Apex

"One of the best on the Xbox"

Brief intro:

I picked up this game to rent when another one was out and I think that I have come across something special. It doesn't make you feel like your playing a racing game when you are trying to get your company into 1st place.

Graphics:

The graphics really left me in ah from what I have seen in previous Xbox racing games. I love the way that your car takes real time damage. When your car gets rear-ended the bumper might fall to the ground and you will actually see sparks. I Like the feature with the camera when if you press a button while racing that you can see yourself in the car turning the wheel at real time to which adds a nice touch.

Gameplay:

This game play makes you forget about a racing game and makes you think about how you would run your company. In the beginning you get to pick which kind of car you want to produce you name your company and pick one of many logos for your company. The thing that Apex lets you down in is when you dont get to build your own cars like in past games like Speed devils racing for Dreamcast. This is more like a arcade type controls then in other Xbox games like Sega GT 2002. so if your looking for a sim racing game you have been warned this might be for you.

Replay value:

There is to me at least no real replay value to this game expect that if you want to start dream mode with another car instead of the 1st one. The only replay value I could see with this game is that of the multi player aspect. This mode shines in the way to unlock more cars for multi player you have to play dream mode. Most cars can be unlocked the 1st time though though dream mode.

Last thoughts:

In my mind this game isn't a 50 dollar game its more of a 20 dollar one when the price drops on it. The only 2 things I really had a problem with were the replay value and the computer cars. They don't seem to have a mind of there own they all follow each others paths and if your in 2nd and don't want people to pass you then you stay directly behind the 1st place car this will stop the others from passing. All together though this is a good game but I would recommend renting this like I did before you rush out there and buy it because it might not appeal to all you hardcore sim races out there.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/19/03, Updated 05/19/03