APB (All Points Bulletin)

 PC
User Score
5.7

Mixed or average reviews- based on 295 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 140 out of 295
  2. Mixed: 29 out of 295
  3. Negative: 126 out of 295
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  1. Snowmew
    Aug 23, 2010
    1
    APB is one of those great examples of a good game gone horribly wrong by misguided developers. I've been waiting for this game for years, but I always seemed to miss out on the beta periods. I was hoping it'd be intense, exciting, balls-to-the-wall gameplay gold; needless to say, I was grossly disappointed. First of all, the initial character creation is daunting, and I had no clue what toAPB is one of those great examples of a good game gone horribly wrong by misguided developers. I've been waiting for this game for years, but I always seemed to miss out on the beta periods. I was hoping it'd be intense, exciting, balls-to-the-wall gameplay gold; needless to say, I was grossly disappointed. First of all, the initial character creation is daunting, and I had no clue what to make of it. It's seriously flawed, and I had no way of changing anything but my facial features, as I simply couldn't navigate the interface. Similarly, starting out seems rushed and uncontrolled. The training program includes solely a single mission (I wasn't matched to any opposition, so it seemed terribly easy, whether or not this is intended is questionable). Then, you choose which world you want to be in. I was thrown into the first one myself. I'm not sure why you can't switch worlds, as now I can't play with anyone who happens to be in the second world. In any case, then I was dropped into the gameplay area with my fancy recruit clothing. I quickly pledged my allegiance to some NPC (why this is important, I'll probably never discover) and bought some clothes so I didn't look fresh off the boat, but I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out how to put them on! I checked the website's FAQ, which resulted in being cut off by some cryptic database error. I asked everyone I could, but nobody would tell me how. I eventually figured out that there were these weird terminals where you could BUY clothes, but considering I had so little money and everything was prohibitively overpriced, I was stuck with the clothes I got off the NPC. I then, after about half an hour of searching around, found a hidden store area with only 1 other person in it where you could change your clothes and character. If you don't want to waste over half an hour figuring out things that should come naturally to any experienced gamer, look elsewhere. The other big issue is the matchmaking. I haven't played APB for a few weeks, and just today they released a patch claiming to help fix it, but the general consensus remains to be "it sucks." You are RARELY matched with anyone remotely your skill. I'm not sure how they managed to screw this up. but you always end up being grossly overpowered by one person (or, worse, teamed up on by 5 or more). If you're not part of a clan, don't bet on scoring good group members with the in-game grouping system. Most of the time my group members were off driving into each other and stealing cars for no reason. Also, the tasking is not optimized at all. On many occasions you end up accepting a task where you're on the opposite edge of the city, and by the time you reach the objective, the opponent has already completed it and moved onto the next one, resulting in a never-ending goose chase that ultimately results in a failure. As for the shooting aspect, it's just a generally bad idea. It's difficult to aim and the starter gun is absolutely horrible. In the end, size really DOES matter when it comes to gunfights. If you use the basic gun, you are guaranteed to lose, no matter what. The driving, while I found it tolerable, is pretty quirky and difficult to learn. Don't expect Need-For-Speed-style driving physics. Just put it this way: it's like GTA, but worse. The graphics are nothing to write home about; I didn't see anything special myself. I've got a comparatively great computer, but the graphics seem simplistic. GTA4's graphics are definitely better and more refined. I was horrified to see the lightbar in action... come on RTW, that's kid stuff, just switching between red and blue. More effort is definitely required there. In any case, I'm generally disappointed with APB as a whole, and while I would still like to see some kind of clone based off of this general idea, I'm hoping I'd be impressed enough to actually pay for it instead of this underdone junk. I honestly think Second Life has more to offer than this, and it's much, much less expensive (read: free).… Expand
