Story
APB starts off in the city of San Paro, and the current Mayor initiates the City Security Act (CSA) which gives all players the right to bear arms to the fullest extent of the law and then some. The short and dirty explanation is that anyone can become a legal vigilante and fight crime just like Batman, except with less cape and cowl. The criminal that murdered the Mayor's father prior to all of this is out of jail and you get to pick whose side you're going to be on, are you a criminal or an enforcer?
This is all the story you're going to get, sad to say. Normally in an MMO you go through numerous NPC's all explaining different levels of the story and back-story while drawing your character in this world, and then you quickly click finish because you don't really read all that text anyways. Well APB takes that in account and quests and NPC interaction are limited to quick bios for NPC's which are pretty useless and quest text that does nothing to progress the story, just a means to the end of the mission. If you didn't read a single thing in this game, it wouldn't even matter, you wouldn't miss a thing. This really is a shame because it disconnects players with the game, and you're just repeating missions, not for any specific goal, but just to unlock a new bandanna and make some quick cash to customize your character more.
Controls
I will tell you right now, the driving is horrid. The handbrake system along with poor vehicle handling makes running a much better option. Encompassing the tried and true WASD method for movement and mouse controls, if you've ever played an FPS you're not getting into ground breaking territory here. Now all you Counter Strike/Halo/Modern Warfare fans out there, there are no head-shots. I repeat, no head-shots. Also shooting is very twitchy and will also take some time to get used to.
Players will be able to interact with objects while running, which gives an awesome open sandbox feel, especially when you are tearing ass away from the opposition and start jumping fences just to get away. Climb a ladder and be a sniper from the top of building, open doors and lie in wait for your enemy and blow his head off because he thinks things are "all clear". It gives a bit of a Rainbow 6 feeling to the whole game.
Because of the customization of APB (see more below) character shape and size can change drastically, so RTW developers gave all players the same size hit box to avoid exploration. There are issues with this system though, some players will tell you this makes the game "fair" but most players will find it hard to be absolutely sure you're ducked down behind that stack of crates. But then again there really isn't a good cover system in the first place.
Audio
The audio is fantastic, riding in your car cruising to Phoenix singing 1901, quickly jumping out and listening to the music fade away as you run to your nearest objective is just outstanding. Just like GTA you can change the radio stations within your car to suite the mood that you're in. Or if you really want you can create your own custom song lists to groove to when you get in and out of vehicles.
APB includes its own team voice system, that is pretty impressive, when you don't have the ridiculous 13 year old singing Katy Perry's "California Girls" in your ear because they don't realize there mic is open (oh yeah, that happened to me). This system takes the place of most third party clients and is a nice packaged addition to the game, since communication is key here.
Graphics
APB shows its worth with its customization option. Very rarely and probably not since the Elder Scrolls have I seen such and in depth customization mechanism. Literally you can change everything about your character, from shoes to shirt, all the way down to eyebrow width and jaw size. You are only limited by your imagination, so expect to spend the largest amount of time in the character building screen.
Other customizing options include a decal system, where players create elaborate designs that they can put on just about anything in game, from cars to clothes to walls. All of these can be changed throughout the game while hanging out in the "Second-Life"-esque Social District, an entire level dedicated to players changing everything about their characters, or showcasing cars and music for other players to admire. As you complete missions and gain more reputation with certain factions more options become "unlocked" for you to use, but it's not clearly explained how these unlocks happen, or when certain items can be unlocked.
Now all though this sounds like limitless possibilities, this game is still built around the Unreal 3 engine, and within that engine there are rules. Some get bent, and others are broken. This game is graphics heavy and unfortunately is not optimized to the best of its capabilities, so low frame-rates and slow computers will make everyone look exactly the same (i.e. everyone looks like a guy with generic baseball cap, baggy shirt and pants). Players may have to wait a bit to let everything catch up and update with current models. Make sure all your drivers are up to date, and if you can get on a LAN connection rather than wireless I would highly recommend it. Overall the game is gorgeous but if you have slow and outdated hardware, you may find yourself struggling, even in the lowest settings.
Game Play
APB is a team oriented game, just like any FPS out there. If you can get a good team together, stay organized and really rely on one another, you have got this game in the bag. If you're a solo player just hopping into LFG to run a couple of missions, good luck. While you try to run a mission your partner could be off hydroplaning in a boat "because he can" and you inevitably fail the mission. This is a game of Strategy and Tactics and if you can't get a group to organize themselves properly you're going to run into serious issues.
It's essentially cops and robber in an open world environment. You choose a side and then spend the entire time in game trying to thwart the other side. Mission balancing seems to be the biggest problem here. Most of the time (depending on time of day) you will be matched up against opponents that have better gear and you will ultimately get destroyed.
Spawn points are another problem because you end up in a mission that you have four minutes to complete, but spawn you on the entirely opposite side of the level, taking up most of your time running or driving to the objective. This needs to be fixed.
Then you have the actual mission objective, whereas you're playing a mission which has five objectives and you complete every objective but get pwned on the last level by the opposing team, you lose. Who cares about the first four missions that you just kicked everyone's teeth in, if you lose on any of the missions, you failed the mission completely. This becomes very frustrating because you are constantly being put up against ridiculous random opponents who only have to win one mission to your four to win overall. Missions become very repetitive, and the automated matchmaking makes it very difficult to actually enjoy them.
Overview
APB is by far one of the most customizable action MMO's out in the market to date, but due to its shortcomings it doesn't feel like a complete game. There is not enough content to justify buying it right now and game play really needs to be smoothed out to make this an enjoyable experience. Like all online games the first couple months are the hardest, because that's the time when all the bugs get ironed out, and APB is no different. Would I tell you to go out and buy this game tomorrow? No, but If Real Time Worlds listens to the community forums, and really invests the time and makes certain changes (Driving, more content, shooting etc.) or at least drop the price a bit this could be a game worth buying, in about six months.
All Points Bulletin was developed by Real Time Worlds and published by EA Games on June 29th 2010 for the PC. Retailing for $49.99. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. I played through almost 20 hours of game-play.
