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APB: Reloaded Review: A Mixed Bag of Awesome & Frustration - Edit
5.3
| Pros |
 Brilliant customization system Excellent fragfest opportunities Significant bang for no buck |
| Cons |
 Barren world Poor performance Slim on story |
All Points Bulletin: Reloaded is a general mixed bag of awesome and frustration. Only in San Paro will you see diminutive, round-cheeked Asian females gently pummeling heavily-muscled tattooed men for their wallets and kamikaze punks, decked out in rags to make The Joker Proud, terminate the opposition by driving everyone off a bridge. Only here; the occasional Van Diesel movie notwithstanding. If this sounds like something you can get behind, APB Reloaded may be the game for you. Maybe. Like it or not, the problem with APB Reloaded is that it's just one of those games: it either works or it doesn't.
However, before we get ahead of ourselves, let's rewind this a little bit. In case you missed the memo, APB Reloaded is the metaphorical phoenix fledgling that arose from the ashes of its short-lived progenitor. Set within the crime-infested world of San Pedro, this team-based MMOFPS (or TPS if you prefer) will have players rocking it as either a Criminal or an Enforcer. If you choose to be a Criminal, you'll spent a majority of your time stealing cars, burglarizing random infrastructure, mugging unfortunates, vandalizing property and generally doing all those things we have come to expect from family-friendly crooks. As an Enforcer, you will, on top of arresting disreputable vagrants, probably find yourself accidentally doing a lot of the same things as well. After all, a vigilante's job is to get things done. Collateral damage is inevitable.
Aesthetics: 6.5
Even as minimal settings, APB Reloaded is rather pretty. This is something I can claim with impunity as I've been recently operating the game on a crappy little netbook. Though it looks far more appetizing on a proper gaming rig, APB Reloaded, like a lady of virtue, is capable of retaining a fair bit of its charm even under duress.
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That aside, I'm extremely divided on this front. On one hand, I have nothing but good things to say about beautifully detailed the characters are. You would be hard-pressed to be just 'another face in the crowd' here because the level of customization that APB Reloaded offers is just plain staggering. It would make The Sims weep in envy. And while it pains me to confess to my own femininity here, I'm impressed at the panoply of costumes worn by the residents of the world. This is urban decay at its finest, a pitch-perfect (if somewhat idealized) realization of street-side culture.
(And in case you're wondering, the animations aren't anything to shout about – it's pretty much 'out of the box' material for the Unreal Engine 3.)
Having gushed moderately about the positive aspects of things, let's examine the other hand. APB Reloaded, for all of its intercity grandeur, lacks personality. At first glance, this might not appear to be the case. San Paro is festooned with all the hallmarks of a sprawling metropolis. Skyscrapers, parks, warehouses, freeways, neon lights, an abundance of pedestrians – they're all there. Nonetheless, that's also all there is. If you've seen one part of San Paro, you've seen the rest. There is little that differentiates one building from another. Odd as this might sound, I would have appreciated a little bit of grunge too. Trash on the floor or spilled rubbish bins in the alley ways; anything that would tell me that I'm in an earthbound hive of scum and villainy.
The music fares monumentally better, however. The fact that APB Reloaded will do its best to find tunes that match your personal play list is plain awesome. That is all. As an added bonus, the pre-existing tracks aren't too shabby either.
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Now, here's the reason for the 6.5. Understand that I would have normally excused the sterility of the environment. APB Reloaded would have probably gotten a 7 out of me. Unfortunately, it's being taken down a notch due to the interface. At the risk of forever estranging our APB fans, I'm going to say this: it's terrible. Feel free to get your pitchforks. I stand by my statement. While it might just be the fact that World of Warcraft's structured and orderly approach to level progression has spoiled me rotten and left me incapable of facing grittiness of San Paro, I have certain intrinsic problems with a game that leaves me confused for the first ten minutes. Sure, the whole 'press this button to move, press that one to shoot' is all well and good but how do I take on missions? Why must I run around the first NPC I met in a very uncertain fashion before she addresses me with a task? Why is all the necessary information located in a frustratingly discreet of my screen? Who are these people you are grouping me with? Where are my convenient shortcuts? Most importantly of all, why won't you let me back into the Tutorial District after I make the mistake of leaving it the first time?
