APB Beta invites sent out on 6.11

[mydnyte]

Hello!

It looks like those of us who signed up ages ago for the APB PC Beta will get a chance to play this weekend.

Unlimited social district access and 5 hours of action district action.

Anybody here get in?

[lockwoodx]

Don't need APB to be an E-thug.

[White667]

God Damn, I didn't. I don't know if I even applied.

Annoying though, I would've loved to have gotten in.

[Mantooth]

I have an extra key if anyone wants it. I was picked for the beta even though my processor is just under the min spec. They wouldn't even let me install it. Anyway, I'm not using the key so let me know if you want it.

[randir14]

I got in but I don't even remember signing up. It's installing now.

[randir14]

Well this game sucks. Moving on...

[Chimpbot]

Well this game sucks. Moving on...

Thanks for your thoughtful and in-depth impression.

[randir14]

It's a poor man's GTA without the fun, and it's more unoptimized than GTA IV on PC. The cities are boring and lifeless, the missions are repetitive. The driving controls and physics are terrible.

[randir14]

Two positive things: Character customization is excellent, and civilians will report crimes they witness which allows a criminal player to sneak around if they want to avoid fighting the police players.

[Emabulator]

It's a poor man's GTA without the fun, and it's more unoptimized than GTA IV on PC. The cities are boring and lifeless, the missions are repetitive. The driving controls and physics are terrible.Is the combat as bad as GTA IV? From what I read in PC Gamer it sounds like the combat sucks. One thing they mentioned was no location based damage.

[Evil Avatar]

It is Crackdown without anything that made Crackdown fun and with character & vehicle customization.

The artwork for the environment, characters and vehicles is all mind-numbingly generic (nothing like the colorful artwork they are using to advertise the game) and it lacks the cool vehicles, cool weapons and powers you get in Crackdown.

Gameplay is straight Deathmatch, but only when you are in a mission. That means the gameplay is 1v1, 2v2 or 4v4 Deathmatch and no one else can join in our help you out.

There are no bases to defend or parts of the city each "gang" can own.

PC Gamer said that the combat was poor... and since combat is all their is to do... you do the math from there.

Yes, I thought it was neat that you can design your own character and your vehicle, but if the gameplay after that is crap then the game is doomed from the beginning.

This is nothing you would pay to play. I would have expected it to be more like Planetside where you pay once and can play for free. Don't pay for APB. In 60 days (or less) they will be giving the client away for nothing or next-to-nothing.

[Evil Avatar]

Is the combat as bad as GTA IV? From what I read in PC Gamer it sounds like the combat sucks. One thing they mentioned was no location based damage.

The combat is very similar to GTA. It never seems to "aim" right, almost like your character gets in the way of the combat. Driving is less wobbly than GTA, but not nearly as solid as any other driving game you might find on a console.

Without a console controller, I find it kind of difficult to switch between weapons. Combat consists mostly of standing toe-to-toe with an enemy and hoping you have a better weapon than he does. Which is pretty much like GTA.

[lockwoodx]

Two positive things: Character customization is excellent, and civilians will report crimes they witness which allows a criminal player to sneak around if they want to avoid fighting the police players.

You just described a MMO from Cryptic.

[halfbent]

If anyone wants my key, I won't be using it. Tried it out during the EU-Beta and didn't care for it at all. Just shoot me a PM (preferably on Twitter, I'm lax with the boards) and it's yours, first come, first served.

[Evil Avatar]

I finished out my 5-hour "Key to the City" time by playing in 4v4 matches. It was a lot of fun, but in the end it is the same gameplay you can find in GTAIV 4v4 team matches. Doesn't GTAIV support 8v8 matches? I don't see any indications that APB offers anything bigger than 4v4 gameplay.

I loved the character customization and I would probably blow three or four solid weekends playing the game if they didn't have the monthly fee. I also thought it was pretty fun to watch other players who were involved in 2v2 or 4v4 matches. Every now and then you could even help them out by tossing a grenade at a vehicle.

I think this game needed a console version bad -- one where you purchase the game and you can jump into 16 player matches at your leisure.

I do wish them the best of luck because I think if you expanded the gameplay to 8v8, 16v16 or 32v32 matches and you built complex missions around those larger player numbers this could be a really impressive product.

After a little bit of initial "is this it?" depression the game did start to grow on me. It just didn't grow on me to the tune of $50 up front and $10 a month.

[randir14]

Is the combat as bad as GTA IV? From what I read in PC Gamer it sounds like the combat sucks. One thing they mentioned was no location based damage.

It's worse than GTA IV. My gun even changed firing modes randomly for no reason. One minute it would fire full auto, the next I had to keep clicking to fire.

[Emabulator]

It's worse than GTA IV. My gun even changed firing modes randomly for no reason. One minute it would fire full auto, the next I had to keep clicking to fire.Yuck! How did they get that wrong? Even low budget crapware shooters get that part right.

Is it a failed attempt at balance or is the game just buggy at this point?

[mydnyte]

It is Crackdown without anything that made Crackdown fun and with character & vehicle customization.


I couldn't agree more.

I was really looking forward to this one, but after playing for a few hours there is no way I would be willing to pay to play.

The aiming is quirky. There were a couple of times where I hit my opponent 12+ times and they didn't go down, even though I saw a hit mark. It was frustrating because I would get hit twice and drop like a rock. I don't know if this is because the Enforcers have a health bonus right off the bat or what.

The driving I found to be severly lacking in control no matter which vehicle I was in. This wasn't limited to myself as everybody around me was also crashing into buildings, other cars, etc.

The movement was also really clunky. I was expecting to be able to climb/jump walls and jump onto objects to help myself navigate the city. This wasn't the case at all, there are certain fences you can jump over but only by running up to it and pressing the F key. When trying to jump over walls just as high as one of the fences all I did was a vertical leap.

Breaking into buildings and commiting crimes is very boring as well. You basically hit a checkpoint press F and do a silly animation. After the crime is commited you'll see the window crack or a fire animation, and then it's over.

The PvP aspect was okay when the controls didn't get in your way. Capturing different points and holding them in 1v1 was pretty fun.

The unfortunate thing about this game is that it doesn't do anything that hasn't already been done better. In my opinion GTA IV has much better multiplayer. It could just be that they haven't worked out the mechanics yet, but even if it was tuned up I don't see any incentive at all for a pay to play.

[Evil Avatar]

I also noticed that in 5 hours of playing that I only encountered three or four different missions. So, the game is launching with only four missions???