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.

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)

Originally posted by sodom1234

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.

 

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.

Originally posted by tawess

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.

 

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 completely agree with this review sorry but sometimes you gotta call a pig a pig

 

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.