Track Review – Apocalypto

QUICK DETAILS

• Track: Apocalypto (direct download)
• Author: Rycardoo
• Type: Race
• Environment: Alpine
• Mood: Sunset
• Length: 1 min 15 sec
• Coppers: 4382
• Difficulty:  Hard
• TMX Awards: 3
• Award Level:  Slightly Underrated
• Custom Content: Signs, images, sound, mod, video

First Impression

Very hard track based on the movie Apocalypto.

REVIEW

Track Design

Apocalypto is so obviosuly inspired by Mel Gibson’s movie (Apocalypto, 2006). It even uses the same opening quote:

“A great civilization is not conquered from without until it is destroyed from within.” – W. Durant

This is a good thing, as South American civilizations have always facinated me. But how does the track manage to bring out to correct feeling?

Well, to be honest, it doesn’t. Sure, there are plenty of stuff (MT) adding to it, and the mod does help a bit (but not much), but hey, this is a TrackMania track set in the Alpine environment! In my opinion, the idea is good but the execution is… well, not so good. Perhaps making a story track would have worked better?

Apocalypto as a track, on the other hand, is something more of a success (although not a great one). Yes, it’s hard as there are many sections you’ll have to complete at full speed (and many other sections which are likely to kill your speed), but that makes for a great challange to those who like tracks that are challenging in that way.

Speaking of speed: Apocalypto is, for an Alpine track, VERY fast! There’s a lot of high speed combined with the tight corner of the Alpine environment. This makes it an even tougher challange to complete the track with a good time.

To me, however, the track appears a bit too hard. For example, there’s a jump where you’ll have to really drive fast to make it. It’s been countless of times that I’ve managed to get to the jump without even touching an edge or letting go of the speeder, and still failing to make the jump. The slightest wrong turn will ruin it all!

As another example, there’s one section where two reversed boosters (!) follow each other after a tunnel. That’s not good as it really means you’ll have to keep that same high speed without crashing. Through such a simple thing as making that part of the track smoother without forcing a break with reversed boosters, and making the landing area for the previously mentioned jump longer, could greatly increase the playability of this track.

Overall, the design is very good, but the poor way some things are put together lower the score greatly. A good attempt, but a lot of fine-tuning is needed to make the design better.

Rating: 65%

Scenery

I don’t have much to say here. The scenery as such isn’t too bad, inspired by Apocalypto (the movie), but there’s nothing spectacular either. It’s a bit unique though, as I think it manages to provide a certain atmosphere, even without the mod.

Mod: As this track includes a mod, I’ll comment on it here as part of the scenery. The mod, going by the same name as the track, is obviously inspired by old South American societies, but in my honest opinion it fails to do what it was meant for (giving Apocalypto a more South American style). Instead, it’s almost like a mix of a djungle, the TM Desert environment and some sort of candyland. Add to that the fact that the buildings in the Alpine environment are of Asian style. As a mod, not bad at all, as an addition to Apocalypto, a bit of a disappointment!

Rating: 71%

MediaTracker

Intro: Quite good when it comes to introducing the track, but also a bit too slow (and thus too long). And what’s with the custom images (containing text, no actual images)? The in-game MT text functions would have worked just fine and could spare people the loading time (I couldn’t even watch the intro the first time due to those black/gray images appearing before the real images have loaded).

In-game: Camera change in tunnel and a directional arrow at one point. Custom sounds (quite interesting background details, actually) and a few images (including fire and gunshots). The images are interesting but do also ruin the actual race a bit.

Outro: I don’t even know where to begin… The outro contains some nice (but poorly placed, I want to watch the race!) Apocalypto-related images, including maps, statues, symbols and more. Camera angles for the actual outro are at times decent, but most of the time you’ll have to live with poor planning (car out of screen) and a tremendous amount of scenery crashes! This is not good…

Overall the MT stuff range from decent to very poor. The ideas are good but the execution only average. The end result is far from what it should be.

Rating: 54%

Originality

The idea as a whole, using the Apocalypto theme, is very original and a great idea. But as mentioned already, the execution isn’t that good. A good idea gone bad, in other words.

The MT work (especially the in-game sounds and the outro images) adds to the originality, and so does the scenery, partly. But despite this, the track doesn’t deserve a rating above 80 (which is where you’d get the “MediaTracker”-tag). It simply isn’t carried out in a saticfying way.

Rating: 76%

Fun Factor

You’re likely to spend a lot of time trying to complete this track, not to mention getting a good time on it. Some will find this great fun, others will find it extremelt frustrating. The fun you get out of the track will therefore be quite individual. If you like a tough challange (a hard – but far from impossible - track), this is definately something for you!

Rating: 80%

Summary

Almost everything about Apocalypto is decent, but not excellent. The design is good (and very tough for those who like a challenge), but doesn’t work as a whole. The scenery and MT work both attempt to add to the fact that Apocalypto is based on the movie of the same name, but this too fails in execution. There are some quite innovative and original factors which boost the rating, but again, the way it’s carried out ruins the final rating a bit.

Let’s make it simple: You should try this track if you either like difficult tracks or if you’re curious about the Apocalypto-related stuff. If none of those apply to you, you shouldn’t waste your time – as a track, there are better ones to go for!

Final Rating: 69%  (Decent)

Tags

The following tag(s) were given to this track:

•  Challenging - Very tough to complete and even harder to make a good time on.

•  Underrated - Despite a not-perfect rating, the track still is good, and it does deserve more awards at TMX.

Video by TimeBreaker.

Notes:

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