Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Platform: PS1

Apocalypse starring Bruce Willis. I know what you’re thinking: “it’s a licensed game based off of one of the many movies Willis starred in around the creative boom in the late 90s” but actually the only thing Activision licensed for this game is the likeness & voice of the man himself. When I was a kid & some of my favourite films were the likes of Twelve Monkeys & The Fifth Element I always assumed one day I’d get to see this awesome, non-existent movie. The gloomy & dark cyberpunk atmosphere of the game certainly took inspiration from some of Willis’s best works.

You play as a scientist, Trey Kincaid, whose former colleague has indoctrinated the world with his theories of a coming apocalypse. These become self fulfilling prophecies when this self stylised “Reverend” uses his evil science powers to create his own personal four horsemen of the apocalypse. Kincaid is imprisoned, as he is the only one who can stop the reverend’s reign of terror using his own scientific methods...of shooting the hel out of everything that moves! The story is rather contrived & feels like it rushes ahead of itself during its short pre-rendered cutscenes which happen between levels but it has its funny moments & the aforementioned stylish homage to Bruce Willis’s most popular films at the time can really carry the players attention & keep them hooked for the next round of chaotic gameplay.

Activision hired Neversoft to develop Apocalypse which was salvaged from parts of a failed internal project featuring a buddy film-esque storyline where the player would have a constant companion throughout the game, presumably with the voice of Willis as this was what the voice-over was originally recorded for. The game then flourished into something more important to the Playstation than it might seem, as Activision were so happy with Neversoft’s progress they decided to use the Apocalypse engine for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater which the team started prototyping during development of the game. (Apparently using their model of Bruce Willis as a Skater in the early days.) Neversoft continued to use the engine for Spiderman in 2000 & it evolved alongside the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series for years to come.

Apocalypse is a run & gun action game with the mechanics of a twin-stick shooter. However, this was before Ape Escape so the idea of using both analogue sticks simultaneously was not yet standard. Instead, aiming is done using circle, square, cross & triangle which fire your current weapon relative to your character’s position. Trey can also crouch & roll, sometimes utilising cover to avoid enemy fire. You'll want to stay on the move most of the time though, making sure enemies don't surround you. In these tight spots, a press of the R2 button will set off a bomb with limited use that will destroy surrounding enemies.

In fact, all but your basic machine gun starting weapon have very limited use & this is where clever play will get you through the increasingly difficult levels. Many weapons can be found all over every level but it's usually a good idea to save them for an opportune moment. This can be as simple as flying enemies being hard to hit with the particle beam as it can only fire horizontally, but being vulnerable to homing missiles. You can also think even further ahead, early in the sewers level you get grenades which are effective against large groups of enemies but save them for the boss, a giant crocodile who can defend himself by swimming underwater & you can kill him off almost before he even gets chance to surface. Other bosses are an interesting mix of bullet hell gameplay where you’ll be dodging projectiles with everything at your disposal & constantly firing on the enemy.

This gameplay is all executed to the sound of some of the best PS1 era industrial rock you could imagine courtesy of Jeehun Hwang. Not only that, licensed music was added to the game by way of large TV screens around the levels playing music videos from such bands as System of a Down & Poe. 

Apocalypse has some intricate level design with a fair few extra lives or smart bombs hidden in secret areas but you’ll normally get them as well as different weapons by shooting environmental objects like boxes, pipes & walls. These things all explode by the way, because this is an action game starring Bruce Willis. The only problem with navigating the levels with explosions & bullets flying everywhere is the incredibly clunky jumping controls which lack precision. Pressing R1 to jump takes a lot of getting used to & on top of that, I often find myself wasting a smart bomb then running off the edge of a platform when I meant to jump. Camera angles are also both a blessing & a curse. On one hand, the camera shows off the environments beautifully by drawing your focus to distant areas where enemies are trying to snipe you, or giving you a birds eye view of enemies trying to surround you but there are often a lot of areas obscured which you may be getting shot from, usually to the left or right when the camera is facing dead ahead. There’s one level in particular with floating platforms & a constantly rotating camera that made the limitations of 8 way aiming absolute hel but this was a daring use of camera movement for the PS1 era, especially within this genre.

Apocalypse may seem dated as a twin stick shooter without the twin sticks but in other ways it carries staples of the genre that still persevere today. Take the smart bomb mechanic for instance, it also destroys any incoming bullets that may be about to hit you, giving you chance to get your bearings if surrounded. This mechanic was used in the incredible twin stick shooter Enter the Gungeon which is possibly the pinnacle of the genre.  

Playing Apocalypse on hard mode I found the challenge to be just right, ramping up consistently with each new level. occasionally Dying felt fair because learning the levels, where enemies will appear & which weapons to use or save, makes the entire game satisfying & very re-playable. The entire game culminates with possibly the most accurate portrayal of the White House i’ve ever seen in a video game. There are turrets, helicopters, attack dogs & lava erupts left, right & centre giving you less room to manoeuvre.  It really feels like the game is throwing everything it’s got at you & to get through this in one piece takes a whole lot of concentration. Or you could do what I did as a kid & use the infinite ammo cheat to constantly fire homing missiles in every direction, that’s the beauty of this game, no matter how you play it, it’s pure chaotic fun.

Apocalypse is a prime example of a time when Activision, Neversoft & indeed most other video game companies were pushing the envelope, even whilst also trying to use a huge hollywood movie star to sell their game. Though the monologues from Bruce Willis boil down to a series of brainstormed catchphrases, his presence in the game may have made Apocalypse more memorable than it otherwise would have been but either way, it’s another great excuse to return time & again to the PS1’s library.

Pros:

• Chaotically fun shoot em up gameplay.

• Technically impressive for the PS1.

• 90s nostalgia overload.

Cons:

• Frustrating platforming sections.

• Dated control scheme.

• Bare bones story that relies wholly on Bruce Willis one liners.