Innovation: 5
Will APB Reloaded change your world? No. Will you change the way you perceive FPS games? No. Will you teach you a new way to play a first-person shooter? No. Is there anything here that I would consider explicitly new and fresh? Absolutely not. Unless you've never had the good fortune of crossing paths with an FPS or a driving game, you won't find anything new in APB Reloaded. Picture something that exists as a cross between Grand Theft Auto and any other team-based FPS out there and you will have APB Reloaded.
Instead of utilizing a traditional quest system, APB Reloaded makes use of something called 'missions'. They're essentially the same thing. The only exception is that you don't have to march up to someone with an exclamation mark over their heads. As for the missions themselves, they're relatively pedestrian, things you've probably seen before. Steal a vehicle. Deposit a vehicle. Recover items. Defend a choke-point. Attack a choke-point. Indulge in an all-out battle for supremacy. You know. Those sorts of things.
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Gameplay: 6.5
One of the best things about APB Reloaded is the sheer amount of personalization that it allows. You won’t ever have to worry about being part of a homogeneous player population. In fact, you would probably need co-conspirators in order to create a crowd of people with a similar appearance. Why? Well, we've mentioned it before in the previous category but I'll say it again. Customization in APB Reloaded is just that good. If you are, in any way, one of those good folk who spend hours cultivating the appearance of their avatars, you will, believe it or not, find yourself consumed by this aspect of APB Reloaded. I'm still boggled by it. For a game that is essentially a persistent death match for thousands, APB Reloaded would make The Sims and Second Life weep in envy over the lavish amount of control provided to its users.
From the moment you enter the game, you're given every utility necessary to properly compose the character of your dreams. Want a better-looking car? Work your way towards one or slave over the decals of your first vehicle. Want to add some spunk? Add tattoos to your characters. Rework their wardrobe. Tailor their underwear to your own perverted tastes. Need to make yourself a well-known virtual maestro? Sit down for hours to manufacture complex tunes before marketing them to your peers. And yes, weapons are also subject to both functional and cosmetic make-overs as well.
(Of course, that much of control isn't always a good thing. The male Hatsune Miku that I stumbled over in the social district is proof enough of this.)
If APB Reloaded ever goes belly up, the developers will probably be able to make a whole lot of money auctioning this component to the highest bidder.
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Gameplay-wise, APB Reloaded is what you might have expected from something labeled as a 'first-person shooter'. A majority of your time in APB Reloaded will be spent journeying from your current spot to the next mission marker. In order to get to your destination, you can choose either to proceed on foot or to take a vehicle. While it's entirely possible to tamely ride your own car to every place of interest, APB Reloaded permits you to indulge in literal highway robbery. Yes, much like in Grand Theft Auto, you will be able to commandeering cars and running over the original owners after wards. You will also be able to car jack stationary vehicles, a task that involves nothing more than pressing 'F' next to a car and waiting.
Though entertaining to an extent, I've seen no real point to this. Cars and trucks do not feel too different from one another. If anything, it feels like little more than the means to an end. The same can also be said about the other criminal activities you can choose to participate in.
Best experienced with a coterie of allies, APB Reloaded is not a game for the solitary. You need friends to make this work, something that represents the other bone I have to pick with APB Reloaded. If you were to tell me that this is an FPS with a persistent world, I would doff my head and salute it in a slightly awed fashion. But, it's not. An MMO should provide the option for solitary play. You should be able to enjoy this alone. You should not, if you choose so, be shackled to other players.
To be fair, you could technically embark on solo missions but the game provides little reason to do so. Away from the frag-fests, San Pedro is painfully barren of interesting things to do. Sure, there might be people to mug, money to launder and vehicles to steal but actual interaction is limited. You can't talk to pedestrians. You can't pick up random quests. You can't really do anything.
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(Ironically enough, only the Enforcers are capable of indulging in low-grade griefing. As a Criminal, you won't be able to steal cars from other Criminals or batter an Enforcer down. However, an Enforcer will be able to sneakily 'witness' you in a criminal act and move in to put you in handcuffs.)
More frustrating, perhaps, is the ease of the missions. Unless you're met with opposition (the best part about APB Reloaded is the gunpowder-flavored bloodbaths), things are just too easy here. The first time I was told to burglarize a few locations, I was excited. Would I play second-fiddle to my group leader and be tasked to hold hostages down? Would I have to shoot a police officer in the knee? No, and no again. Instead, I found myself doing little more than wait around even as my compatriot pressed 'F' and effortlessly completed his quest. (Dead city. You get where I'm coming from now?)
