kart

i got this game as soon as i could because ive been closely following its development since i first heard about it two months ago. seeing screenshots and reading the previews only brought images of grand turismo and my favorite of all racing games, tokyo extreme racer zero.

the game is beautiful. the courses are gorgeous. the cars are realistic. blah blah blah, youve heard it before and you will hear it again.

the gameplay? its very fun and challenging. Apex, however, is by no means a driving sim. true, the engine sounds are very close to their real world counterparts, and the licensed cars are meticulously cloned, but the driving is very biased, and elementary. but its very fun. imagine ridge racer with grand turismos looks. this is something that will split gamers opinions.

Apex, does have one big, and nearly fatal flaw. its AI. its the one AI in the playground that doesnt play well with others --that means you. ive played the game for 15+ hours now and i gotta say, getting started was extremely tough and the AI can become nausiatingly frustrating. if you show signs that youll ever have to attend anger management classes, consider Apex a rental first...youll save yourself a lot of money, because i was on the verge of throwing my xbox out the window. first of all, the CPU will never spin out. NO MATTER WHAT, THE CPU WILL NEVER EVER SPIN OUT. you may be able to get in front of a car and pin him against something else, but that almost never happens. second, if youre trailing, either the car in front of you will use his nitrous oxide tanks (which you dont get as far as i know) and will leave you in its rear view mirror, or get right in front of you to make passing very difficult. dont think of making the slightest mistake like a late breaking manuver, or the cars you thought were 4 seconds behind you will come out of nowhere (whoever was in charge of creating the AI should me smacked)

the music is boring and forgetable...some sort of generic, ambient, jazz techno...i dont know. but the sound effects are a lot better. their what youd expect, which is good engine noise.

despite Apex's AI with a god complex, you cant deny the unique gameplay, or its enthralling nature. from the start i was immersed and couldnt get enough. you get to name your company and choose a logo for it. the characters you hire for your production company are all charasmatic and quirky (as charasmatic and quirky as game characters get).

personally, i think rallisport challenge is the ultimate xbox driving game. the graphics are very detailed, and even ambiant at times (but you knew this). and the gameplay is a lot better. but what apex has that rallisport doesn't, is a very personal element that more than makes up for the things it falls short on.

oh yea, this game would have been rad with xbox live support.

** i recommend this game to anyone, even non racing fans, but if you are at all easily irritated, rent first**

This game is great! If not even better. Though I know the reasons that people dislike this game(because you really CANT make your own cars)but this game is still an awsome racing game. With over 80 licenced and concept cars and over 50 tracks what else could a racing fan want you ask. Well, just toss in a dream mode where you create your own car company and with awsome graphics (over 500,000 polygons per course and up to 11,000 polygons per car!) There are real time reflections on your car and realistic damaging. The soundtrack is not that good, BUT there is an option to use your own music! This game is compatable with racing wheels and dream mode include over 35 racing events(about 4 or 5 races per event!) There are some amazing cars like the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish and many car companys such as Lotes, Mitsubishi, Mercedes, Toyota, Ford, and many more. The game supports 2 player multiplayer. This game is great and I would reccomend it to all!

I bought this game because I thought it looked neat, a concept I haven't seen in a racing game. Creating your own car company and manufacturing your own cars to race. The basic plot of the game is to build cars and race them to gain exposure to sale as many as you can. This is called the Dream Mode. When you sale a certain amount of cars it unlocks the right to create other cars and expand your business. You start off with a roadster car, and work your way up to creating a sportscar, super sportscar and eventually a dreamcar. The only catch with the creating aspect of the game is that you don't really create, you just choose a design you like and some guy that works for you in the game builds it for you. Also, your company grows as the game progresses. Your office gets bigger, you hire more people to help out, and of course your garage gets bigger and better. As you progress through the game you also unlock licensed vehicles as well as concept vehicles you can race in single race and two-player mode. Not many games allow you to race third generation Mitsubishi Eclipses. However this game has the 2000 Eclipse in the RS, GT, and GT racing models. The racing Eclipses are very nicely designed, and armed to the teeth! A big positive for me was the actual racing of the game. The cars always stay together through the entire race, instead of spreading out, which makes the entire race a battle to the end. It is very easy to lose the lead, but also very easy to regain the lead. You always feel like it is a close race every time, but a race you always have a chance to win. I hate those frustrating racing games that make you run a perfect race to win, this game is not like that. Although I was a bit disappointed with not being able to have more "hands on" with designing of the cars, and only being able to race the Eclipses in the single race and two-player mode, it was still a neat concept and fun to play. I think this game is definately an under-rated game.