APB: Finally, I Can Be A PUNK!

[Outlawedprod]

Yeah, I would like to at least check out the NA servers and not sign up for fileplanet.

http://keys.rockpapershotgun.com/

[Morfiend]

Yeah, I would like to at least check out the NA servers and not sign up for fileplanet.

http://keys.rockpapershotgun.com/

Awesome. Thanks.

[Sky]

Yeah, thanks. Guess I know what I'll be up to this weekend. Except that it's also the fiancee's birthday.

I'm sure she wants some peace and quiet away from me as a present! Win-win.

[Righ]

If you don't like playing potentially incomplete games, do not touch any game

FIFY.

[fuser]

http://keys.rockpapershotgun.com/

Thanks! BTW the APB account verification email went straight to my spam on gmail.

[Morfiend]

http://keys.rockpapershotgun.com/

Thanks! BTW the APB account verification email went straight to my spam on gmail.

I used meltmail.com forwarding to my gmail, and it worked like a charm. My friend is having a lot of problems getting the email to deliver.

[Mrbloodworth]

Anyone know where I can get one of them fancy keys?

http://www.alienwarearena.com/event/apb-demo-giveaway/

There as well, however you'll have to make an account.

[Trippy]

Hi all,

Could one of the moderators contact me in PM, or preferably let me know how to address them as a group? I have some information regarding the NDA that I believe would be helpful and "freeing" to those posters here with comments to share (positive or negative, I'd rather you speak your mind).

However, this isn't a site I manage so I don't want to speak in place of the mods.

I sent you a PM.

[Mrbloodworth]

Steam has awoken with downloads and keys, Of you pre-orderd on steam.

Also:

EA Partners is only our publisher, they are not our financial backers. We are just using the fantastic retail infrastructure they have at their disposal to get APB into your hands.

We also purchased and built our own servers and will not be charging for our regular content updates.

[Trippy]

Okay having discussed the NDA issue with EvilJohn here's what's allowed going forward until the actual release:

No formal reviews of the Beta. This means:

* No posts about the Beta in the BiiF forum
* No grades/points in your posts (e.g. graphics = A/90, gameplay = B/80, overall=B/80)
* No non-personal play/don't play statements. It's okay to say to say you will or will not play at release but no blanket statements about whether you think other people should play or not play.

Everything else is okay, including videos and screenshots, unless I or EvilJohn say otherwise.

Edit: videos and screenshots are okay

[Mrbloodworth]

This game is fun as hell.

 In the current climate of games releasing with out being fun first. I find it refreshing. I could really care less that missions are repetitive, Its all about the stuff that happens between point A and B. They can patch in more missions, or other game play styles, but the shooting, driving and district size are good.  This has got to be one of the best base line platforms I have seen in a long time. I do have concerns of where they could possible go with the upgrade system, more on that later. The portion of the beta I was in, was handled really well, and they made a number of changes based on player feedback, so I almost believe them when they say they listen to the players in the various reviews. With the payment options, I don't have to worry about reoccurring fees or anything if i happen to get bored, i find it well worth the price of entry just as a shooter, the time system is just gravy for my current lifestyle.

You know those great runs in GTA where your stars are at 4 or 5, but everything works out for you and you just keep going and going and going. Yeah, that with 3 buddies...

The game plays like counterstrike, Plantside and GTA had an baby that can hold 100 people, you already know the customization is off the charts.

I will post more later ( I have to head out ), Are videos ok?

[Trippy]

I will post more later ( I have to head out ), Are videos ok?

Let me check.

[LK]

This game is fun as hell.

I strongly disagree.

How long did you play the game for?

[Mrbloodworth]

This game is fun as hell.

I strongly disagree.

How long did you play the game for?

I put in over 80+ hours. Fist game in a while I ran home to play. As for when, when ever I said I was in in this thread.

EDIT: May 08, 2010, 09:52:06 am

[sam, an eggplant]

Speaking of hours, as someone who didn't get in the closed beta, I'm disappointed that this "key to the city" preview event only allows five hours of actual gameplay. I understand they want me to buy the game in a month, but five hours? For something that resembles a MMO? That sucks. It'll probably take longer than that to download the client.

So, question-- are the first five hours Tortage Mk.2?

[Mrbloodworth]

Speaking of hours, as someone who didn't get in the closed beta, I'm disappointed that this "key to the city" preview event only allows five hours of actual gameplay. I understand they want me to buy the game in a month, but five hours? For something that resembles a MMO? That sucks. It'll probably take longer than that to download the client.

They are non-Consecutive, and of course you can play the social all day long. I half think this is the stress test, and game time counter test. I am not sure if the nub zone counts. There is a tutorial area in an action zone you cant go back to.

[Trippy]

I will post more later ( I have to head out ), Are videos ok?