  2. veteranpcgamer
    Jun 29, 2010
    1
    after extensive play in the beta stages , i lost complete interest in this game. it's a sub par third person shooter with a matchmaking instance of a city that you fight in. usually 1 vs 1, 1 vs 3 is not uncommon, or maybe 5 vs 5 if you get lucky. you don't really interact with others when you feel like it unless ramming into cars doing 1% damage is what you call mmo after extensive play in the beta stages , i lost complete interest in this game. it's a sub par third person shooter with a matchmaking instance of a city that you fight in. usually 1 vs 1, 1 vs 3 is not uncommon, or maybe 5 vs 5 if you get lucky. you don't really interact with others when you feel like it unless ramming into cars doing 1% damage is what you call mmo interaction. as a criminal you are literally forced every 5 minutes into being chased by cops, that outnumber you or out gun you the majority of the time. i played using vent with 3 other people and we still got paired up against WAY higher levels with WAY better guns and mods and cars. they introduced the pay to play plan VERY late in the developing which sets off a red flag to me. pay to play is fine if the game needs it, but this is not an mmo! also they have in game advertising on billboards, as well as audio advertising on their VOIP. the only thing i found interesting here was the customization. but they are charging real money for you to distribute what you make. come on now, just nuts how much a money sink this is. go ahead and check out the game but dang, i've been gaming since gta on DOS and playing real MMO's since Ultima Online came out and this game just kind of sucks. sad to say. but come to your own opinion, go read more reviews and such before you drop the cash on this one.… Expand
  3. GeorgeC
    Jun 29, 2010
    2
    Cool customisation but unfortunately there is nothing to do once you've made something. Really, really repetative game play - it's all a rehash of 'Go to point A, Collect item X, Go to point B, Drop item X, rinse and repeat'. Severe balancing issues with the weapons, handling issues with the vehicles and sub-standard graphics for the PC spec it needs. It's a Cool customisation but unfortunately there is nothing to do once you've made something. Really, really repetative game play - it's all a rehash of 'Go to point A, Collect item X, Go to point B, Drop item X, rinse and repeat'. Severe balancing issues with the weapons, handling issues with the vehicles and sub-standard graphics for the PC spec it needs. It's a really generic shooter that feels 5 years out of date in the current PC gaming market. Potential in the fact that its a maintained, persistent online game? The developers say they will 'take the community's comments, ideas and wishes consideration'. Perhaps they should have researched what we wanted BEFORE making us pay for their product? 'We don't know what customers want' is no excuse for releasing a poorly designed product. Overall I'm disappointed with a game that had a lot of potential and has been let down by poor design. If they put as much innovation into the game play as they have done with the customisation, it could have been revolutionary.… Expand
  4. MikeP
    Jun 29, 2010
    0
    This is a terrible game. The driving, which I was the most excited about, is sloppy and unresponsive to the point where it's like you're piloting a brick on a tricycle. This game was a huge disappointment and I wish I had not wasted my money. Theres a reason there are no reviews yet.
  5. Becks21
    Aug 11, 2010
    0
    I didnt read much about APB before.. the only thing I knew is that the GTA maker has had his hands in it somehow.. so I expected (blindly) a MMO-GTA game.. Nice dream.
    Game is like Second Life or so.. just with shooting. Missions are after a short period just boring. Community and player base are worst. Game physics are horrible. I regret buying it.
  6. SaboG
    Jun 29, 2010
    2
    Game is good for mic chat and friend ability, really has nothing to warrant a long term pay structure and 40v40 is not mmo i mean i can play san andreas 200 v 200. Mechanics are like a Crimecraft(free game) without the roll so even more stale. Good to talk trash on the mic overall good game but wouldn't recommend buying for the persistence payments.
  7. BridgetFisher
    Aug 14, 2010
    0
    This is pretty much the worst game ever made. 1. There are only 10 vehicles, even old games like super mario kart on Nintendo 64 had more vehicles.