On a lighter note, driving around in APB Reloaded is an absolute dream, something that makes the emptiness of the city an even bigger disappointment. Cars handle almost surprisingly well here. Curiously enough, this appears to be applicable to all vehicles. While they don't feel very different from one another, it's still pleasing to be able to command a starter car without feeling like a toddler in a box.
Social: 5
You know how other reviews keep telling you to play with your own friends? You should listen to them because it's true. APB Reloaded is somewhat abysmal on that front. Precious little chatter occurs over the intercoms. At times, you might see a few spam bots enthusing in a foreign language over the channels but that's about it. People here seem largely focused on the task of killing each other. It's either that or a vast majority of conversations happen over personal intercoms.
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While many have commented on an abundance of cheaters, I've actually been lucky enough not to encounter any. Then again, I grew up in South-East Asia – the land of fast-paced, trigger-happy gamers. I doubt I would be able to tell the difference even if an aim-bot bit me on the derriere. With that in mind, matchmaking actually felt decent. I never once found myself encountering a group that would take down my own without so much as a batted eyelash.
(All bets are off on Fight Club, however, If you fancy 16vs16 Battle Royale, you should totally hit that District right now.)
Polish: 6.5
Long-term fans of more 'realistic' shooter may find APB Reloaded wanting. To begin with, APB Reloaded does not have skill shots. All hit boxes are built equally. You will not be able to perform a one-headshot skill from maximum range. At best, you will be able to pepper spray your opponents from the top of a building while they search fruitlessly for you. Worst of all, there is no real heft to the weapons, no obvious indication of your ammo levels, no real way to determine whether your car is about to explode unless being explicitly told so.
As I've mentioned several times before, APB Reloaded also suffers from a sparse background. While I understand that the focus is on team-based PvP, I believe there still should be more to the game than just that. APB Reloaded does, however, get major points for their in-depth character creation and the sheer amount of personalization you're allowed.
Longevity: 7.5
Best you weren't expecting that score, were you? Not after all the mean things I've said so far. While APB Reloaded is rife with little issues, they are, for the most part, little issues. Unlike many other genres, there's a certain timeless appeal to first-person shooters. You need skill. Full stop. Unless you find yourself bringing an assault rifle to a fight between mechas, there is always some way to bring down the adversary.
Steep as the learning curve may be, there's something about the game that baits you back. Maybe, it's the fact you've figured out how it worked. Maybe, it's the plethora of stuff you've unlocked. Maybe, it's the chance to lease bigger and better weapons. Maybe, it's all of it put together. APB Reloaded might not really be the sort of game that would eat ten hours of your day before you've even realized what's going on but it's certainly well-suited for a daily death match or three.
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Conclusion
It could have been better. APB Reloaded could have been so much better in a variety of ways. But for a free-to-play game fresh out of open beta, it's actually not too shabby. While the survival of the game is reliant on in-game purchases, I never once felt the gap too overtly. There was only once that I found myself questioning how fast I died. With the panoply of game modes that's being promised, I have hopes for APB Reloaded. However, we shall see.
APB Reloaded, while significantly more refined than its ill-fated predecessor, is still far from perfect. When things aren't jiving the right way, expect to spend a lot of time frustrated. The learning curve is stupefying. Your first few hours will be mostly be spent dead, dying or lost. You will, at least once in your career with the game, flirt with the idea of un-installation.
When the constellations are in perfect alignment and every card is in place, APB Reloaded purrs like a well-oiled machine from the Gods. Everything about it becomes glorious. The chase, the kills, the illicit satisfaction that comes from mowing down unsuspecting civilians with a truck - nothing quite compares to that raw, kinetic thrill that surfaces as you cross San Pedro with your group of like-minded lawbreakers, Enforcers in hot pursuit behind you. In its finest moments, APB Reloaded is everything you dreamt of that night when you decided Grand Theft Auto would have been better as an MMO. And sometimes, it's even better.
Best review ever, I totally agree with it all!
Played APB a lot. Last patch killed the game for me.
I'm sorry I bought premium.
San Pedro.. lol
I almost stopped reading at San Pedro (San Paro iirc), then got as far as Van Diesel (VIN DIESEL) and actually stopped.
What, no editors here?
First bit is totally my fault. o_O For some reason, I've heard people use 'San Pedro' so frequently that it sort of stuck. I'm trying to get our editors to tweak it for me right now.
As for the Van Diesel, well, that's just a shameless brain fart. >_<; Sorry for the inconvenience.
"An MMO should provide the option for solitary play. You should be able to enjoy this alone. You should not, if you choose so, be shackled to other players."
