I have had the pleasure of playing many types of games from every genre, so when I seen they crossed a few of my favs to create what looks to be GTA4 as an MMO, I was pretty excited to play it.
APB or All points bulletin is a new PVP based MMO-shooter that takes from the greatness of GTA and chucks in a cops and robbers theme just for fun. Each player can choose to create a criminal or an enforcer and are pit against each other in the never ending battle for the city of San Paro.
There is quite a sizable amount of stuff to do in this game, as the developers seen the need to be able to create and customize your character, car, clothes and well the kitchen sink as you see fit. They even took that as far as being able to create your own "theme" music for when you "pwn" someone. They did it well too, not like those twats that think customization is selecting from 5 preset heads and changing the skin tone.
You can even sell what you create on their market place *cough* auction house for RTW points which you can effectively purchase game time with...pretty fancy. And even after that you can really see the economy working in game.
The game play is actually pretty good. The only real point that gets me is the delayed steering when driving a car, sure it's only a couple of milliseconds but it's quite annoying when in a big car chase and you continually crash into the same car 5 times. The gun fights are...pretty much as you would want them. You require to use strategic movements to get around your enemies and can prove to be a pain in the ass if you are up against a large group.
So from stealing cars and ram raiding shop fronts, to arresting criminal scum and sabotaging their evil plots. To carrying a box 100 meters for the return of $68 in game. There is plenty to keep you busy...that is until you max out all your factions.
I admit, it is pretty fun game and I thoroughly enjoy playing it. But there's something missing, something that you require in an MMO to capture the audience and tame them in to the return player.
It's that sense of achievement, it is still present in game with unlocking guns, clothing and so on. But there is no returning factor once you have maxed your factions and collected all the items. It lacks an end game entirety and return playability. Sure you can create an opposing character and do it all again, like some kind of RPG whore who continues to play the same game for an alternate ending, whilst masturbating to the pixel vixen they created and eating 2 minute noodles. But when it comes down to it, once your maxed out, you literally have next to nothing to do besides trying to gain the highest level of threat and have an entire server chasing you around a map only equal to size of a level from, well, a playstation game (yes an original playstation). It's a shame really as the game has such potential to be a big game, but it lacks in that sense of achievement.
Achievement in games is the psychological draw back to attention. Look at WoW (yes I realize they are on different levels of MMO'dom) when a player reaches max level, he/she still has so much to achieve with raids and gear and tea parties in the barrens. Where APB just stops giving you anything, do they expect you to just want to keep playing for the customization or just keep playing to continue to steal car and turn them in for cash. I don't know.
My personal opinion is that APB should not be considered for those who are seeking the achievement of gaming, its rather just for people who enjoy the idea of shooting from a 3rd person prospective whilst delivering pizza to fat tony and the mob.
APB or All points bulletin is a new PVP based MMO-shooter that takes from the greatness of GTA and chucks in a cops and robbers theme just for fun. Each player can choose to create a criminal or an enforcer and are pit against each other in the never ending battle for the city of San Paro.
There is quite a sizable amount of stuff to do in this game, as the developers seen the need to be able to create and customize your character, car, clothes and well the kitchen sink as you see fit. They even took that as far as being able to create your own "theme" music for when you "pwn" someone. They did it well too, not like those twats that think customization is selecting from 5 preset heads and changing the skin tone.
You can even sell what you create on their market place *cough* auction house for RTW points which you can effectively purchase game time with...pretty fancy. And even after that you can really see the economy working in game.
The game play is actually pretty good. The only real point that gets me is the delayed steering when driving a car, sure it's only a couple of milliseconds but it's quite annoying when in a big car chase and you continually crash into the same car 5 times. The gun fights are...pretty much as you would want them. You require to use strategic movements to get around your enemies and can prove to be a pain in the ass if you are up against a large group.
So from stealing cars and ram raiding shop fronts, to arresting criminal scum and sabotaging their evil plots. To carrying a box 100 meters for the return of $68 in game. There is plenty to keep you busy...that is until you max out all your factions.
I admit, it is pretty fun game and I thoroughly enjoy playing it. But there's something missing, something that you require in an MMO to capture the audience and tame them in to the return player.
It's that sense of achievement, it is still present in game with unlocking guns, clothing and so on. But there is no returning factor once you have maxed your factions and collected all the items. It lacks an end game entirety and return playability. Sure you can create an opposing character and do it all again, like some kind of RPG whore who continues to play the same game for an alternate ending, whilst masturbating to the pixel vixen they created and eating 2 minute noodles. But when it comes down to it, once your maxed out, you literally have next to nothing to do besides trying to gain the highest level of threat and have an entire server chasing you around a map only equal to size of a level from, well, a playstation game (yes an original playstation). It's a shame really as the game has such potential to be a big game, but it lacks in that sense of achievement.
Achievement in games is the psychological draw back to attention. Look at WoW (yes I realize they are on different levels of MMO'dom) when a player reaches max level, he/she still has so much to achieve with raids and gear and tea parties in the barrens. Where APB just stops giving you anything, do they expect you to just want to keep playing for the customization or just keep playing to continue to steal car and turn them in for cash. I don't know.
My personal opinion is that APB should not be considered for those who are seeking the achievement of gaming, its rather just for people who enjoy the idea of shooting from a 3rd person prospective whilst delivering pizza to fat tony and the mob.
