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Apocalypse review

Game: Apocalypse
Platform: PlayStation
Genre: Action
Developer: Neversoft Entertainment

Reader review by tomclark

March 06, 2004

Bruce Willis has starred in a fair few classic movies, such as Die Hard and The Sixth Sense. However, he's also been in several that are downright average (such as The Last Boy Scout, and the bizarre Hudson Hawk). So which of these categories does his Playstation acting debut fall into? Although I dearly wish it were otherwise, this unfortunately falls into the latter. Apocalypse features the voice of Bruce, as well as a character made to resemble him as closely as possible. As the cover art states, this game really does 'star' Bruce Willis - it is a whole new story, rather than a film tie-in.

Apocalypse is a third-person shooter (come on, what else were you expecting, a puzzle game?), in which the player controls Bruce (playing a character named Trey Kincaid - with a name like that he must have known from an early age that he'd be a world-savour. NEVER has the world been saved by a bloke with a name like Dave) as he blasts, and occasionally jumps and rolls, his way around several carnage-filled levels. The plot is intensely unremarkable. Generic evil-type resurrects the horsemen of the apocalypse in a bid to generally wreak havoc. In order to prevent a possible uprising he has all the scientists imprisoned (but oddly not the military, or other people you'd have thought would be better equipped to topple his crime empire...). Thankfully our man Kincaid is a scientist, and being locked away has made him rather upset. As Brucey himself says throughout the game, it's time to open up a can of whup-ass.

Control in this game is almost patronisingly simple (especially if you have a Dual Shock controller plugged in to the front of your Playstation): the left stick moves Kincaid, the right controls where he shoots. One shoulder button jumps, one selects weapons, one uses screen-clearing bombs, and one rolls. But complexity isn't really an issue in Apocalypse.

I'll give the game it's due credit - the graphics are very nice. Although the characters look small, the explosions are big and meaty, and the gloom of the city environments creates a good atmosphere of a world on the edge. There are also several nice touches - in the prison escape sequence, for example, the screens in the prison show a news flash detailing your escape, and they show the moment you break free of your cell (in effect, they show the first few seconds of gameplay), and in the city streets you can see vast TV screens playing music videos. The music itself is quite suited to the gameplay - moody rock tracks and occasional vocals really help the atmosphere. However, Bruce Willis' one-liners are very annoying - you're likely to hear each one at least twice a level (aside from those which relate to special situations), and though some raise a small smile on first hearing, you'll be thoroughly fed up with them by the end of level one.

The level designs themselves are truly uninspired. It is a rare occasion when you stumble upon a level that has more than one route, making for limited replay value. There are no Sixth Sense-style surprises on offer in this game - everything is where you'd expect it to be.

Beneath the glossy production value and big-name star, this game is really nothing special. It's action packed, and it holds your interest, but there is no incentive to return to it afterwards. Should have starred Van Damme really....

Rating: 5/10

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