Apocalypse

by Activision

Product Details

• ASIN: B00003E4G6
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,437 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

Apocalypse is an ambitious project. Activision set out to make a shooter with a very action movie-like quality. Figuring that they'd need a big action-movie guy involved to really make it fly, they got Bruce Willis on board. His face was scanned, and his voice was recorded for the project, the theory being that Bruce would star "in" the game. The original plan was to have Bruce play your sidekick, a guy that would run around and back you up while you shot up the place. But as the development time dragged on, the conclusion was drawn that people don't want to be alongside Bruce. People wanted to be Bruce. So the sidekick idea was scrapped, and instead you take on the role of Trey Kincaid, scientist-turned-outlaw. The game's changed perspective may have been a good idea at the time, but it also caused the game's main problem. Since all the voice work was written to work with Trey as your sidekick, it all sounds like he's talking to someone that isn't there. Plus, what was left in really isn't very good. Most of the phrases really lack feeling, and they're mixed horribly. It sounds like they just trapped Bruce in a bathroom with a mini-tape recorder and got him to read the script. Also, the lack of variety (you'll hear "Open up a can of whoop-ass" and "Ooh! I... feel... gooood!" more than a few times) leads you to believe that most of the voice work was unsuitable after the transition. And since getting Bruce back in the studio was probably impossible (hey, Bruce is a busy guy), we're left with whatever quotes they could salvage from the existing audio. The gameplay is surprisingly fun for a shooter of this type. The controls are set up in a Robotron or Smash TV-like setting (analog is a must here), but the game has a running and jumping atmosphere more along the lines of ASC Games' One. For a 3D game with a lot of jumping, the camera does a pretty nice job of presenting the action in an easily viewable fashion. But it isn't perfect. The White House level is the biggest offender. The perspective gets in the way of your jumping quite a few times in that level, causing more than a few deaths when you think you're judging the distance properly but miss a platform by a long shot and die in the lava. But overall, the gameplay is really intense, although the game as a whole is really quite easy. The last two levels of the game are reasonably challenging, though. The game has got a nice graphical look to it, with occasional panning cameras and nice perspective changes. It really gives the game a very dynamic feel. The game's frame rate tends to fluctuate a little bit, but it remains fast enough throughout the game, right up until the final boss. The final boss stage has some serious slowdown problems, which in turn cause some poorly judged jumps, which in turn cause needless (not to mention extremely annoying) deaths. Other than the poorly executed Bruce Willis speech, the game's sound is nice. The fire and explosions give the game the feeling of a real battlefield. The whoosh of the flamethrower is especially nice. The music is also well done, including a track by Poe (that's how long this game has been in development. When they first announced Poe's involvement, it was a reasonably big deal), who also plays the part of Plague in the game. Overall, Apocalypse is a really fun shooter with a great concept, but portions of it are poorly executed. All in all, the developers really wasted Bruce Willis' talents and missed an opportunity to do something extremely cool. If they had set out from the beginning to make Apocalypse a one-man game, none of the major problems with the fragmented storyline and poor speech would even exist.--Jeff Gerstmann--Copyright © 1998 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strap one on, it's time to jam!, September 12, 2006

By 

Ed Oscuro "edoscuro" (Battle Creek, MI USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Apocalypse (Video Game)

Of all the demos on my old, now well-worn Underground disc shipped along with my original PSX back around '97, I liked this one the best. Sure, the first level's pretty ugly, but the explosions and action are great.

I managed to find a copy of the game roughly a year ago, and I feel that it was well worth it - and that the long wait didn't really hurt the game too much. Apocalypse sports some impressive visuals, with great (but short) FMV sequences, and even working video screens within levels (similar to those in Aliens vs. Predator) - always amazing on the ol' grey box.

One quibble is with the apocalyptic United States deal, the rather unbelievable enemies, and the many lines Bruce Willis yells at an invisible partner - the game was originally a bit bigger in scope and had Willis as your partner, rather than as the player character - but I only found this as a reason to pay closer attention to the proceedings, since the development history of a game always fascinates me.

Moving on, the game's other sin are the jumping segments. Some are fine, but others are terrible - and you're saddled with one of the worst early in the game, where you need to dodge falling rocks while moving along platforms in a cave. The first time I played through that it must've taken me at least half an hour to get through it. Today I managed it after losing somewhere around five lives, but the game over wasn't welcome.

Stick with it, though, and you'll be rewarded with some cool fights and levels (my favorite so far is the city).

I don't disagree with the other reviewers about the graphics and sound, although once again the first level looks pretty terrible by today's standards (I think it gets a bit better later on), but this is forgivable. Bruce himself looks awesome and moves well, especially with the analog sticks (if you have analog joysticks on your controller, they're a must - especially for aiming shots when sniping enemies with the submachine gun type weapon).

He sounds good, too, with a (small, but awesome) variety of snappy quotes. Sure, some are rips, but they get the job done and I often still find myself chuckling about them. I've always been confused by the quote in the GameSpot review above; perhaps the reviewer was guilty of the classic error of turning the machine on once to get an impression. Sounds may echo depending on your location; get into an open area (like the City) and you'll notice that the sound effects (including the voice) are very clear. The only voice clips I don't really care for are the police clips in said city level - the humor's a bit mean-spirited but unimaginative, they've been tweaked to sound very odd...basically, they suck. But hey, the rest of the sound effects are good, and POE's soundtracks definitely add to the game as well.

Again, the game controls beautifully if you have dual analog sticks. I played the game for roughly an hour using the d-pad and face buttons and really wish I hadn't, but when I switched to the sticks it felt great. It's a bit hard to aim precisely with it (which will be a problem mainly when sniping), so you'll need to wave your firing point around a bit. That said, the game works perfectly when it drops you into the middle of close quarters battle, and at times I can't help but feel that this simple, pure gameplay is among the most enjoyable on the PlayStation.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FINALLY. . . AN INTERACTIVE GUY MOVIE!, December 18, 1999

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Apocalypse (Video Game)

If you are the type who love cheesy one-liners(QUOTED BY BRUCE WILLIS!), thin but adiquate story, killing everything in sight and ending in a firefight with Satan himself, then this is your game! The game play is a little rough but you get used to it half way in the first level. The weapons are awsome(Strong enough to kill satan!). The same style as in Clint Eastwood mixed with synicism(Evil Dead, Big trouble in little china ect.). The game is still for sale despite what Amazon says.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars some problems but its fast,explosive and awesome, December 7, 2002

By 

shiraz gilani (ma,usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Apocalypse (Video Game)

This game is really fun some people think this game is easy,if you think this game is easy you should go to the option menu and switch it to hard.This game has a lot of actions from the begaining to the end you have to face enemys that have all kinds of abilites like some are fast some have more powerful wepons some are hard to kill.one of the best part about this game is that you can use the right analog stick that makes the game ten times more fun if you dont have a analog controller you might want to rent this game before buying it because it gets pretty tough to control,another thing is that you get infinite ammo for your machine gun so you dont have to worry about running out of wepones.this game is like a 3D version of contra.one of the most note able problems of the game is that the talk gets a little boring its great that they put bruce willis voice in this game but it would have been better if they but a little bit more words into the game and occasionally you will find that there is to much jumping in this game and some of the spots look the same but except for those problems this game is must have for action adventure fan.