PSX Extreme & Xbox Nerds Forums - View Single Post - Apex is an incredibly flawed racing game ... (impressions/rant inside)

Arnold K. (Admin) · 03-02-2003

Last night, I deciced to play some more Apex. At the time I really liked the game, and found it to be very enjoyable. (Now note, I have gotten quite far in the game to pass judgement on it, so I don't want to hear any of that "play it more" bullshit.) Anyways, I start up the game go into the Dream Mode and begin another race. As I'm racing, I notice something begins to irritate the HELL out of me. It was the speedomete (tachometer) which was blocking a good 15-20% of my view. The irritation turned into destraction, and I couldn't concentrate on my race at all.

I tried to forget about it, but as I was doing that, I began to notice more and more flaws. If you hit a wall, instead of scraping it, be prepared to slow down drastically (isn't this game an arcade racer? WTF!?!?). On that note, if you try to cut corners, prepare to crash into an invisible wall. I've tried to cut minor corners by riding around the shoulder of a road, instead I ended up crashing and losing my spot in the race (again, WTF!?!?). Lastly, why is it when you hit a grass spot/dirt spot your car comes to a crawling speed decrease? Not only is it unrealistic, but it shouldn't even be put into an arcade game (not even GT3 slowed you down as much as Apex does...WTF).

The track design...sigh...this game holds home to some of the worst track design since Sega GT for the Dreamcast. The first 15-20 tracks are some of the most redundant and painfully boring tracks I've ever raced on. Hell, the first track of the game is already throwing three 90-degree turns at you (WTF x 4). The first set of tracks consist of going straight...turning a little to the left/right...going straight...90-degree turn...straight...90-degree turn, repeat. (WTF x 5).

Apex also features severely flawed sound. For starters, the car crashes sound so generic...it's as if somebody recorded the sound of shopping carts smashing into each other (WTF x 6). The soundtrack included with the game is just plain ol' shit! But I let that slide, since I could use my custom soundtrack, too bad the custom soundtrack is royally ****ed. First off, instead of progressing/going to the next track, the tracks LOOP. So in some instances, during one race, you'll hear a track more than twice, or even three times (WTF x 7). On top of that, the tracks are jittery, skip, and scratch as they play, and it's not only my Xbox, this has been reported by many people. (WTF x 8).

Apex is an average at best racer. Xbots will eat it up and call it the GT3 killer, but avoid their stupidity. There are sooo many things wrong with Apex it's not even funny. I'd recommend this as only a rental, nothing more. Purchase at your own risk. Weird, how I started off loving Apex, and ended up hating it.

---------

I gave back Apex today, and picked up Shox for $20 for PS2. Shox not only looks every bit as good as Apex (which shocked the hell out of me), but it's a shit load more fun than Apex, too.

03-02-2003	#1
Arnold K. (Admin) Administrator Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 6,643	Apex is an incredibly flawed racing game ... (impressions/rant inside) Last night, I deciced to play some more Apex. At the time I really liked the game, and found it to be very enjoyable. (Now note, I have gotten quite far in the game to pass judgement on it, so I don't want to hear any of that "play it more" bullshit.) Anyways, I start up the game go into the Dream Mode and begin another race. As I'm racing, I notice something begins to irritate the HELL out of me. It was the speedomete (tachometer) which was blocking a good 15-20% of my view. The irritation turned into destraction, and I couldn't concentrate on my race at all. I tried to forget about it, but as I was doing that, I began to notice more and more flaws. If you hit a wall, instead of scraping it, be prepared to slow down drastically (isn't this game an arcade racer? WTF!?!?). On that note, if you try to cut corners, prepare to crash into an invisible wall. I've tried to cut minor corners by riding around the shoulder of a road, instead I ended up crashing and losing my spot in the race (again, WTF!?!?). Lastly, why is it when you hit a grass spot/dirt spot your car comes to a crawling speed decrease? Not only is it unrealistic, but it shouldn't even be put into an arcade game (not even GT3 slowed you down as much as Apex does...WTF). The track design...sigh...this game holds home to some of the worst track design since Sega GT for the Dreamcast. The first 15-20 tracks are some of the most redundant and painfully boring tracks I've ever raced on. Hell, the first track of the game is already throwing three 90-degree turns at you (WTF x 4). The first set of tracks consist of going straight...turning a little to the left/right...going straight...90-degree turn...straight...90-degree turn, repeat. (WTF x 5). Apex also features severely flawed sound. For starters, the car crashes sound so generic...it's as if somebody recorded the sound of shopping carts smashing into each other (WTF x 6). The soundtrack included with the game is just plain ol' shit! But I let that slide, since I could use my custom soundtrack, too bad the custom soundtrack is royally ****ed. First off, instead of progressing/going to the next track, the tracks LOOP. So in some instances, during one race, you'll hear a track more than twice, or even three times (WTF x 7). On top of that, the tracks are jittery, skip, and scratch as they play, and it's not only my Xbox, this has been reported by many people. (WTF x 8). Apex is an average at best racer. Xbots will eat it up and call it the GT3 killer, but avoid their stupidity. There are sooo many things wrong with Apex it's not even funny. I'd recommend this as only a rental, nothing more. Purchase at your own risk. Weird, how I started off loving Apex, and ended up hating it. --------- I gave back Apex today, and picked up Shox for $20 for PS2. Shox not only looks every bit as good as Apex (which shocked the hell out of me), but it's a shit load more fun than Apex, too.