    2. The game has only 8 missions, I never played something I got bored of in one day, thanks APB! 3. There is no technical support, if you have a problem with the game there is noone to contact. 4. Hackers are rampant in this game and    This is pretty much the worst game ever made. 1. There are only 10 vehicles, even old games like super mario kart on Nintendo 64 had more vehicles.

    2. The game has only 8 missions, I never played something I got bored of in one day, thanks APB!

    3. There is no technical support, if you have a problem with the game there is noone to contact.

    4. Hackers are rampant in this game and steal users account and upload viruses to players computers that destroy their hard drives.

    5. It is not an MMO, noone plays this game, its PvP, but that does me no good when only 30 people are playing the game in the whole world.

    6. Graphics are made on some old clunky graphics engine that is 3 years old, even Resident evil 4 looks better then this game.

    7. This game is racist and the developers allow players to make offensive symbols to put on walls and clothing in the game like racist comments, or swastikas.    … Expand
  8. ThomasF
    Aug 16, 2010
    2
    It's basically a game with a pretty setting, and a boring, repetitive game play aspect. Don't expect to get very much from playing this game, because you won't.

    Unless you're the type that actually likes repetitive games.

    +2 for the nice graphics and customization.
    -8 for the boring everything else.

    I really hope they manage to turn this game around.
  9. ShaunC
    Jun 30, 2010
    3
    This game has all the workings of a very fun online experience, unfortunately the designers didn't work out most of the kinks and the game is a real mess. You're outmatched, even when you call for backup. Making my myself lvl. 9 and my friend, a lvl. 1 against a pack of three 10+ guys it ridiculous. I'm no good at math and even I know those numbers don't work out. Also This game has all the workings of a very fun online experience, unfortunately the designers didn't work out most of the kinks and the game is a real mess. You're outmatched, even when you call for backup. Making my myself lvl. 9 and my friend, a lvl. 1 against a pack of three 10+ guys it ridiculous. I'm no good at math and even I know those numbers don't work out. Also if you want to have some time off to change weapons or ride about...don't even think about it. Within three minutes of downtime you will have Enforcers (or Criminals, depending on who you are) sent after you. There should be a safe zone! Sure there's another district that is a safe zone but being able to buy guns while in game shouldn't be a chore. Weapons need a lot of tweaking. Loads of players just camp certain spots that are nearly impossible to get to. All in all this game is utter garbage and I hate myself for buying it. I only gave it a three because it has great potential...if the designers can figure out what the hell is going on.… Expand
  10. CliftonC
    Jun 30, 2010
    4
    While a MMO GTA clone might be a great concept, APB is not worth getting exited about. It seems that the development team spent so much time implementing different customization options (of which there are a LOT), that there was nobody left to develop the core of the game, the gameplay. The looking for group tool, while very good at getting you into a group, leave the actual groups While a MMO GTA clone might be a great concept, APB is not worth getting exited about. It seems that the development team spent so much time implementing different customization options (of which there are a LOT), that there was nobody left to develop the core of the game, the gameplay. The looking for group tool, while very good at getting you into a group, leave the actual groups feeling disjointed and uncooperative. The quest writing is abhorrent, and completing quests is never more than go to A, do B, then C. The actual game-play word is stale and bereft of any interesting locations. The road layout feels arbitrary, and you always seem to be punished by insurmountable walls that pop up. You may be 10 feet away from your target, but between you and it is a wall that requires you to spend 2 more minutes circumnavigating. The graphical engine is also severely lacking. Multi GPU support is no where to be found, and the game truly looks dated. There is no sense of style or art direction. APB is yet another attempt to create a vibrant world full of interesting people, places and things. However, Realtime Worlds errs by thinking that a plethora of customization tools is what engages people in the world. Its not. Avoid this game.… Expand
  11. oneofthem
    Aug 19, 2010
    3
    "APB" advertised itself as a fun cops n' robbers MMO that pits players from both factions against each other as each side tries to take control of the city. While that might be the back-story to the game, or the vision that RealTime Worlds had for it, in reality it is an unbalanced rage-fest with terrible matchmaking and horrid optimization, all covered up by it's only good feature,"APB" advertised itself as a fun cops n' robbers MMO that pits players from both factions against each other as each side tries to take control of the city. While that might be the back-story to the game, or the vision that RealTime Worlds had for it, in reality it is an unbalanced rage-fest with terrible matchmaking and horrid optimization, all covered up by it's only good feature, "customization." Immediately upon entering the streets of San Paro, players will notice that the player with the better gun has a massively better chance of winning. The new players can't help but get destroyed by the longer playing Veterans of the game, usually equipped with Rocket Launchers and LTLs (stun guns). These kind of matchups are not uncommon, with the matchmaking system often pitting Rank 5 players versus Rank 200 players, and barely offers any advantages to the Rank 5 player to compensate for such an unfair advantage. Missions often have no more than 5 lives, and the combat lag spikes at completely random times which can result in your loss. This game is an unoptimized piece of garbage in it's current state, with the only highlighted feature being the customization.… Expand
