Description:
In a dark future, religion and science have become the dominant
forces of civilization. A shadowy figure known only as The
Reverend has mastered these two conflicting forces and as his
first act of evil, unleashes the Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse.
In Apocalypse, you and your tough-talking wingman
Trey Kincaid (played by Bruce Willis) must eradicate the Four
Horsemen and save the world from the Reverend's evil plans.
Bad-ass features include:
- Hard-core
console action: a powerful mix of pulse rifles, flame
throwers and grenade launchers provide the offense as you
explore full 3-D, expansive environments loaded with hidden
areas, power-ups and dozens of hard-hitting opponents
-
Industry-first real-time virtual partner: Bruce Willis'
cyberscanned and motion-captured form backs you up every
step of the way: he'll point out danger ahead, cover your
sorry butt if you fall down on the job and help boost your
trigger-happy mood
- Full 3-D
control: Players have full control of a 3-D character - the
Kid - in an explosive, go-anywhere, shoot-anything action
environment
- Cinematic
gameplay: a computer-controlled roving camera delivers
over-the-shoulder, top-down, free-roaming, side-on and
tracking views, while FMA cut scenes integrate seamlessly
with gameplay.
The Low Down:
Apocalypse started out as being developed in-house at Activision
Santa Monica. The concept was to use Bruce Willis'
likeness as a sidekick to the main character. The original
version was considered by industry veterans as over ambitious
for the capabilities of the hardware. An unnamed source
claimed that the design document was basically a list of "it
would be cool if ...", without any detail. After months of
work, management at Activision had decided to let the team go
and use an outside developer to finish the game. Scrapping
the game was no option: Activision paid too much to use Bruce
Willis' talent.
Activision approached Neversoft Entertainment and told them they
needed the game out in nine months. It was obviously the
"vision" had to be curtailed a little. So Neversoft basically
went for a straightforward shooter style game, with a nice
simple level progression, a variety of enemies, weapons, pickups
and bosses. Neversoft "hit the ground running with a playable
section of a level in one week that was a lot more fun than
Activision had done in a year" according to unnamed sources
within Neversoft..
Neversoft Entertainment did hire a couple of people from
Activision. Most notably Chad Findley, who turned out to
be one of the best designers at Neversoft.
None of the original code was used in the final version of
Apocalypse, although they did use a bit of their graphics for
the initial rooftops level. Check out the screenshots
above and compare them to the retail version of Apocalypse.
Another point was that focus testing has supposedly revealed
that people wanted to play as Bruce, which contributed to the
whole AI-sidekick thing being scrapped.
The PlayStation Museum Opinion:
After playing two different versions of the original Apocalypse,
I am impressed with the game overall. There are clearly AI
issues with Bruce Willis. For instance, when jumping off
the top of the building, Bruce will fall off and never appear
although he still yells for help. The original version
seems very dark and graphically just needed a little bit of
polishing to be top notch. I was impressed with a hanging
bloody dead body that your character could shoot and make it
swing. There are differences between builds that we
previewed. The first alpha build contained skeletons in
the cemetery whereas the last build has punk rockers instead.
I can clearly see where the team was headed but understand that
it may very well have been over-ambitious. Had Activision
scrapped the side-kick to being with, this game most likely
would have been released and been an instant hit.
After thoroughly
playing the alpha builds, I picked up the retail version
developed by Neversoft Entertainment and compared the levels.
The rooftop levels are very similar and I noticed right away
some of the same textures and graphics. It is an amazing
feat that Neversoft was able to complete this game within 9
months and come away with a solid hit game. This is a
testament to the leadership and skills at Neversoft.
Stolen Thunder:
After a bit of research, The PlayStation Museum found
out that Apocalypse was pretty much eclipsed by ASC Games' One
which came out at roughly the same time. As a matter of fact,
when Activision showed Apocalypse at E3, One ended up being
right next to it in the Sony booth and no one at Activision had
ever heard of the game before! The resemblance between One and
Apocalypse was uncanny.
If you are able to obtain more
information about this game, please contact the PlayStation
Museum.
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