Let me check.

Videos and screenshots are fine.

[caladein]

If you take away the customization, it's GTA4 Multiplayer with a sub fee.

The shooting doesn't stand up on its own and would be the worst shooter I'd have played this year had Alpha Protocol not come out.  The missions quickly devolve into Team Deathmatch (where the poor shooting stands out like a sore thumb) and/or "Drive Around the City for Five Minutes".  The driving is vague, even in good cars in lightly populated districts.  In maxed-out districts, the game was essentially unplayable for me.  There is some gameplay that goes on outside the mission structure and formal matchmaking, but it's really quite minor.  While I'm willing to chalk up a lot to Beta-ness, the core "Action" gameplay is unquestionably poor.

On the customization end, there's a lot to like.  My concerns there are that the originally announced business model would have forced me to pay an extra $10-20 just to get to cap for Fashion Designer (double that for Car Customization).  They've since backed away from that, but the overall progression and gating of customization items is still ridiculous.  More troubling though is that they have no current way to monetize the play I enjoy, so I really don't know how they're going to past release.

Really, it's B movie: bad, but you can derive some enjoyment of sharing in the experience.  And at least for now I won't have to spend a lot of money to do what I like with friends, so I already picked it up.

[Mrbloodworth]

I will post more later ( I have to head out ), Are videos ok?

Let me check.

Videos and screenshots are fine.

Awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_R9iYANBGes

EDIT: If you are looking at this as a modern warfare, Or whatever the most modern tight uber real world FPS is these days. Don't, its more in the vein of Plantside, Global agenda and Tribes or GTA. Team work makes all the difference.

[Nonentity]

Screenshots are okay?



This sums up the people who will be gloating in voice chat after every kill.

EDIT: The customization IS pretty cool, when used tastefully.

My character Lockdown:

[Trippy]

Screenshots are okay?

Yes.

[Ghambit]

I'll agree with Blood that the game is fun... for a while (beyond the customization grind, there is no depth).  My most fun moments were arresting people, hearing them curse, and then assassinating them.  Then making an A-Team van and rolling out 4 deep with guns blazing, bounty hunting whenever possible.  Good times.  BUT, only good with the right group of people - a solo game this is not.

I'll also agree that it's a great platform.  But, a platform is really most of what it is, which RTW has just about said as much even (this game is their prototype for a marketable platform).  It is definitely NOT a fully fleshed out AAA title and there are glaring omissions in the release design that were quite obvious imo.

[Morfiend]

I am getting absolutely horrible download speeds on the Key to the City thing. Its been running for 1hour and 40 minutes and so far I have got 185mb out of a total 7gb. My connection is fast. On steam 1.5 hours would be enough for me to DL 10gb.

[Malakili]

If you take away the customization, it's GTA4 Multiplayer with a sub fee.

The shooting doesn't stand up on its own and would be the worst shooter I'd have played this year had Alpha Protocol not come out.  The missions quickly devolve into Team Deathmatch (where the poor shooting stands out like a sore thumb) and/or "Drive Around the City for Five Minutes".  The driving is vague, even in good cars in lightly populated districts.  In maxed-out districts, the game was essentially unplayable for me.  There is some gameplay that goes on outside the mission structure and formal matchmaking, but it's really quite minor.  While I'm willing to chalk up a lot to Beta-ness, the core "Action" gameplay is unquestionably poor.

On the customization end, there's a lot to like.  My concerns there are that the originally announced business model would have forced me to pay an extra $10-20 just to get to cap for Fashion Designer (double that for Car Customization).  They've since backed away from that, but the overall progression and gating of customization items is still ridiculous.  More troubling though is that they have no current way to monetize the play I enjoy, so I really don't know how they're going to past release.

Really, it's B movie: bad, but you can derive some enjoyment of sharing in the experience.  And at least for now I won't have to spend a lot of money to do what I like with friends, so I already picked it up.

This pretty much sounds like what I was expecting.  It definitely has potential.  Unfortunately for APB, WW2O just released their new patch, so I'm back to that for now (yea, I know APB doesn't have to fear a lot of lost sales to WW2O, but thats my reason for sort of tossing this one away).  I was actually considering it too.

[Modern Angel]

It made a decent first impression on me but I ended up not liking it at all. There are some EXTREME balance issues and even more extreme matchmaking issues. There were absolutely flashes of brilliance but those were when I was playing in a perfectly balanced mission with people of my gear and experience level. In which case, if that's the fun, why am I not playing a normal shooter? It was literally the most frustrating crap shoot I recall playing anytime recently: there's that 1 in 100 chance that I had ten minutes of white knuckle awesomeness but the rest of the time was spent getting smeared by people who were no better but had put in nausea inducing amounts of time. The city districts themselves were the blandest, most non-descript versions of a city imaginable; there were no discernable landmarks or anything that queued me to where I was or where I should head to. This is in marked contrast to games like GTA and Saints Row which tried to give their cities some sort of life and distinction.