  12. BlackAcidDragon
    Sep 12, 2010
    2
    I'm gonna give it 2, and thats for customisation options. the most fun i had was picking some clothes. this game should not be charging money from people to play. i kept looking at it and thinking "shall I, or Shant I" i did decide to buy it sadly. dont regret spending the money but im gonna give up on mmorpgs now and stick to Xbox 360. i wish it wasnt so rediculous to play. not structuredI'm gonna give it 2, and thats for customisation options. the most fun i had was picking some clothes. this game should not be charging money from people to play. i kept looking at it and thinking "shall I, or Shant I" i did decide to buy it sadly. dont regret spending the money but im gonna give up on mmorpgs now and stick to Xbox 360. i wish it wasnt so rediculous to play. not structured at all unlike WOW.… Expand
  13. KarthXLR
    Feb 1, 2011
    3
    For every instant that I had fun, there were seven when I was crushed by someone who had unfair advantages over me; a problem that hadn't been an issue during both betas. Truly a shame, the game had enormous potential, but excruciatingly awful execution. One of the largest flaws was one of the very core features of the game: the missions. As an MMO, players rely on missions to keep thingsFor every instant that I had fun, there were seven when I was crushed by someone who had unfair advantages over me; a problem that hadn't been an issue during both betas. Truly a shame, the game had enormous potential, but excruciatingly awful execution. One of the largest flaws was one of the very core features of the game: the missions. As an MMO, players rely on missions to keep things fresh. There were 3 types: Go here and stand in this circle, go press f near this objective (with one or two variations of said mission), and the randomly generated bounty missions. The last of the bunch was easily the worst, with both sides of San Pero groaning whenever a bounty popped up. The other two variations of missions got exceedingly boring, leaving it up to players to spice up the game. This was a terrible mistake. Yet another glaring flaw in the game was, again, a key component of the game's formula, was the matchmaking system. Even now, I can't wrap my head around how badly they butchered this concept. In APB, you're given two ratings: one is your rating, which determines your all-around progress in the game. The other is the "threat-level" which resets every time you start the game. The more missions you accomplish in the game, the higher your threat level goes. At least, it's like that for enforcers. For criminals, you can gain infamy (raise your threat level) for doing anything bad. This includes killing/mugging civilians, robbing stores, and beating missions. Doing this enough gets you an "APB" which means that any given player can kill you for the bounty on your head. Or, the player can kill the opposing side for as long as they'd like or until they are killed. This "feature" was easily exploited, and many time you could be killed in a drive-by during a mission or during free play. Speaking of exploitations, there's so many in the game, I could take up the entire rest of the review naming them. I won't. Instead, here's the reason why they were such a big problem: Zero developer response. Realtime Worlds ought to congratulate themselves on being the worst feedback generator on the internet. After all, the first bug-patch for the game (as well as being the first official patch) was not implemented until 3 weeks after the game's launched. I think the weapons balancing patch was released just before the game shut down. The entire game was not ready to release, and was far too expensive to ever gain back their money. I could go on for paragraphs explaining exactly why and how this game was a catastrophic failure, but honestlly, I'd rather forget it ever happened. Thank God that the servers shut down.… Expand
  14. GameGuyManiac
    Sep 9, 2010
    0
    I figured I would buy APB and play a great online game with lots of people and that it would be a well rounded MMO offering diversity of missions. For the past month I played on the servers and played mostly as an enforcer and in maybe the last part of my playtime managed to give the criminal a test run too. What struck me when I first switched roles the most was that I felt like I wasI figured I would buy APB and play a great online game with lots of people and that it would be a well rounded MMO offering diversity of missions. For the past month I played on the servers and played mostly as an enforcer and in maybe the last part of my playtime managed to give the criminal a test run too. What struck me when I first switched roles the most was that I felt like I was doing the exact same thing, even the animations looked the same. It didnt matter if I was an enforcer or a criminal the missions felt the exact same. Maybe that was me. I switched characters because the missions for enforcers got real boring I mean I think there is only a couple different missions and I got bored of those in 2 days but I kept playing for the unlockables. I thought if I switched to criminal it would be a total 180 and things would be switched around. Instead I found myself in the same tedious missions doing the same things basically. I would say the missions in this game suck, todays gamers expect alot from an MMO but when it only delivers a handful of missions, I mean seriously am I supposed to play the same missions over and over for eternity? I was sick of them in a couple days let alone I cant imagine who in their right mind would keep playing them like a lab rat doing the same thing over and over.

