Better then most console arcade games

The pre beta for everyone who pre ordered all points bulletin is now live with many server side issues to boot    like the delay of  access to the server for an extra 48 hrs after the planned event day to start things off

But this IS still just  a *Beta* so take this review as one that is not fully seeing the potential of APB. What IS here though and what little is working  is massive. My main fear after playing gta 4 since the start was  that* i wish they would make another game that was true to gta fashion but not confined in a box*  the pc has the potential for massive games,  take arma 2 for instance and if your not familiar with arma then  what about just cause 2? I always thought the bigger the map the worst off the graphic would get but just cause 2 threw that notion into the water

and …shot it with a rocket  so did APB  so far the game is gorgeous if u can get over the lag and hiccups. so to start things off lets talk about everything that is negative and round it off with the positive from one whole day of game play

Shooting system

It seems no matter how many head shots i get the kills seem to be random … also it seems that it’s not based off of skill but who ever has the better gun wins the fight. which leads to me being shot from what seems to be yards away by an upgraded gun killed in less then 3 -4 shots  or being face to face literally shootting them in the eye over and over just to watch them jump around and win the match

This leads to countless time of forget your on a mic cursing up a storm while the enemy sits back and laughs at your raging from frustration . the only time i ever got kills was when by chance we got backup and while the person was distracted i picked them off from a safe distance away.

which leads me to  my next gripe about this game……

Match making

with just me and juno trying out the game for the better part of the day we more then often were matched with just us against 5-6 other players …. and not knowing at the time that we could call for backup was over whelmed with enemys even when we did they rarely showed up *note most players ditch a mission if its too far* or if they want to do other things so that being said back up is rare

also being a low rank and going against 3 higher ranks when its just me and juno *low ranks* was never fun we would always get* out gunned* and i say out gunned because it was not there skill level that was killing us it was there access to better guns and the luxury of setting up defense before any enforcers made it to the location

many missions feels like the same thing u never meet up hardly with anyone else unless your sent to take them out mostly its driving across the vast city picking thing up till u get to the drop off point where as you must fight to survive. And did i mention the horrible driving controls i mean horrid and the fact that if you have and own an xbox 360 remote for get thinking you can replace it for the game controls because its going to be just for running and shooting for some reason u cant map the joy sticks to the driving controls in that game which forces you to use the d-pad … and in my opinion makes it harder to drive you might was well use a keyboard

even if you’ve never played a game with the keyboard it will immediately show you its easier. why is there not xbox controller love from this game even arma 2 has awesome xbox support and thats a simulator!!

and last but not least STEAM!! yes steam i bought this game through steam and guess what …. because you launch the game from steam a second launcher appears for apb then after all that u get thrown into the game being that there is a second launcher steam only sees the launcher as the game and logs u off when the launcher goes away so you are not able to use steam overlay which is the major reason why i chose to buy apb from steam rather then gamestop ect ect….. this anger me but thankfully apb’s chat prox chat system is quite nice along with text

that being said lets move on the what makes me love this game even though i am mostly frustrated with the mechanics.

Customization

customization …………. location location location customizing everything from the clothes you wear to how you look the tattoos and the cars are what keep me glued to this game
creativity freedom to do what you want has not only attracted normal folks but anon as well
/B/rothers are strong in this game every where u turn i see references to the good ol days.
with every kill you get with every mission you win you get money oh the money and with this in game currency you can buy yourself new clothes and gear and kits for your car.
the more you rank up the more you can customize if fighting is not your thing and u love to make designs for clothes ect the more you spend customizing the more your *lets say style* skill goes up just like a mmo the game caters to your style of game play customize your head off and you will find your rank high and you will also be accessible to more decals /shapes/ and clothes.

showing off what you worked so hard to make has its own rewards all in a whole different class of fun

apb is better in groups so get into a clan or * join ours * and do it fast because being alone is the worst thing you could do in this game as soon as we got members flowing in the game got a whole lot better  ppl had our backs and it was just utter chaos and fun

The world

Even though i would love to see more buildings you could go into the world is huge each district excluding social is massive and i get lost so easy from the maps online i thought the game was a bit small but thats not the case i dont feel boxed in and i have yet to feel like im going to the same location more then once but then again i did bounce around districts quite a bit so that might catch up to me and bite me in the tail.

All in all if i where to rate APB i would say that it has gotten my attention and held it

give it time to tweak the driving mechanics and the matchmaking  and this game could be in the list of classics for now this replaces my gta so San Paro Don’t  Mess this up  you could either be great or easily be crushed under the weight of gta or the new just cause multi player patch