By: Mike-san
I suppose this is the part of the review where you expect me to get real blatant about the game, summarizing the best and worst of what I’ve discussed in the past three parts of the review. Luckily, I’m the conventional type of critic and will appeal the masses. Especially in the case of All Points Bulletin, which I admit I’ve spent more time trying to get back into despite this review. In either case, I can honestly say that there are a lot more positive things about this game that made this review worth the eight plus Microsoft Word pages that I’ve typed for this. So, let’s buckle down and get into this wonderful process of breaking down the best and the worst of All Points Bulletin.
Positives:
- One of the most unique and immersive PVP experiences on any MMO
- Levels of customization make for incredibly diverse players
- Districts, despite being only a handful in populous manage to preoccupy well
- No progression levels means anyone can join in
What MMO do you know allows you to import graphics onto your t-shirt and roll around the city in the biggest SUV you can find without any repercussions? Especially when an established ‘monthly fee’ that drives most of the powerhouse MMO’s out there is replaced by APB’s free customization tools? It means that customization is free. It will forever be free, even when you run of action district ‘hours’, which means you can continue to interact with friends and fellow associates without losing some of the action of the game itself. Mind you, despite the drawback of another Pay-To-Play title, APB realizes that you may not even have an entire month to enjoy the game because your grandmother died or your dad’s in the hospital. It forgives you if you decide to leave it for another game. Therefore, the ability to jump in with your game at any time also gives you the advantage of a casual MMO, one that I myself have personally taken advantage of in that respect. Mind you, this game seems more built for something along the lines of a console game, but who am I to judge? APB on any platform finds itself to still be fucking awesome.
Being given the luxury of casual play, anyone can be good. That being said, anyone can also simply hop right into PVP and still find that their rusty gameplay still creaks from the nostalgia of the previous few days. Mind you, the game has only been out for a little over a week, but the fact that many players still find gaming on APB to be casual amazes me, especially when the PVP in this game outshines its Saint’s Row counterpart in every way. I know players might still be trying to conserve their hours, or perhaps they’ve bought time progressively and have simply managed to move on to a modern form of payment. Whatever the story may be on these players, they’ve still found themselves extremely immersed with the massive PVP battles going on across the city. Whether its 3v3 or 7v7, gamers will definitely find grouping up to be one of the most rewarding benefits they’ve ever come across. And the fact that everyone gets involved – even when each player is out to dominate each other – allows for traditional PVP’ing with a slight twist. It’s not as expansive as WoW’s alliance battles, but the fact that PVP can happen anywhere at any given time makes the idea of PVP’ing that much more fun. It also helps when you can stumble onto a PVP mission at any given time. That ‘All Point Bulletion’ flash could only signal one thing to anyone who played: Shit’s gonna’ get serious.
And what more could Real Time Worlds have improved on the ability to customize your character? Granted that you managed to unlock most of the unlockable clothing, gear and guns you’ve wanted, you can’t go wrong with the level of customization that APB provides. You pretty much have the ability to import graphics into the game, should none of the textures irk your interest. Plus, given the fact that the clothing is virtually customizable in any way (graphic placement plus custom clothing colors) means that unless you’re purposefully trying, there’s no way you’ll match someone else’s designs. Wanna’ slap your favorite catchphrase on the back of your button-down shirt? Go ahead. Need a gun on your shoe? Do that too. APB helps raise the standard for customization, proving that it’s not simply apparel and appearance that make the character. Customized clothing not enough? Paint an SUV with your tag on it. Make an 8-bit remix of the Rick-Roll as your victory theme. Make your own graffiti tag with a Mudkip on it. The possibilities really are endless. Assuming you have the software for it.
Negatives:
- Soloing/Unbalanced Alliances on Servers
- Infected with the ‘GTA Clone’ disease
- No progression levels means anyone can join in
One thing that I’ve been ranting consistently about during this review is the lack of balance in the alliances of the Enforcers and Criminals on each server. As a criminal, I have had first-hand experience that’s almost undeniable in the fact that criminals that are always outnumbered. ALWAYS. I remember most recently an argument an Enforcer and a Criminal had on the district chat that clearly went something along the lines of (and I’m paraphrasing now): “Enforcer: All the crims know how to do is run. Criminal: Why can’t we? It’s always a 1v2 or 1v3 against you guys. Enforcer: You guys are pussys. Criminal: Because we’re trying to win?” It has really come down to that, in terms of gameplay. It completely aggravates me that Enforcers seem to have the upper hand and abuse this privilege. Maybe it’s just the criminals being stupid and not forming groups, or perhaps the groups are far too weak to be let out of the nest. But when it comes down to being hunted by a pack of bloodhounds all ready to snap your neck within shooting range, it turns solo play (when you consider that solo play is a solo Enforcer with ten times the range you do) into something of a chore. Again, this is from the biased perspective of a criminal, and doesn’t apply to actual gameplay. The idea still that criminals have no real foothold in this city makes the Enforcers more appealing, in terms of main characters for each player.
Like Saint’s Row, the All Points Bulletin team still couldn’t pull away from the GTA series. Mind you, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the formula, but the fact that it derives itself from GTA makes the story (what little there is of it) as well as the nearly same interface in terms of gameplay as a third-person shooter that don’t stand out as much as transcend into. Then again, I don’t think that people play APB for its story. Even still, an MMO is usually driven by a well-crafted storyteller and that’s what APB lacks. I mean, you can create the story by progressing both sides, but it’s not you creating it. If anything’s been a factor in this game, it’s that both sides are the story. There’s no progression, and that feeling that you lack the ability to level up and earn your way through your own story just seems lost in the process.
Once again, I reiterate that anyone can play. That means anyone can play, in terms of pro gamers, hackers, anyone under ten and anyone who blasts porn from their speaker into the in-game speaker. Spammers aren’t uncommon in video games, so this idea of trolls in a game isn’t so much a problem. It just means that the APB team isn’t doing anything about the hackers – aimbots, etc – and come time for solo missions, there’s nothing harder that dealing with an Enforcer who has an aimbot from yards away that your N-TEC can’t touch. That, and the occasional vehicle hack make the game a big letdown. I mean, the game clearly is fun, but when your server is overpopulated with hackers and not once are you given the chance to report them, it becomes a serious problem to clean up on Reatime World’s end. (Not nearly as bad as the BP spill, of course…) Realtime worlds needs tighter security on this, and with only two real action districts in the entire game, you’d think that the problem would contain itself. But it doesn’t; it’s a virus, and aimbots everywhere manage to make the standard, casual players feel absolutely overwhelmed by this and really feel the need to leave all together or simply convert to the Enforcers (who oddly enough are the most popular alliance in the game). If Realtime worlds can fix this problem, perhaps my other two previous negative impacts above might mysteriously ‘dissolve’ from the realm of existence.
Final Verdict: 8 out of 10
Realtime Worlds gave us this blessing of an MMO, far unconventional from its brethren and far more progressive as well. Though it’s targeted for a wide audience of casual and hardcore gamers, the ability to play as a casual or hardcore gamer never feels like an overbalance between gamers. No level progression has its advantages in this sense, but it also deviates from the norm and might throw off standard MMO’ers. Add some steroid-induced levels of customization into your clothes, graffiti, vehicles and music and you get All Points Bulletin, a week-old game that despite its few and far between flaws still manages to play as an enjoyable, refreshing experience, even if it’s still trying to outdo it’s Saint’s Row cousins.
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