    I have decided not to use my additional game time due to how horrible APB is. Instead I will play Team Fortress 2 which is a much better game with way less bugs and more missions. I dont understand APB, it has like a million bugs, and the lag makes it nearly unplayable. None of those really were the last straw for me though. I know that new games have bugs but come on this game was barely playable. I wish we could get refunds because I feel ripped off. APB as a game is devoid of any real meaning or story. All the unlockables are just grinding. Doing the same task thousands of times to get lame and stupid upgrades. Ugh, who thought that was a good idea??? I hear this game put the company in bankruptcy because of how horrible it is. Maybe they will learn a lesson and not release horrid games onto the market that everyone hates. For those who played it and still are at least we got to play it before the company went totally belly up. Noone is going to buy this game. Its the worst game I ever played it would be cheaper just to start from scratch and make one that works. My Final word is DO NOT BUY THIS GAME.    … Expand
  15. ChrisB
    Jul 1, 2010
    2
    Maybe it was lad, maybe it was launch week load... maybe I just suddenly suck... but all I did was die, helpless to even hit my enemies. The graphics were surprisingly sub-par given how nice it looked in screen shots, but I didn't see many options to turn up... I really want to like this game. The ideas are fantastic, action based, no levels, 1/3 of the gameplay area devoted to Maybe it was lad, maybe it was launch week load... maybe I just suddenly suck... but all I did was die, helpless to even hit my enemies. The graphics were surprisingly sub-par given how nice it looked in screen shots, but I didn't see many options to turn up... I really want to like this game. The ideas are fantastic, action based, no levels, 1/3 of the gameplay area devoted to social interaction... but so far it just falls flat. I'll try again in a month and see if it was just the pains of launch.… Expand
  16. RiverRafter
    Aug 18, 2010
    0
    Not only is this game bankrupt and shut down. I played it before it went down and this is by far the worst game ever made. The graphics are terrible and look real old and boring. There is only about 4 different missions that get old real fast for an MMO. I mean how many times can I do the same mission over and over? At least they will not be around to ripoff their customers anymore.
  17. Bearocracy
    Aug 25, 2010
    0
    This is the worst game I ever played. Their going out of business and noone is going to buy the game to keep it alive. The game is so broken due to people like Toxico destroying the revenues of the game. Games like this will always fail when they make broken mechanics designed by people who hate gaming and only think, "hey lets make a GTA clone so all the fanboys jump on board". OnlyThis is the worst game I ever played. Their going out of business and noone is going to buy the game to keep it alive. The game is so broken due to people like Toxico destroying the revenues of the game. Games like this will always fail when they make broken mechanics designed by people who hate gaming and only think, "hey lets make a GTA clone so all the fanboys jump on board". Only its the worst game ever made and they dont care because they just want to make a quick buck.… Expand
  18. Saint
    Oct 17, 2010
    0
    I played the beta all the way through and had played for 1 month after release, 5 mission types, boring grinding, overall immature community and **** graphics to top it all off. It lagged like streaming 30 HD videos at once on a dial-up connection at times and it had only 2 districts. It was simply a matter of who could grind to higher levels fastest and get the higher powered guns first.I played the beta all the way through and had played for 1 month after release, 5 mission types, boring grinding, overall immature community and **** graphics to top it all off. It lagged like streaming 30 HD videos at once on a dial-up connection at times and it had only 2 districts. It was simply a matter of who could grind to higher levels fastest and get the higher powered guns first. I attempted to explore the environment to get the edge and maybe get some tactics into it and found the limit of exploration was the ladder and the short area surrounding it for any sort of exploring or advantage. Vehicles handled like crap and you were better off on foot usualy from there. The Customization was the ONLY thing keeping the game from me wanting to rate lower than 0, honestly if the customization was not present I would have had to find a way to rate in the negatives. Good riddance to this **** game, hope the devs learned something from it being shut down.… Expand
  19. Ansatsu83
    Oct 18, 2011
    2
    This is not just an APB review, it is also an APB reloaded review.

