MotorStorm: Apocalypse is the fourth game in the MotorStorm racing series. The game is set in an urban environment called The City modeled after Bay Area in California. A massive earthquake has hit the location offering an off-road experience and compared to the previous games it puts more emphasis on the storyline. Just like the previous games it is centered around a racing festival, but this time told through three characters — Mash, Tyler, and Big Dog — that each represent a difficulty level; Rookie, Pro and Veteran respectively and unlocked one per one. Big Dog is the leader of the group who travels to the city. The lowest difficulty level allows the player to progress with a much less strict finish place, requiring top five, top three and the first spot respectively. The earthquake is still in progress, so players often have to deal with tumbling buildings, explosions, voids and raised pavements. Cut-scenes further the story between missions, which cover three days per character, with comic book-like sequences and voiced dialogs. There are about twelve races per character and tracks are repeated for each character, but not entirely identical.