If there's one genre the Xbox isn't lacking in, it's the racing genre.  With great exclusives like Project Gotham Racing, Sega GT, and Rallisport Challenge, you can't go wrong.  Along comes Apex - a good-looking title from Atari.  But can it really stand up to the competition?  Let's see.

The game has two basic modes: the Dream Mode and Arcade Mode.  Arcade mode allows you to race single races, alone or with a friend - pretty self-explanatory stuff.  The Dream Mode is where the game really shows what it can do.  It's pretty original and neat.  Basically, you work your way to the top as a car manufacturer.  You, along with your best friend, discover some old car blueprints in a garage you just bought.  The blueprints are pretty impressive, and your friend, a bit of a gearhead, gets to work on creating a car based on them.  Some months later, the cars complete, and he'd like you to take it out for a race to see how it does.

From here on, it's up to you to do your best to win races.  The more races you win means more people are interested in your car.  The more people interested in your car means the more people interested in buying a model of your car.  That of course, leads to money.  Money leads to a bigger garage, an R&D team, and an actual group of employees.  That, of course, leads to more cars to race with.

There are four categories of cars in Apex.  The first group is the Roadsters.  They're slower and less fancy than cars you get to use later on - Speedsters, Supercars, and eventually, Dreamcars.  You only race against cars in the same category.  There's a large listing of races you can enter.  Initially, you can only enter Roadster events, and as you progress, more unlock.  Once you have enough R&D points (collected from winning races) you can develop a Speedster, which opens up races with other Speedsters.  This is generally the way you progress through the game.  As you progress, you can see your garage getting bigger and more complex.  You'll be introduced to new people.  It's really pretty cool.

Unfortunately, Apex's actual racing is not up to par with other games out there.  It isn't very realistic - it takes a more arcade-style approach.  That wouldn't be bad if the developers had spent more time working on physics, though.  It simply can't compare to other arcadey racers like Sega's Daytona USA.  Frankly, it feels incredibly shallow.  Every time you turn your car, it automatically realigns itself.  Not only does this feel unnatural, it doesn't help the lack of deepness.  The handbrake feels way off, especially when comparing it to Project Gotham's finely tuned brake.  You hardly have to tap it to make a ninety-degree turn.  Of course, this isn't to say the racing is terrible.  There are definitely worse games out there.  But when compared to the Xbox's top racers, Apex just feels weak.  You can still have some fun with it, but prolonged play makes things tiresome.

The artificial intelligence in the game is also a little questionable.  Oftentimes, it's like the other racers totally disregard you.  They make turns, turning right into you, not trying to avoid you in the least.  They just push you out of the way.  As a matter of fact, the physics feel way off when it comes to collisions.  At times, I've slammed into a car from the side going very fast, and hardly moved it a foot.  Sometimes when I rub them into the guardrail, they appear to magically speed up.  Also, it seems like all the cars drive pretty fast when I'm in the lead, or at least have a high position.  But when I fall behind, they all seem to slow down quite a bit.  It isn't very hard to pass them again.  If I were them, I would be hightailing it out of there.  Not to mention the fact that all the cars drive in a pack, and it's almost always less than a second or two behind you if you're to win first.  It's a little peculiar, to say the least.

If the developers had spent as much time on the physics and AI as they had on the graphics, Apex would have been great.  Seriously, Apex's graphics are very well done.  Cars are well modeled, and the reflections on them are even better than the ones found in Project Gotham.  The scenery around the tracks is awesome - detailed buildings, crowds of people (they're actually pretty shoddy if you stop to look at them, but you shouldn't be stopping on the road!), as well as other random things, make for some cool sightseeing.  And stuff in the far background, like mountains, is actually in 3D and look simply stunning. The lighting is usually very good and realistic. It does run a little slower than other racers - a solid 30 frames-per-second rather than a high-powered sixty.  Nonetheless, it's still very beautiful.

Sound, aside from the racing, is Apex's other low point.  Sound effects are rather pitiful, as cars crashing together sound like someone knocking over a metal trash can.  The engine sound is less than magnificent.  But what really bugs me is the background music.  When I set the game to play my They Might Be Giants playlist, I immediately noticed that the music would skip here and there.  Kind of annoying, but I could live with it.  But when the song was over and didn't skip to the next, I got annoyed.  Apex plays the same song over and over throughout the same race.  This is especially annoying when it picks to play a short song.  It's no fun to listen to a 30-second track over and over with no way to skip to the next.  I figured that I would just pick a soundtrack with songs that were a little longer than average to compensate for this.  But when I went to select my Ben Folds Five playlist... it wasn't there!  The game only lists fifteen of your playlists.  How ridiculous!  Most of these sound-related mistakes could have easily been fixed, but instead become a major annoyance.
 

Apex could have been up there with the Xbox's other racers with some more polish.  But as it stands, the gameplay feels shallow, the AI seems peculiar, and the sound is terrible.  The graphics are good and all, but unless you dig the racing a lot, Apex might not be your cup of tea.  If you try it out and end up liking the racing, though, there's plenty to keep you busy.  Give it a rent if you're curious.

Gameplay: 6.5

Even beauty cannot save Apex's arcade-style racing from feeling generic and unnatural.  It's a shame that the cars don't control better, because it can really make driving boring and mediocre.  The cars later on feel better than the ones early on, but still lack a certain something.  It just feels shallow.

Graphics: 9.0

The graphics in the game are very, very nice; the high point being the scenery in every track.  Almost every spot is detailed and realistic, and it really adds a lot to the game.  The only thing holding this area back from a higher score is the weaker looking garage.  It's still cool, but nowhere near the quality of the tracks.

Sound: 5.0

Aside from the lack of deepness in the gameplay department, sound is Apex's other low point.  Sound effects sound pitiful, but the worst part is the background music: not only does it skip; it replays the same music track over and over during a race.  And you can't even access all of your soundtracks if you have more than fifteen.  Ridiculous!

Difficulty: Easy

Although the game does get more challenging as you progress, it's not usually hard to place high in races and continue on, especially early on.

Concept: 8.0

Apex's bulk is racing on tracks, which honestly feels a little generic.  The saving point, however, is the nifty Dream Mode and its garage.  It's fun to progress and see your garage grow larger.  You don't find anything like this in many other racers.

Multiplayer: 7.5

The multiplayer racing is exactly as one would expect.  It's fun for a quick spin, but nothing spectacular.

Overall: 7.0

Apex is a fairly solid title, but has some nagging points keeping it from greatness.  The physics need major work, the AI seems a little funny, the sound is terrible, and frankly, the racing just isn't that exciting.  On the other hand, the Dream Mode is very cool, there are lots of tracks to keep you busy, and the graphics are often stunning.  Give it a rent to see if you like it, and if you do, follow up with a purchase.  But not everyone will be able to stand the game's flaws.