    First let me explain why this review is bad. Every single element of gameplay was either improperly coded, poorly thought out, or just not worth trying to add in to begin with. Yes the game had potential but it screwed up in many various aspects. 1. The games combat is so horrible, the weapon calibration is screwed up,    This is not just an APB review, it is also an APB reloaded review.

    First let me explain why this review is bad. Every single element of gameplay was either improperly coded, poorly thought out, or just not worth trying to add in to begin with.

    Yes the game had potential but it screwed up in many various aspects.

    1. The games combat is so horrible, the weapon calibration is screwed up, all you need to do is have a smg or less than leathal weapon (as enforcer) then strafe around hosing the enemy down. Less than lethal weapons are horribly imbalanced and in the end they make it difficult for criminals to win. The simple fact is, a weapon with moderate accuracy that can take an entire team out of the game and be unable to do anything for twenty to thirty seconds is something that should have not been added in that situation.

    2. Cars do not explode, great concept but the movies lie and it was a mistake to add this, instead they should stop working after taking enough damage.

    3. Enemies can take 20 direct hits from an assault rifle and live. Do I really need to explain this one? It is a very common example of horrible coding skills from very bad developers. I am a coder myself (C++), its not hard to not screw this up.

    4. RPG in a game of cops vs criminals, yeah I know they can have smuggled weapons and all of that but seriously, an RPG? Yeah... No...

    5. Horrible controls for the cars, some cars its nearly impossible to turn a corner under any circumstance let alone even out the car, especially the muscle cars.

    6. Horrible spawn locations every two to three missions. Sometimes I am spawned 500 meters away from an objective area that I am supposed to be guarding and it takes roughly 20-30 seconds to take an objective while it takes 5 seconds to hijack a car and another 40 seconds to get back to the objective point. And when the combat system is so broken this is a problem. Other times it spawns me right in front of an enemy car, they want till my spawn invulnerability is down and then ram me, oh yeah and there is no cover I can get behind to evade them at that point since its an open area.

    7. Ranking system is broken as well, no hack protection either. This creates a problem when it goes hand in hand. When there are hackers who are unable to be removed in an appropriate and quick manner and you can rank down there is the stench of a broken game.

    I hate to say it but the gameplay mechanics just are the worst of the worst, the only reason this gets a 2 from me is that it is a great concept, the world is average when constructed, the music is ok for the theme of the game (save I would have added a lot more techno, rap, and industrial to match the theme of the game).