What a difference a decade makes. Go back and try to play EQ solo. You will die. A lot.
Now, I am all for solo play, don't get me wrong. I firmly believe it is primarily responsible for the original success of WoW ( which was the first MMO you could reasonably solo in). But the assumption that MMOs have always been, and should always be, this way made me laugh.
Hmm. That was an odd impression I gave out there. I blame it on the fact English never was a first language. ^^; However, what I'm trying to implicate here is the fact that players should feel like they have the option to play alone or with people. Right now, APB Reloaded feels like it's built exclusively for group play to me.
Did anyone actually edit this article? If they did, maybe you should send future articles to me.
Besides being a grammar Nazi, I thought the review was truthful, more than I can say for other articles I've been reading as of late. Good work.
This is a poor review. It is very single minded.
Please MMORPG.com, get someone else to review this game. It looks to me that she just finished a bad game session and wanted to tarnish the game in her review. I've had my fair share of bad moments sure, we all have, but I can look past those and see that this game is impressive. She claims to have poor performance also, well, that's her problem but she factors it into the review?
How can you possible give innovation a 5/10? There are so many great new things in this game that this sore isn't even possible. The character creater, clothing options, graphic designer for your cloths, car, and person. The music creater, death themes.
Does Cassandra know that these reviews are out of 10? It sounds to me while reading that she didn't make it too much past the turorial.
"An MMO should provide the option for solitary play. You should be able to enjoy this alone. You should not, if you choose so, be shackled to other players."
The game has an automatic grouping system and an LFG tool, it is ment to be play with other players, it is a PVP game but you want to fly solo? I do agree that match making still needs work however.
"Long-term fans of more 'realistic' shooter may find APB Reloaded wanting. To begin with, APB Reloaded does not have skill shots. All hit boxes are built equally. You will not be able to perform a one-headshot skill from maximum range. At best, you will be able to pepper spray your opponents from the top of a building while they search fruitlessly for you. Worst of all, there is no real heft to the weapons, no obvious indication of your ammo levels, no real way to determine whether your car is about to explode unless being explicitly told so."
This is an mmo after all and balance does need to be taken account for. This game has a set character draw distance like most MMOs. Including head shots would just not be fun. No heft to the weapons? What about the LMGs and snipers? The UI isn't that bad and if you played for some time you easily get use to it. No way to tell if your car is about to explode? The cars get damaged and it is very visable when you have taken a lot of it, as well as you will hear that it car doesnt sound quite right, it it wont go as fast, all indications that your car is going to catch fire soon.
I'm just going to comment on one bit here. You're entitled to your opinions, otherwise. :) While APB Reloaded does have the most STUNNING character generation I've seen in an MMO yet, it's not new. Need for Speed allowed you to customize your cars. The Sims allowed you to customize your characters. Those are just two games that have been implemented chargen. Polish, regardless of how masterful it is, is just that - polish. Then again, I could have interpreted the word wrongly. ^_^; As far as I can tell, innovation means something that has been newly introduced.
You are tottally right on what you said, but...
Why compare a FPS online action game to a single player SIM game? Tell me which online FPS game have that level of customisation? None, nor Battlefield or CoD.
Comparing APB features to a single player game is just wrong. My opinion though.
And saying the story is poor.. well APb is not a MMORPG, it's an online action game. People never got that...
Anyway sorry for the rant.
Cheers,
V
This game at least deserves a 6.5 or 7. If this would any other hyped game you wouldn't give that low scores for many of the categories (innovation and social 5? really?). I hope mmorpg realizes they are not fooling anyone with these reviews of theirs.
This game deserves a lower score. While the reviewer may not have met any bots/cheaters, they are definitely there. Now they're usually in groups and a newb won't face them very often.
Customization is great and all..... but playing Barbie Online isn't going to go far. And the silly "premium" P2P junk drove me from the game along with the cheaters.
Im glad to see that MMORPG.COM is utilizing more of the score ladder. Too many games get ranked undeservedly high.
However, I didnt bother reading the entire review. Maybe its because I only tried APB reloaded for 10 minutes before uninstalling (litteraly). Maybe its because Cassandra gave it a 6.5 in aesthetics, while writing about gameplay elements (referring to feeling confused about missions and tutorial area for the first minutes of gameplay).
The scores might be fair, but the content of the chapters dont seem to match the headers (aesthetics header, but gameplay content mentioned).
