APB Comes to a "Premature End"
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
I was in the beta for a month and loved it. The customization was mind-blowing. I was literally seconds away from pre-ordering but then I decided to wait for reviews and community opinions. Soon I decided to let it go.
Good call.
Also, people who bought it recently should get their money back.
Dayumn, feel sorry for them in a way, less because of the game going down (after all had it been a good enough game, well advertised etc etc this probably would have been a success but thats a whole other argument i wont get into) but because now they have become a precident, MMOs have a hard enough time being compared to WoW all the time but now, your going to see qoutes like "will this be another APB?" in reviews and articles and pretty much everywhere and thats one label no company wants to carry with them, will really hurt future projects that any of thier team work on.
Also just wow, 90 days? I've known and played some poor MMO that lasted longer than that, Auto Assualt comes to mind (though I did really enjoy that, flaws and all, was the other mutant players I met I think) that game got average to poor reviews but still lived just over a year
Also just wow, 90 days? I've known and played some poor MMO that lasted longer than that, Auto Assualt comes to mind (though I did really enjoy that, flaws and all, was the other mutant players I met I think) that game got average to poor reviews but still lived just over a year
I am pretty sure the first time I read about APB was in 2002. And even though it got poor reviews when it was released I knew I was going to buy it. I never got around to it. I waited for 8 years and I never got to play it.
... I can actually see the funny part about it.
... I can actually see the funny part about it.
That's what you get when you base your business on just a vague idea. For a game that lacked content, was limited to unbalanced mission grind with absolutely nothing to do in between and charged per hour of gameplay it was doomed to die from the very start. Apart from character creation APB had nothing you can't get elsewhere for free. Look at Global Agenda, they offer much more in terms of gameplay and don't charge you for it. Look at TF2 where you have much better shooter mechanics.
Bad subscription model + bad gameplay + no content = it won't work.
Bad subscription model + bad gameplay + no content = it won't work.
Auto Assault! F yeah son, I remember that game. It was bizarely fun, but only for like a week.Starke said:
Shame, game filled a certain niche for all it's faults and was really hoping for patches to fix the balance issues :\
A lot of ppl are rofling at this turn of events, i.e: those that didn't play the game or want to put it side by side with wow, but to those who played and saw the potential this game had, it's a real shame.
A lot of ppl are rofling at this turn of events, i.e: those that didn't play the game or want to put it side by side with wow, but to those who played and saw the potential this game had, it's a real shame.
THIS. SO MUCH OF THIS.Johnny Cain said:
I personally was hyped for APB due to the fact that it was attempting doing something different. It had a wholly unique concept, one that portrayed both sides as bad guys (depending on who you played: A particular mission as a Criminal sticks with me as I stole evidence incriminating a bunch of kids that were out spray painting, and weren't even affiliated with the gang I was pledged to. Stick it to the man FTW!) and with a city that let you see other players interacting with the world.
The execution of these ideas is what ultimately killed it. If it was given time, it would have fine tuned the mechanics of the missions and the "witnessing" of crimes, given better balance to the game, and would have ultimately saved it. EA did everything they could to get word out on the game and the whole Human Avatar project was something that I found intuitive and exemplary of the game's customization. And seeing that dude in game was pretty awesome.
I'd love to see someone pick up the APB license and fix whats wrong with it. I really would. It's a real shame that it died and frankly, this is nothing more than a QA issue. If it had been properly balanced by QA, it wouldnt have died as quickly, but in a studio, it's a pain to see QA as they NEVER BRING GOOD NEWS.
But still. This makes me incredibly sad and only reinforces the fact that our industry is based solely around the blockbuster hits. Even Indie games have to be big extravagant things for them to get any sort of recognition (Ex: Braid), and games that try something new arent given the time or the consideration to make something great.
Maybe we can. The system of the character creation seems to be solid, so I wouldn't be surprised if EA started importing it into it's other MMOs that it may create.Feylynn said:
You'd wonder why they didn't go free to play with microtransactions.
Or why no companys making those put in offers to buy it.
Or why no companys making those put in offers to buy it.
That's unfortunate. I've never even heard of this game before, but the idea of a GTA-esque MMO sounds like a really good one if done right. Pity.
I never bought or played this game but it is always a shame to see the fruit of such hard labor fail. Also a shame that the company has gone under. I suggest a moment of sad yet awesome music.