    This game will require an entire rebuild in order to make it worthwhile, and again keep in mind this also means APB reloaded. Both are horrible, and both should not have been released. The Publisher of APB should feel bad for releasing a broken product, the devs should never be given a job again, and the people who bought the rights to APB to turn it into APB Reloaded should be shut down. This is simply how horrible the product is.    … Expand
  20. almorb
    Jun 29, 2010
    3
    Great visuals and concept but the MONTHLY subscriptions crushes the rating. Too expensive. Well, they lose the vast majority of gamers not willing to pay more than once because of subscription. Therefor my group of 40 friends have opted out of this experience just because of recurring fees.
  21. Nitroz
    Aug 12, 2010
    4
    Realtime Worlds released this game a month earlier than its expected date, with that came the consequences of the game not working properly, receiving memory leak messages left, right and centre. You HAVE to be on a 64 Bit system to play this game or you will suffer...big time.
    It's a good job I had a new PC ordered with 64 bit on it or I would of got rid of this game quite a while back.    Realtime Worlds released this game a month earlier than its expected date, with that came the consequences of the game not working properly, receiving memory leak messages left, right and centre. You HAVE to be on a 64 Bit system to play this game or you will suffer...big time.
    It's a good job I had a new PC ordered with 64 bit on it or I would of got rid of this game quite a while back.
    When you get into the game it is perfect, I like the fact that you have 'districts' to select and go into and you aren't out of choices. There's 3 districts, the 'Social' district which allows you to customise your character, create symbols, make theme music and create decals for your cars.

    The 'Financial' district which is an action district where you pledge to a contract and do 'Jobs' or missions for them and level up to unlocked different weapons and clothing. Lastly the 'Waterfront' district which is the same principal as the Financial but its in a different location with different contacts. When you level up with the contact after doing multiple missions you unlock even more contacts and even more weapons.

