET_DE_PINA, Spain)
Absolutely! You can customise appearance and performance. Using a range of easy tools you'll be able to visually personalise your vehicles to create a unique identity when playing online - the designs automatically work on all 13 vehicle classes. The perks system gives you the power to change the three core elements of gameplay: Handling, Boost and Combat. Intelligent selection of these based on your vehicle, your opponents and the upcoming track will give you the advantage.
How in-depth will vehicle customisation be in terms of visuals? (Crazyrussianak47, UK)
The range of options for customisation is really extensive without ever being difficult to use. You'll be able to swap out parts, like wheels, tail lights and spoilers, that allow you to really shape the vehicle. You can also change the colour of the livery and its paint type, change the vinyl design of that livery and then change the individual colour for all its layers. On top of all that you can place stickers and a race number, and to finish this off why not apply some damage to remove that pristine look?
If customisation isn't your sort of thing, and you just want a quick and unique look, just select Randomise and get immediate results - you can even randomise specific elements within your design.
Will there be a special edition of MotorStorm Apocalypse? (Linkin_999, Portugal)
We don't have a special edition of the game, but by pre-ordering from certain retailers you'll be able to get additional free content such as exclusive vehicles, stickers, XMBTM (XrossMediaBar) dynamic themes and player icons.
Is this the last MotorStorm title or will there be others? (spartako_151, Italy)
Right now we honestly couldn't say, as we're really focused on delivering more MotorStorm Apocalypse content on PlayStation 3. We've got lots of free and paid content in development to be released shortly after launch on PlayStation Store. Hopefully we'll be able go into more detail about this soon but here's a hint - we're heavily inspired by San Francisco, and that includes a rather interesting Rock!
Keep checking eu.playstation.com for more chances to put your questions to the developers ofyour favourite PlayStation titles.