I agree with the review score. At times, this game provides the most fun I have ever had in a game but those moments are few and far between. Most of the time its, queue up, wait, get mission, get killed by rocket launcher, be told you suck by the guy with all the premium weapons and then log off.
My biggest complaint about APB is the stupidly high prices they want for permanent leases, I think they'd have more custom if they made the weapons cheaper and made them less generic and more situational (so that there was a need and benefit to owning more than a couple)
I love how this got a 5 for innovation while SWtor got much higher... *cough*
Anyways, APB isn't to bad. Not my cup of tea but its not the worst. A middle road type of game.
Ok, so the reveiwer really needs to learn how to play before writing a review. Actually, they should probably start with learning how to use a computer.
Can't go back to the tutorial area? Press esc and choose district > pick a tutorial district. I can't think of many games that don't give you a menu when you press esc.
Can't manage to talk to contacts? Walk up to them, and press F. Really should have stayed in the tutorial district until you at least understood that.
Oh and if you don't have occasional bits of garbage and debris it's because your videocard can't support it. Try to not game on a netbook if you're going to give a serious review.
Didn't bother to read the rest, as I'll wait for someone worth listening to.
I usualy don't comment on these things but this review it totaly skewed in a negative way.
The pictures are from "RTW" time and do not represent how the world looks now. You said the interface is terrible yet you do not say anything specificly what is terrible about the interface. You go on to continue to call this game a first person shooter. Which it is not. APB is a third person shooter like GTA. Their is so much more you got wrong I'm stoping here so I don't turn this into a wall of text.
If I rated this game I'd give it at least a 7.
FPS = "TPS"...stop splitting hairs. There are a number of shooters that you can be in first person perspective, or third person...what do you call those? FPS is just a term to describe a genre of game, regardless of what perpsective you may be tied to. They aren't seperate genres.
So the game requires teamwork to play properly... but it gets a low social score? It is apparently one of the least innovative games ever reviewed on this site, but is the only game of its kind in MMO form. Ok then.
I don't know what makes this review more pathetic, the horrible grammar, the dated photos, that the game is continually refered to as an FPS, that the reviewer apparently thinks the 8 buttons needed to play are too complicated, or the nonsensical conclusions drawn like the ones outlined above. The game isn't amazing, but its certainly not "poor" or deserving of one of the lowest scores given out by this site.
Get a new reviewer, this one clearly isn't up to the task.
I'll certainly pass that remark to our editors. ;)
(And, dear lord. I've used the word FPS so often, it sticks. Totally my fault on that one.)
But, I felt like I had to point out reasons for my scoring again. First of all, I think it's subject to personal interpretation. For me, I see 'social' as a way of cultivating interaction between people. Thus far, the matchmaking system has left me wanting in that respect. I find myself being dropped into groups which consist entirely of silent members. Do I see people communicating on the channels? Rarely. I also don't see game plans being established. It's often a simple rush to the objective. That does not feel socia lto me.
In regards to innovation? After reading the comments, I do agree that it may be unfair to compare it to a single-player simulation game. However, I see innovation as something that makes me raise my eyebrows and go, 'Huh. Why hasn't someone thought about this before?'. A random example would be my first encounter with indie FPSes and how some people have transformed something like that into non-violent narrative sequences. That's innovative.
Perhaps it is the subjectiveness of the scores that is the issue, World of Tanks getting a 9 for innovation yet this game getting a 5 is beyond laughable. What use is a scoring system when the numbers mean different things to different reviewers? If your idea of what's innovative is so extreme compared to that of other reviewers then the scores end up being meaningless and arbitrary. Same with the social aspect, very few MMOs force any grouping, let alone communication, the points you have against this game could apply to any MMO yet very few receive such low scores.
So the ability to take 25 different symbols and peice them together to make a custom symbol, then use three custom symbols to customize 1 article of clothing (up to 75 individual symbols for 1 peice of clothing) isn't innovative, it's just polish? You make it sound like it's no different then just adding some dye to your armor. The character customization in this game is well beyond any other game out there, bar none. Need for Speed customization is a joke in comparison to the ability for a player to use their own artistic talents to create the look they want in APB:R. And to even mention the Sims is just a slap in the face.
Oh and you said there was no garbage laying around....
Good points. Hrm. On a personal front, I've always been known to be brutally honest and somewhat harsh in my reviews. I seldom give glowing praise. However, in terms of the direction we're given as reviewers, the truth of the matter is the description of the categories is, well, very brief and very subject to interpretation.
