WelcometoExtremeGamer

Reviewed by Downtown Jimmy
March 5th 2003

Introduction: Apex is a trying something new with the racing genre of games. They are giving us two roles to play within Apex. One half of the game is a racing game and the other half is a building simulation game. This all operates in the competitive world of car manufacturing. You make sales, win races and perfect your concept car to become a world renowned racer in the vein of Porsche and Ferrari. Apex is a well balanced game, with some stunning graphics.

The Game: The gameplay in Apex is great at times, then at other times a little poor. I enjoyed the simulation half of the game is more than the racing, which could have been a tad better. You start the game off by discovering some blue prints for a concept car in an old garage you purchase. From there you slowly start to develop a concept car and hit the track. After a few races your team will grow, you will have more modification options on your car as well as a sales overview, and more options in developing new vehicles.

Apex works on a point system where by winning races and placing higher in events gives you points. These points translate into car sales and research points. You have to reach certain about of both of these before you can start developing newer vehicles. The class you develop is totally up to you, but the goal of the game would be to develop the dreamcar which you can only have one of. Its up to you how you play the game now, you can save up and go for that dreamcar or you can spend your points and have a number of different cars that your company produces. As you win races and sell more cars your company grows and your team will expand as well. This is done very well, the layout of your garage, employees and the little updates adds a personal touch which makes you feel welcomed. I do wish that they had more depth into the car modification. The game only gives you a few options which compared to others like GT2002 comes off a little weak. Besides that aspect the simulation is the best part of the game. Who wouldn’t want to design their own car?

Now the racing is a different story. In the races you race against name brand cars like Lotus and Mercedes. It’s a great blast putting your concept car against these suckas, but there is something missing. The racing doesn’t make you feel like you’re actually in a car that is connecting with the pavement. Other Xbox racers like Project Gotham and SegaGT2002 makes you feel one with the car. In Apex it’s more like your floating on the road. It isn’t horrible, but it’s not quite up to the standards that these other games have set. The racing seems to have the rubber band effect which is good for novice players, but most of time I found it to be annoying. The rubber band effect is that the computer control cars always race around the players pace. So even if all the cars crash and you have a lead they will catch up to you and you are racing slowly, they will run a slower race so everything stretches from your car – like a rubber band.

Overall the gameplay is enjoyable and the little touches go a long way. Like most games I wish it had more depth in its design.

Graphics & Sound: Apex does have on up on the environments. They are awesome and very peerrdy. Sometimes I would just be staring off a lake because of the beautiful water effects instead of concentrating on the road. You will also notice the excellent job they did on the sun and reflections with light. Very well done indeed, this game has the best environments that I have seen in a racer yet. The cars themselves are ok; they are polished like most games today. I think games add way too much polish to car games lately. Back in the old school days it wasn’t seen until the Need for Speed series. There isn’t an over amount of detail, which also falls short compared to other racing games.

The sound in APEX does the job. The music is good, it’s mostly made up of driving techno beats and such. I found the sound to be a little weak and I would like to hear the engines in the cars during the race more, and some more ground noise would have been good too. The sound is average. * I did have a bug in my copy of the game. At times my audio would turn off then come back sporadically.

Innovation: Apex as you have figured out is very innovative. They are trying something that hasn’t been done before and most likely won’t be copied any time soon. I can’t believe a game like this wasn’t ever made before. It’s very ambitious and it does the job on what it wanted to accomplish. This is the most innovative car racing game released yet to the Xbox. It’s a welcomed change for anyone getting bored of the average car racing game.

Mojo: Mojo is a new category here on extremegamer.ca. What we mean by mojo is the special umpph, blam, hubba, that you get when you play a game. In APEX there is some sweet mojo. The game is very satisfying and your mojo gets going when you build one car into a huge manufacturing planet with several car models in production. It’s great to race, win and get your company featured in headlines of various car publications. There is plenty of mojo in this car game. It has the something that will set it over the edge when compared to other car games in the past or present. Sweet Mojo Baby!

Lowdown: Apex is one of a kind and if the game mechanics sound appealing to you, there is a good chance you would enjoy this game. The graphics are outstanding and building a mega company from a one man, one car operation is a lot of fun. The only set back is the lack of depth on all the elements. If they would have dwelved deeper into car mechanics and into the racing performance I think this game could have been perfect. Apex shouldn’t be overlooked by any serious fan of car racing games.

Gameplay: 7, Graphics/Sound: 8, Innovation: 8, Mojo: 8. Final: 8

FEATURES:
  • The most graphically impressive, sophisticated racing title on the Xbox
  • Immersive, story-driven gameplay - the player creates and grows their own elite sports car company and races against the world's top cars
  • 76 cars, both licensed and original designs, to choose from and race against
  • Virtually endless performance enhancements and adjustments to tailor each car for each race
  • Cars created with up to 11,000 polygons each
  • 50 enormous tracks created with 500,000 polygons for stunning panoramic detail and beauty
  • Varied environments, from mountain roads to cities to racetracks, each with different racing characteristics
  • Sophisticated AI that makes snap decisions based on the situation at hand
  • Detailed characters, 3D factory and storyline
  • Arcade and multiplayer modes for additional hours of gameplay





Apex
 
Publisher
Infogrames
 
Developer
Milestone
 
Genre
Racing
 
Released
Feb. 2003
 
ESRB
Everyone

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