Apocalypse

"A good hardcore action game"

This is an action game starring Bruce Willis. You go through stages and shoot everything. You can jump and there are often parts where you must jump from platform to platform. No need to have a high IQ to play this game. Just shoot and ask questions later.

This game can be described as a non-stop carnage. There is a LOT of action and several things happen in the stages to add to the excitement.

Story

The story is set in a dark future. A guy (the main character) is sent in a prison. But he escapes and kills everyone. Later he goes in a big city and he is wanted by the police and once again he kills everyone. Can you see a pattern here? He eventually finds out that his friends are possessed by demons. He kills them, of course.

In fact it turns out that the president of the United States is a demon that want to destroy the world (This is why the game is named Apocalypse). He has the entire army under his control, and your mission is to destroy him.

Gameplay

You have different kinds of guns. Your main gun has an unlimited supply of ammo, but the other guns have limited ammo. But ammo is easy to find and there is plenty of it everywhere.

The control system is something that old-school players discovered in the old game Smash TV. Each button fire in a different direction. If you use the right analog, it is much more convenient! The controls are very responsive.

Ok, now I'll explain how the gameplay works. I'll use a imaginary conversation between John and Ray as an example:

-[John]: Hey, there is something here! Must I talk to it?
-[Ray]: No
-[John]: Must I use an item?
-[Ray]: No
-[John]: Must I solve a puzzle?
-[Ray]: No! Just shoot it for Christ's sake!

I think you get the point. The only point of the game is to shoot everything.

Enemies

There are a lot of enemies in the game, ranging from robots to zombies, and humans of course. There are also several bosses.

FMVs

The FMVs are cool in this game. Between each stage, you see a short FMV with your hero. It shows the story. The story is quite simple and fun. The guy look like Bruce Willis, but his face never moves. I think they used another actor and put Bruce Willis face on him.

Graphics

The graphics are excellent. I think the background is especially well done. A lot of stuff happens that show the graphical powers of the game. For example, you may be walking in a street, then suddenly there is a big explosion and you fall in a big hole and the stage continue in that hole. Or you are on the top of a building, blow the roof off with a rocket launcher then a hole appears. You jump in the hole and you fall at the bottom floor of the building. From the roof to the bottom floor, there is no transition screen! Sometimes there are FMVs playing on big screens in the streets, and it doesn't cause any slowdown!

There is a big problem with the graphics however. The camera is often too far away from the action! Your character and enemies are pretty small and sometimes you don't even see them. There are a lot of enemies that I have no idea what they look like, because I never saw them at a short distance, so to me they just look like a small pile of pixels to shoot.

Sounds

The explosion sounds are pretty standard stuff, but the thing that stands out are the one liners and the things enemies say.

The music is pretty heavy. It suits the carnage atmosphere well. Sometimes there is a heavy metal band playing on a big screen and you can listen their music and watch their video (while killing people)!

Bruce Willis and his one-liners

Here is what I think is the coolest thing about the entire game : Bruce Willis one-liners. I don't know how they managed to convince Bruce Willis to take part in that project. After all, he is in the Guinness Book for the best paid actor of the world! But he does an excellent job.

Bruce Willis one-liners are cool! Even Duke Nukem look like a joke compared to Apocalypse in that department. Its easy to see that the one-liners are not from some third rate unknown actor. They are from a cool guy that has lot of style and talent! Some of his one-liners are hilarious.

Conclusion

Apocalypse is a great game for those who seek hardcore action and nothing else. It delivers! Its a very exciting experience. The only problem, however, is that your character and enemies are often very small and its hard to see what is happening.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/04/02, Updated 12/04/02