However, you've raised a number of fair points, points I'll bring up with the editors. If nothing else, this might mean a more comprehensive set of review criterias to ensure that future pieces don't feel so different. ^_^
Heh. :) Fair enough.
Again, I suppose it's a difference in opinions. I'm fully aware of how comprehensive the personalization system is. It makes my jaw drop. But, is it really a new way of doing thingsor is it an improvement? I see it as the latter.
Mind to score that game's innovationn 1/10 bcoz its a rip off from this game...? Probably not... even me wishing this game to be available in PC as well...
I am not angry, rather I am disappointed. This review hardly covers some areas, not mentioning many aspects of each category, and then it hammers at weak points with misinformation or a lack of.
This review is a joke.
The guy clearly doesn't even like this kind of game.
This scoring system does not make any sense. So 5 is poor, then what is 1? Unplayable?
No, it doesn't make any sense at all.
APB gets a 'boring world' con when SW:TOR doesn't, which is the KING Of absolutely boring worlds and APB's city is extremely populated with NPCs that move around speaking on Payphones and buying newspaper and window shopping at the malls. All sorts of shit goes on in the APB city and this "reviewer" just pulls out a random bulls**** con to slap onto this game.
This website needs to stop doing reviews. They don't even take them seriously.
I no longer play APB due to many of its flaws. However, you have identified 0 of them. This review is not just awful, but plain wrong in some cases.
Aesthetics-
I don't understand your qualms about the city. "If you've seen one part of San Paro, you've seen the rest." Well, yeah. It's a city. Not a fantasy world. And even then theres a lot of variation. From that large building in the middle of the lake you can fight at, to Gai Jin (a night club), to the subway, the motel flats, the construction yard, the garages, the highway, the unfinished parking lot etc there is so much there.
"how do I take on missions?" Press K. As said in bold letters on the left side of your screen.
"Why must I run around the first NPC I met in a very uncertain fashion before she addresses me with a task?" It's a PvP game so it obviously needs time to wait for an equal matchup to arrise. Standard for any matched PvP game.
"Why is all the necessary information located in a frustratingly discreet of my screen?
So that your screen isn't cluttered. This game is first and foremost a TPS. The only "Neccessary info" you need is how much ammo you have, where you need to go and your minimap as clearly displayed, or the scoreboard accessed with TAB.
"Who are these people you are grouping me with?"
Random people in the same faction as you as displayed on the team bar on the left side.
"Most importantly of all, why won't you let me back into the Tutorial District after I make the mistake of leaving it the first time?"
So that vets can't go back in and stomp newbies. Yes, it would be nice if people at low rating could go back in but you could simply create a second character, do the tutorial and then delete it and go back to the first.
Innovation -
A five for innovation from the same site that gave SWTOR an eight for innovation? Really?
The first TPS to;
- Offer insane customization to a shooter with a fantastic clothes, tattoo, car and music editor
- Have up to 100 people in the same district, all fighting at once
- Have HUGE maps which randomly pick objective locations for varied gameplay every time
And technically iy's also extremely innovative.
The is no game like APB on the market. You could only compare it to another game if you played Fight Club.
Gameplay -
No, this is not what you'd call a "FPS". An FPS is a First Person Shooter. Meaning it's a shooter, that plays in first person. This game plays from a third person perspetive at all times.
"You will also be able to car jack stationary vehicles, a task that involves nothing more than pressing 'F' next to a car and waiting. Though entertaining to an extent, I've seen no real point to this."
How about getting to the objective you need to take/defend quickly? This seems like common sense?
"Cars and trucks do not feel too different from one another."
I'm sorry but this is just so, so wrong. It confuses me how someone could come to that conclusion.
"An MMO should provide the option for solitary play. You should be able to enjoy this alone. You should not, if you choose so, be shackled to other players... Away from the frag-fests, San Pedro is painfully barren of interesting things to do. Sure, there might be people to mug, money to launder and vehicles to steal but actual interaction is limited. You can't talk to pedestrians. You can't pick up random quests. You can't really do anything."
I disagree. APB always has been, and always will be COMPLETELY about players. Players as content. And that's why it's great. If you don't like going against real people with real people then it's just not for you. If they started taking that out of it, then APB would just become another generic TPS.
With so many other players, civilians and cars whizzing about it's hard to feel like the city is "dead" in a full district.
Social -
It makes me wonder if you jumped into district with about 5 players. Theres always chatting, raging and trolling going on in any decently populated district. But as said it is a shooter. So as with any other shooter you may not find as much talking as for example an MMORPG. There is plenty of ways to find a group and make friends, and that's how the game is best enjoyed.
