All Points Bulletin (APB)

[Rathen4]

I played it during most of the beta and honestly this is a terrible, terrible game. Sets up rank 1 players with rank 200 players in battles. Matchmaking regularly pits small groups of 2/3 players against groups of 5.

 

The only shining aspect of it is the customiser. There really isn't much going on here.

[TheEdgeOfReason]

I'm still not able to create an account. Don't know why it keeps failing to load the page. From what you guys have said though, I'm not missing much.

[Huntman]

I played some of the beta today and for the most part. It wasn't too bad. The driving will take some time getting use to as well as shooting.

 

Everything else was great. The Music Studio, decal designers, and what not.

[Fleisch]

I played the beta at my friends... Awful! They expect payment to play this game? Forget it! With the exception of customization, there is no reason I would want to play this, let alone pay through the arse for the privelege! Driving and aiming is a joke and as mentioned above by someone, it's not exactly clever when match making.

 

Good concept, crap execution (surprise surprise).

[Huntman]

Driving and aiming is a joke and as mentioned above by someone, it's not exactly clever when match making.

 

Good concept, crap execution (surprise surprise).

 

Agreed. And it is unbalanced to, the shooting that is.

 

I shot the guy in the head two times, then he shot me and killed me.

 

I'm just going to play for the social custom stuff.

[Genadi]

I played it during most of the beta and honestly this is a terrible, terrible game. Sets up rank 1 players with rank 200 players in battles. Matchmaking regularly pits small groups of 2/3 players against groups of 5.

 

The only shining aspect of it is the customiser. There really isn't much going on here.

 

My experience nearly word for word. I gave up on this becoming good months ago. Such a great idea to, a shame.

[Remianen]

A rule of thumb I've learned from over a decade of playing MMOs that's more true now than it was back then:

 

Don't judge an MMO's quality until it's first anniversary.

 

It takes a year (minimum) for an MMO team to 'get their sea legs under them'. Release is typically barebones with the basic stuff needed to attract an audience (and sell lots of boxes, if applicable) while all the things that were 'focus cuts' during initial development get polished and implemented after release. It's one reason why the 'lifetime subscription' trend is gaining steam (gotta make that recoup money!).

 

Assuming it survives (and given its publisher, I think it's got a good chance to), this time next year, APB might be worth investing in.

[Genadi]

A rule of thumb I've learned from over a decade of playing MMOs that's more true now than it was back then:

 

Don't judge an MMO's quality until it's first anniversary.

 

It takes a year (minimum) for an MMO team to 'get their sea legs under them'. Release is typically barebones with the basic stuff needed to attract an audience (and sell lots of boxes, if applicable) while all the things that were 'focus cuts' during initial development get polished and implemented after release. It's one reason why the 'lifetime subscription' trend is gaining steam (gotta make that recoup money!).

 

Assuming it survives (and given its publisher, I think it's got a good chance to), this time next year, APB might be worth investing in.

 

I know what you're saying Remi and am currently waiting patiently while my mmo of choice goes through the roughest, buggiest launch I've ever been in (Mortal Online). But this stinks, right down to those bare bones. Doesn't matter how much you polish a turd, it's still a turd. The whole direction the game has taken since it went into BETA 6 months ago has been terrible.

[Remianen]

I know what you're saying Remi and am currently waiting patiently while my mmo of choice goes through the roughest, buggiest launch I've ever been in (Mortal Online). But this stinks, right down to those bare bones. Doesn't matter how much you polish a turd, it's still a turd. The whole direction the game has taken since it went into BETA 6 months ago has been terrible.

 

First off, you don't know buggy launches if you didn't play Anarchy Online at launch. Imagine getting disconnected every, oh, 30 minutes and half the time when you came back, the server had been rolled back sometimes to before you created your character (so new toon = bye bye). I've heard horror stories about MO but a few people have said, "At least it's not like AO's launch." Seriously, that was a freakin' disaster (the MMO equivalent of the Hindenburg).

