APB on steam - Worth playing yet?

[Heliocentric]

I know this game has extremists om both sides, but as someone who found the combat fun but a little primitive, the context of paying for advantages unnecessary and the driving lag disgusting. Is the game much improved?

[Gentleman Jim Stacey]

I played it in the summer. It wasn't too bad but thanks to the lag, extremely stiff shooting, and stupidly unfair missions, I eventually lost interest.

I had fun making a grizzled detective looking character and an OCP squad car, though.

[Jockie]

Last time I played it, it was still dogged by cheating and the f2p/premium/weapon rental system etc was overly confusing and the customisation was sadly limited as a free player.

The game has always been horribly optimised too and runs like crap in terms of FPS on my system, despite more than surpassing all the reqs.

Still think it has tons of potential though.

[Althea]

Still think it has tons of potential though.
Yes, it does, but sadly I've got to agree above with the above in that it's not a high quality release.

I don't think the customisation was even that good, if I'm honest. Sometimes having too much choice is not a good thing.

[DaftPunk]

Not worth spending any actual money on it.

[Nalano]

I was under the impression that APB on Steam was dead in the water and APB Reloaded was still F2P.

I liked the original - despite its many, many* flaws - but I'm not playing the Reloaded bit at the moment due to better options and not liking MMOs in general and F2P MMOs in specific.

*It was a bad idea to give starting players the worst gun and the most unresponsive car in the game, it was a bad idea to make top geared players almost unbeatable to starting players in a multiplayer shooter, I hate rank ladders because they suck the fun out of what should be craziness, neither the old guys nor the new guys figured out how to deal with aimbots, real currency markets means pay-to-win, the enforcers' nonlethal weapons were horribly overpowered, and there were plenty of racist and vulgar players and player-made artwork.

[SirKicksalot]

When I played it back before RTW died, it was a lot of fun with friends. All the meh driving and shooting didn't really matter. I think "organic" describes it best - those missions where you had to go to a specific location and defend or attack it from other players are ace. I never felt forced to play in a specific way by the designers.

[Nalano]

When I played it back before RTW died, it was a lot of fun with friends. All the meh driving and shooting didn't really matter. I think "organic" describes it best - those missions where you had to go to a specific location and defend or attack it from other players are ace. I never felt forced to play in a specific way by the designers.

The most fun I had in that game was when I stopped caring (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00105.jpg) about my ladder ranking.

[SirKicksalot]

The more I stare at that pic the funnier it gets.

[Nalano]

Positively guaranteed no bombs (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00107.jpg).

[Fiyenyaa]

Positively guaranteed no bombs (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00107.jpg).

I can't tell if that's a stroke of genius, or in the worst possible taste.
Probably about half-way between the two.

[Nalano]

I can't tell if that's a stroke of genius, or in the worst possible taste.
Probably about half-way between the two.

Considering how much fun I've been having with Saints Row 3 of late, I'm just gonna say "both."

(One of the upgrades for vehicles is "larger explosions when destroyed." We thought it was pointless but thematic... until we realized that suicide carbombing folks was surprisingly effective. Who knew, right?)

[Althea]

Or maybe Nalano is actually Chris Morris in disguise.

[DigitalSignalX]

SR3 needs a ALALALALALALALALALA wail as you dive into traffic in an armored vehicle.

[Kadayi]

I don't think the customisation was even that good, if I'm honest. Sometimes having too much choice is not a good thing.

I thought the toolsets were pretty good (very few games offer up anything comparable lets be honest), it was daft things like not being able to mirror decals that were an issue.

I do get what you're saying that too much did tend to make everyone go a bit overboard though. Personally I went for a very particular minimal look with my character (tapping into a sort of understated Neo geisha vibe) and stuck with it, rather than going OB with the crazy colours and tattoos.

[Nalano]

I don't think the customisation was even that good, if I'm honest. Sometimes having too much choice is not a good thing.

It has the best customization of any MMO I've ever seen. That being said, it really depends on who actually takes advantage of it and how they do so - as well as a few more mundane caveats such as how textures wash out (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/NYCTaxiWIP.jpg) and shards are severely limited in player count due to the high volume of decal overlays - but just in terms of making your products (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00126.jpg) reflect you (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00064.jpg), nothing comes close.

[Utnac]

If you fancy an MMO, that's F2P on steam, go with EQ2 ;)

[Username]

I want to try APB, but the thought of creating yet another account that I'll have to keep track of until the end of time is holding me back. Most fun Steam F2P MMO I've tried so far is, oddly, Forsaken World. DCUO would be in first if it were... fun.

[TailSwallower]

I played it a couple of months ago at a friends house - so it was in F2P mode, but not yet on Steam. The game seemed like it had potential, but I can see why it crashed and burned when it was subscription based.