Polish -
APB doesn't have headshots because of its customization. Every character in the game has the same hitboxes. Why? So you can be a fat giant with a pumpkin for a head without losing an advantage to someone using an extremely small character. For this reason, adding a headshot to the game would mess it up. On small characters you would have to aim above them for headshots, and at the chest of large characters for headshots.
There is plenty of skill to the game. If you're just spraying at people then you're either using an SMG/LMG or doing it wrong. No obvious indication of ammo? How about the AMMO COUNT in the top right of your screen. No way to determine car health? How about the creaking that starts, then white smoke, then black smoke, then fire?
Longetivity-
The one point I agree. It just needs more districts and content. Two districts and fight club maps aren't enough after a while.
Yes, this Review needs to be taken down.
It is 100% junk. Its an embarrassment for this website.
I agree with the review and would rate it lower if you aren't going into it with friends.
Also the long load times (the price for all that customization) is a pain. This is a pvp shooter, why does it need to be so unique?
The game is fine for what it is, but its nothing special.
A feature article and no mention of the matchmaking system? :(
I'm sorry, OP, but your article focuses far too much on cosmetics, the lack of more cosmetics, and how the interface isn't easy enough rather than focusing on what really matters: the actual play experience.
Outstanding response by Donnell, very detailed and far better than the original article. I agree 100%!
This review hasn't been retracted yet? Embarassing.
I hope that they will have someone who is willing to actually give the game more than a halfassed, uninterested look redo the review.
Yeah i have to agree, APB have flaws... In my mind a few less then back in the RTW days before reloaded but as mentioned above very few if none of those are brought up in the article... .. .
But no... I agree that APB is in no way shape or form WoW/EQ/*insert theme-park MMO X here )...
This was all in all a hack job, but it does a great job of illuminating how APB look to a newcommer, this game have a VERY steep learning curve and is about as forgiving as a kick in the groin.
Maybe change the title to "a newcommers frist view of APB:Reloaded" and it would fit a lot better.
Now I'm pretty bad with language, but really, the editors need to step up their game a little bit here. Several grammar and spelling errors.
As someone who has done writing in the past, these things happen. That is why we have editors. :)
I only played the original version but i don't think they could change the main fundamental problem of the game.
I regulary got setup agains much higher clan groups that rofl stomped me with their maxed out guns. That's no wonder as the game only had 50 players to choose from to setup you agains and every zone had 2 or 3 maxed out clan groups that killed anyone with ease as their counter part group was already on a mission and so not free to be setup against.
Add to that and unbelivable amount of bots and cheaters and you know why the game failed.
In the end about 1/3 of the players used some form of cheats and i don't think that will be others now.
So even if i would give the game a different rating in the sections i would come to the same game rating as the game is simply totaly unbalanced for most players.
I've been playing this game since APB:R beta. (I've also played the original) Sounds like this reviewer only played the game for a day and then tossed it aside to get this review done. Granted this game isn't perfect. I would give it a 7 out of 10. But bashing it for its' late entry into the gaming world isn't the way to go. I'm sure if this game came out, like how it is now, when it did before (refrencing original APB lauch date) this game would get a way better score. You also gotta remeber it's a F2P game. Compared this game to other F2P games and get back to me then.
Comparing this game to a game like WoW is extremely shamefull as a reviewer. WoW is an established MMO brand with several years behind it. How can you even put the two against each other. Almost any game out there will fall in comparison to WoW just due to it's age of development. Note: I'm not a WoW player, but the general concept of compaing little versus big is unfair. This game should be compared to other F2P shooter games around to keep it fair. (not saying F2P shooters are the only comparable games)
First off if you find a clan dominating there are four maps with tons of different channels to move to. Second, This version has its' own custom hacking prevention system on top of already established hacking prevention software. I LOVE the low amount of hackers in this game. Hackers are like 1% or less of the population.
I completely agree with this post. Actual flaws aren't mentioned.
"Aesthetics: 6.5...Inovation: 5...Gameplay: 6.5..." Oh My God!! The amount of incompetence is..."Over 9000"!!!!