    So, you're never bored. The reason why I voted this game so low is because of the issues with the 32 bit operating systems.    … Expand
  22. AlBag
    Aug 8, 2011
    3
    As an avid GTA fan, I was rather looking forward to this game when it came out. I expected the thrill of driving around, running over people, and a feeling of being a badass on the streets of San Paro. Though this game can, at times, make you feel this way, there are way too many issues with the gameplay itself to just simply ignore. Since Gamers First picked up the game and have beenAs an avid GTA fan, I was rather looking forward to this game when it came out. I expected the thrill of driving around, running over people, and a feeling of being a badass on the streets of San Paro. Though this game can, at times, make you feel this way, there are way too many issues with the gameplay itself to just simply ignore. Since Gamers First picked up the game and have been attempting to revamp it, I find the Armas Marketplace to be the biggest problem of the game. What has essentially emerged from the game is a pay to win system. For five dollars (or fifty dollars for a permanent weapon), people can buy weapons that far surpass the standard ones in damage, accuracy, etc. On top of this, modifications can be added to weapons that help increase stats without taking away anything. Normally I'd think this would be fine since everybody can have access to them; however, due to some of the modifications requiring several hundreds or maybe thousands of total kills with a specific gun, people who have played longer will gain a heavy advantage against those who have not, making this game a very difficult one to pick up if you haven't been playing since day 1. Third, matchmaking is still broken as hell. The way matchmaking works is that high threat players are often paired with people who have very little idea what they're doing against moderately experienced players. Though this sounds fine, it can be quite frustrating when you might be a high threat player being pitted against two low threat players in a 2v1 in a mission that requires you to maybe capture three points or similar game types that require much more than 1 person; or maybe that the two bronzes have ridiculous weapons due to them purposely trying to maintain a low rank and ultimately destroying you because you have no chance against something like a rocket launcher when you're running around with a taser gun pretty much. Overall, I see this game has a lot of potential. There is plenty of room to expand, balance, and create a fun experience; however, I have yet to see Gamers First make a step in this direction.… Expand
  23. CameronL
    Jul 31, 2010
    3
    Seriously, do all these reviewers get paid for over glorified reviews of this game? Sure it's good, but nothing more than pretty graphics and some new units. 1/3 the campaign, when I'm going to have to shell out yet another $40+ for every other campaign that comes out. Right now, it's at 96, giving it a tie with all the other greatest PC games ever made. While SC2 may be Seriously, do all these reviewers get paid for over glorified reviews of this game? Sure it's good, but nothing more than pretty graphics and some new units. 1/3 the campaign, when I'm going to have to shell out yet another $40+ for every other campaign that comes out. Right now, it's at 96, giving it a tie with all the other greatest PC games ever made. While SC2 may be good, it's not great and it's far from being the greatest.… Expand
  24. MichaelA
    Jun 29, 2010
    4
    This is bascially a shooter, GTA meets counterstrike, without any variation at all really. The "quests" consist of go to point A, then B, then C... and get shot at by PvP players. That is it really. After a day the hardcores are already kitted out in advanced gear that result in a gameplay very similar to this: spawn, walk, dead. spawn, walk, dead. repeat. Graphics are nothing to write This is bascially a shooter, GTA meets counterstrike, without any variation at all really. The "quests" consist of go to point A, then B, then C... and get shot at by PvP players. That is it really. After a day the hardcores are already kitted out in advanced gear that result in a gameplay very similar to this: spawn, walk, dead. spawn, walk, dead. repeat. Graphics are nothing to write home about. Think xbox 360 crackdown, only slightly worse and stuttery. Music is nice, with some good tracks, that of course you only hear when in a car ;( All in all I'm already regretting spending money on it and most certainly will not subscribe.… Expand
  25. Mouse
    Mar 14, 2012
    4
    I played the Beta and didn't like where it was going. The changes I saw needing to be made were far too vast and extensive I didn't give the dev teams enough credit to face them. So I took a break and returned long after the game went live. And in short: it's still bad. Match-making seems to be better, the infinite customization potential is still there, along with (my favorite part) theI played the Beta and didn't like where it was going. The changes I saw needing to be made were far too vast and extensive I didn't give the dev teams enough credit to face them. So I took a break and returned long after the game went live. And in short: it's still bad. Match-making seems to be better, the infinite customization potential is still there, along with (my favorite part) the loading screens. But GamersFirst (which is like calling a corporation "ConsumersFirst") proves itself to be every bit the dirty capitalist from the nightmares of Karl Marx. The in-game weapons are generally balanced, unless you count the sniper rifles laser-effective range of 0m to 300m without the FOV-limiting scope view, or the lag caused by being hit by a 20 rounds-per-second SMG at close range. But then there's the marketplace, where you must buy credit (which numbs the pinch of spending money) at $10 per 800 credits. With this money, you can buy (or usually rent) overpriced weapons that are much more powerful then the play4free-ers will get. Higher stats across the board make them appealing, but dispair not, for there is a cheaper way to get them (or so it seems). Premium members (and you'll never forget this, because it's advertised by GamersFirst at every possible annoying opporunity) can get free monthly credits, discounts on marketplace items, and in-game cash boosts, along with plenty of other goodies. For a monthly fee in this F2P game. If only between 3 and 10% of gamers have to pay for a free 2 play game to turn a profit, and if GamersFirst has several of these up and running, one has to wonder how much money they're making, and what they're doing with it all. Building a floating company headquarters out of old battleships and oil rigs?… Expand
  26. tomchee
    Feb 18, 2015
    0
    Pay2Win as hell! Besides that the most unoptimalized program i have ever seen. (u can't play smothly without atleast 8GB ram). Also the equipment u can buy for ingame currency, disapers in a 7 days (not to mention that they are so expensive but much more weaker then the premium weapons).
    One of the Top3 Worst game i have ever tried.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
79
#79 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
58

Mixed or average reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 30 out of 42
  3. Negative: 9 out of 42
  1. PC Zone UK
    63
    Style over substance. [Oct 2010, p.74]
  2. games(TM)
    60
    When all its cylinders are firing, APB can be quite fun, but that enjoyment is blunted by the fact that its action mechanics and driving are both so clunky. [Issue#99, p.108]
  3. GamingTrend
    69
    APB attempts to combine the feel of an MMO with the PvP of a first person shooter. By themselves, each concept works well. But here, each feels like it only received partial effort.
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