- The game was either really laggy, or really floaty, or both. Sure, 2 of us were sharing an internet connection, but it's a beefy connection and we do it for other games without any problems at all.
- I found it nearly-impossible to get any kills with the starting weapons (and to make matters worse, when I wanted to go to the weapon shop out of curiosity it wouldn't load). When I eventually got an email newsletter from them it turns out that you don't simply buy access to the weapons, you buy a subscription to them, and they only last for a month until you have to re-up. When I saw that I was pretty happy to write the game off.

So yeah, on paper it should be absolutely fantastic, but it doesn't deliver. If you've got a bunch of friends all playing, or you hook up with a clan then I imagine most of the problems would be worth dealing with, but if you were hoping to jump in solo and just tool about I don't think you'll find yourself sticking around too long.

[Gentleman Jim Stacey]

The shooting really was the deal breaker for me. It's terrible. Head shots dont matter. You do the same amount of damage shooting at feet as heads. Health is too high. It's just really shallow and simplistic. This was obviously done deliberately to make gear the biggest factor.

Are there any other F2P games that are as fair to free players as World of Tanks? I've NEVER felt like I needed to buy something to compete...I've only ever spent $7 to buy a few garage slots and 3 days of premium to speed along my grind to the Panther, and I've never felt that I lost a fight because the other guy had gold ammo or a Lowe - skill is king in WoT. Its certainly no coincidence that its one of the most successful free games. F2P games should be pay-for-convenience instead of pay-to-win...how much longer can the games that don't understand that survive?

[Althea]

It has the best customization of any MMO I've ever seen. That being said, it really depends on who actually takes advantage of it and how they do so - as well as a few more mundane caveats such as how textures wash out (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/NYCTaxiWIP.jpg) and shards are severely limited in player count due to the high volume of decal overlays - but just in terms of making your products (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00126.jpg) reflect you (http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e342/jonmphy/APB/ScreenShot00064.jpg), nothing comes close.
Having "the best customisation of any MMO" isn't really saying much, though, as very few tend to have anything truly decent.

[illiterate]

I played for about 4 months, even subscribed during the beta for a couple of months. But the game has the most hostile community I have ever come across, all they do is whine and complain day in and day out, and its that, which finally made me uninstall.

[Nalano]

Having "the best customisation of any MMO" isn't really saying much, though, as very few tend to have anything truly decent.

And the reason they don't is because, the more variables you allow the player to define, the fewer players you can render in the world without chugging.


I played for about 4 months, even subscribed during the beta for a couple of months. But the game has the most hostile community I have ever come across, all they do is whine and complain day in and day out, and its that, which finally made me uninstall.

Played through beta and through the game's whole two months of retail existence, and while the community was still MMO cesspool-worthy - with plenty of speculation as to whether we got the worst of both the MMORPG and the MPFPS worlds - it was always the game design that was hostile, in my opinion, rather than the gamers.

Imbalanced sides (Enforcers had a whole class of weapons unavailable to Criminals that were impossible to defend against and took Criminals out of the fight longer than conventional weapons. Also, Enforcers could initiate fights with Criminals at will - something Criminals couldn't do), a broken ladder system, a broken backup system, map exploits and default-always-on VoIP meant that it felt like the game was actively colluding with your opponents to stomp you, beat you into a corner, humiliate you and taunt you for ten minutes at a time.

[illiterate]

And the reason they don't is because, the more variables you allow the player to define, the fewer players you can render in the world without chugging.



Played through beta and through the game's whole two months of retail existence, and while the community was still MMO cesspool-worthy - with plenty of speculation as to whether we got the worst of both the MMORPG and the MPFPS worlds - it was always the game design that was hostile, in my opinion, rather than the gamers.

Imbalanced sides (Enforcers had a whole class of weapons unavailable to Criminals that were impossible to defend against and took Criminals out of the fight longer than conventional weapons. Also, Enforcers could initiate fights with Criminals at will - something Criminals couldn't do), a broken ladder system, a broken backup system, map exploits and default-always-on VoIP meant that it felt like the game was actively colluding with your opponents to stomp you, beat you into a corner, humiliate you and taunt you for ten minutes at a time.

I also played some of the open beta, (RTW Days), and from what i remember, they have made progress in sorting alot of the balance issues. You will see a load of gumpf about TTK, and how it was better in the RTW days.

Hopefully, now its been added to steam, more people will play, and with an influx of money, GF can work to sort the rest of the issues.

The game is good, if you have time to spend, and have mates who play.

[outoffeelinsobad]

This really seems like my kinda thing, but it runs like dry peanut butter. Uphill.

Any tips on how to give it a little kick in the pants? Or is this just the way its gonna be?

[Cooper]

It's really, really poorly put together. It's had 'stuttering' issues and poor FPS on decent systems since the relaunch which are just ignored by devs.

And the community is stuffed with hardware elitists. The response to decent systems having problems running the game is always "upgrade to an i7 and 16GB ram" or something stupid...