It's pretty obvious the "reviewer" spent more time spewing out this article (with thesaurus in hand) then they did actually playing the game. Typical fare from mmorpg.com.
barren world? wtf!? there's all kinds of real people and NPCs and vehicles moving all over the place.
lack of story? in a pure PVP shooter? wtf!?
lack of innovation? W. T. F. !!!!?????
there's around 400 MMORPGs nearly identical to each other, and not a single other MMO like APB, which ISN'T even an RPG, thats how different it is from the norm.
this is probably the worst review i've ever read in my life!
for all the simple thinkers out there, i personally don't like and don't play the game. but like others pointed out, most of the real problems aren't touched on, and a bunch of totally false stuff is mentioned instead.
... OK. I've played APB on and off since original release.
I've had to say this ... a few hundred times between then and now.
APB is -not- an MMO. It -is- a team-oriented FPS who's entire core gameplay mechanic is PVP. There's no actual quest-givers. "XP" exists, but not in the traditional sense.
Attempting to compare it to WoW, or any other current MMO on the market is invalid. The only reason it even falls under the umbrella term MMO is that the servers are able to support multiple concurrent discrete matches in one 'city' - by that ever so thin stretch of logic, it's an MMO. By that same stretch of logic, a 64 player TF2 server would be classed an "MMO".
No quest givers? Accurate. Your "Contacts" are just that - general supervisors in the chain of command, and they'll sell you some goodies if they like you enough or feel you've 'earned it'. The Missions make sense - a criminal is going to want to take advantage of what they can get when they can get it, the Enforcers will want to stop them. Ideally, one shouldn't -ever- have a mission without opposition - it does depend on servers and time of day, but it still is what it is. The backstory exists, from what I understand, but RTW and Reloaded seem content to sit on it, by and large - this is not really unexpected, as PVP shooters usually don't roll out with epic storyline progression.
Since you are the -first person ever- to bring this up, however, I feel a need to point something out that is logically inconsistent : On the point of "not being able to talk to the npc's" - Let me put a hypothetical out there. Let's say you're the NPC, and I will assume you don't mean a contact for obvious reasons, but just the random sheeple walking around town. You sure as hell don't trust the criminals, and there's some really big doubts in your mind that the enforcers are much better. Someone carrying an AK-47 walks up to you and says "Hi!" - are -you- going to stop and ask them to help you find your lost cat, or do you think it's best to possibly -try and get away from the bullet magnet- before a member of the opposing faction decides that they feel like spraying lead in that general direction? ... thought so. Head down, walk -faster-. Or, umm, you know, run in fear - the NPC's do that a lot. I don't much blame them.
As far as innovation - the game -did- innovate from an FPS viewpoint. Multiple concurrent yet still independant 'matches' that can in theory call in backup from each other occuring in one 'city' that can, on the drop of a hat, go from CQB to Vehicle to Vehicle combat. I can't easily think of -any- FPS title that does that.
... all that said? I agree with your overall score, although for reasons that have nothing to do with your own. You raised a few valid points even if you came at this from entirely the wrong angle. The sad reality is this game has no buisness being regarded as an MMO, and you can't really send an MMO reviewer into what really is a Pure Shooter and expect the review to make an awful lot of sense.
They have. The fact is that hacking was -seriously- rampant for a while - Reloaded did this intentionally to figure out how people were hacking, and to make certain that they were going to be able to net hackers and only hackers.
Since January, several rather massive banhammer sweeps have occured, and the official forums contain lists of who's been banned. My last few dives in have seen a massive drop in hackers - still encounter them now and again, but it is now 'once every 20 to 30 missions', if that.
Of course, the problem with Idlers is still fairly common, so the old "Find 4 friends and go in as a group" still applies. Heavily.
I totally disagree with the social rating. This game is very social. Thing is, clans are so big this day that you need to play the game for a while. I'm in a clan with around 60 people in it, and usually at least 30 people are online at any given time so people are talking a lot. Even in district chat people talk if you go to the right district. People only spam or talk in Russian in 'Social District' even though that district is only callled social because you can't fight in it, you only buy stuff and customize items.
I agree with what Fallenmoogla says about this seeming like the reviewer has not given the game a proper go. In my experience with APBR, the first ten minutes were an exercise in frustration, and the first thirty ranks were an endurance run. Once past these the game really starts to come into it's own; to review APBR on the beginners experience alone does the game--and its creators, who have put an awful lot of work into it--a disservice.
By my reckoning I started playing the game about the time this review was written, and I see quite a few contradictions between the reviewer's experience and my own. Maybe she played the original, I don't know, but a review of the game as it exists now would be more helpful.
All that said, the title of this review? A Mixed Bag of Awesome & Frustration? Bullseye.