 

But I've heard tell that Mortal's having serious issues with server stability. Like one former guildie said 'the server used to crash every couple hours but they patched a couple times and now it only crashes a few times a day'. Uh, and that's good??? Also, they've backpedaled on policies and now allow macroing?!? Also, a few of my...uhh, less honest acquaintances have actually written hack and bot programs for MO. From what they've said, it's harder to hack EverQuest than MO, which is damning.

 

Again, give 'em a year. Even the big studios with their ridiculously high budgets (but painfully small and inadequate QA departments) suffer these kinds of troubles. WoW had server issues at launch (though that was due to overpopulation more than anything else).

[Comradebot]

So, my opinions on my short play session yesterday:

 

1. There is certainly a potential for fun here, as I quite enjoyed randomly driving around the city and a couple of little gunfights I got into.

 

2. From a technical standpoint, this game really angered me. Not only does it require a beastly machine for the recommended settings, but, get this: no matter what settings I used everything always looked the same. All that changed is I got better FPS on the lowest settings. I know my computer isn't a monster, but I'd still like to have some advanced graphic options. Nothing I can do allows me to see characters as anymore than at their absolute minimum... sorta lame.

 

3. Walking into the Social district the first time, the VERY first thing I hear is Echo & The Bunnymen playing. Gotta say, I marked out a bit.

 

4. I wish you could edit wardrobe to some degree BEFORE starting the game. Far too many people look almost EXACTLY the same. Indeed, the Social District looked like it was populated with early WWE career John Cena's everywhere. Which also tells me there aren't enough female characters running around.

 

5. I'm not positive, but I THINK the character creator was in a different resolution than in-game. My character came out looking like he had a totally different body than the one I sculpted in it. Weird.

 

 

Right now, I think I"m gonna pass on actually picking it up. If I ever feel a pressing need to upgrade my computer then, well, that'll be far enough in the future they can hopefully get this game on its legs. An excellent concept, incredibly well-stylized... but they just aren't quite there yet. I'll keep my MMO money still safely saved away for SWTOR.

[Comradebot]

First off, you don't know buggy launches if you didn't play Anarchy Online at launch. Imagine getting disconnected every, oh, 30 minutes and half the time when you came back, the server had been rolled back sometimes to before you created your character (so new toon = bye bye). I've heard horror stories about MO but a few people have said, "At least it's not like AO's launch." Seriously, that was a freakin' disaster (the MMO equivalent of the Hindenburg).

 

But I've heard tell that Mortal's having serious issues with server stability. Like one former guildie said 'the server used to crash every couple hours but they patched a couple times and now it only crashes a few times a day'. Uh, and that's good??? Also, they've backpedaled on policies and now allow macroing?!? Also, a few of my...uhh, less honest acquaintances have actually written hack and bot programs for MO. From what they've said, it's harder to hack EverQuest than MO, which is damning.

 

Again, give 'em a year. Even the big studios with their ridiculously high budgets (but painfully small and inadequate QA departments) suffer these kinds of troubles. WoW had server issues at launch (though that was due to overpopulation more than anything else).

 

Hahaha, oh god the memories...

 

I still remember on the very first day (of head start, I think? Thought they had one. If not, launch day.)... anywho, very first day with the WoW servers up, I was busy doing the early quests in Durotar with my good ol' Troll hunter.... and then every mob and mineral vein vanished off the map... just sorta "faded away" from what I could see. Stayed like that for a couple of hours.

 

A couple of hours I spent fishing! Twas good times.

[Crychon]

So yeah, after a few months it has already shut down. Real glad I pre-ordered it.

 

Was saving most of my hours till it was out for a few months, but yeah, looks like that wasn't such a good plan.

[Big Roguey]

So yeah, after a few months it has already shut down. Real glad I pre-ordered it.

 

Was saving most of my hours till it was out for a few months, but yeah, looks like that wasn't such a good plan.

 

There was a big news report on this. Something along the lines of "The Government should have gave us money, wha wha moan moan, we couldn't compete moan moan".

[Huntman]

So yeah, after a few months it has already shut down. Real glad I pre-ordered it.

 

Was saving most of my hours till it was out for a few months, but yeah, looks like that wasn't such a good plan.

 

Ditto. I was planning to start playing it again after getting a new video card. Looks like that will be happening, never.