I'll certainly agree that there's potential there but, for me, they blew it and I was set to be all of this game like white on rice. I'm not confident in any way, shape or form that the issues which ruined my gameplay experience will be solved and I'm 100% certain that the proposed fixes will not be tested properly before the game rolls out to a live version. Disappointment abounds in my household. :(

[Sky]

Very ping-dependent. I know, I know, shouldn't have done the EU beta, but it does highlight the issue: if you don't have a good internet connection to the server, you will have issues that will probably keep you from playing. I had a couple objectives where one other player was sent to fight me, and he smoked me every time. I'm not a total slacker at fps, and I came at him every way from sunday.

I'll check out the US beta a bit, because it's not really a serious or fair review, just a caution that a few of us learned. I put in maybe a couple hours and gave up.

Also: blaring classical music while barreling down the road avoiding gunfire=awesome. I can see riding shotgun with Ride of the Valkyrie playing and blasting the hell out of people. That should be the promo trailer.

[Mrbloodworth]

Nice avatar to go with that.  

[Ghambit]

I'll add (and this was part of my bug postings) that the social areas are completely bland and lifeless.  Today's social games (most of which are free) are far and above what RTW came up with in their social district.  The reality of it was it was simply a place to do customization and nothing more.  No hangouts, no personal spaces, very small, no nightclubs really (I mean... there is one, but  ), no large expansive "city" to play in, no interactivity whatsoever, no minigames (cept the sandboxes), nothing.  To that end, I couldnt help but wonder why even HAVE a social district.  I mean, there's more "game" and fun to be had on Playstation@Home.  Really, they would've been fine saving all that dev-time and just doing away with it altogether... making the sandbox completely UI based.

But, I resolved myself to believing again... this is a "platform."  And all this bland space would someday be filled with goodness.

(more later)

[UnSub]

Very ping-dependent. I know, I know, shouldn't have done the EU beta, but it does highlight the issue: if you don't have a good internet connection to the server, you will have issues that will probably keep you from playing.

Very true. Driving a car requires hitting the keys about 1-2 seconds before you want to car to respond which is fine in a clear run but awful under pressure / having to correct getting clipped. As for gunplay, there were times where I swore I'd put every shot dead on but died myself and there are times when I had to have missed but killed the other person. I just couldn't tell. (Also: customising the 'I just killed you' music probably seemed like a good idea, but it's the music equivalent of teabagging and just pissed me off.)

Schpain: RTW did Australia a favour by not releasing it in our market. Without local servers, it is way too disjointed to play.

Other stuff: my initial impressions were positive, but spending a session getting smacked by opponents with the noted best weapons in the game that they'd then slotted with the best upgrades killed it for me. Customisation is awesome, but I also can't see RTW avoiding problems with all of the copyrighted images and music that is going to be created.

[Stormwaltz]

I wrote a long description of my experience, and Firefox randomly nuked it when I was almost done. Sigh. I'll try to reconstruct it tomorrow. For now, I'll just give my summary:

I followed APB's development for two years, with great interest.

I'm not buying it.

If you're not a hardcore FPS player, I don't think there's any place for you in the game.

[Ghambit]

I wouldnt call APB hardcore FPS.

[Ollie]

My experiences echo a lot of what Caladein, Ghambit and Modern Angel have already said.

I managed to squeeze in a few hours during the last two weeks of EU beta, and I could never shake the feeling I was a bit late to the show. As an unguilded solo player with mediocre shooter skills, my sessions consisted mostly of getting gangbanged by people with triple-slotted guns or griefed by car-ramming dump truck enthusiasts. If my experiences represent the game as it matures, new players coming in at the 3-6 month mark are in for a hell of hazing.

My biggest gripe is the way APB waffles between a skill-based game and a progression-based game like an eight-year-old on Adderall. It can't quite decide which one it wants to be. Even after some last-minute nerfs, weapon and character upgrades make such a hefty impact on performance that they render any question of skill moot. The only way new players will frag rank 200+ vets is if the latter are AFK. Since the matchmaking system seems to revolve around situational threat level, hugely unbalanced pairings continue to pop up. Three months out, APB will have a real upstairs-downstairs divide going on; newbs will get frustrated, vets will get bored, and catassing rules the day.

If RTW wants to go the item progression route, they need to make sure the barrier of entry stays manageable as the game matures. Step one would be to take a critical look at matchmaking, followed by a drastic rethinking of league rewards.

Overall, APB was the same kind of infuriating fun I had while swapping keeps in WAR during the first month of live: five minutes of awesomeness followed by 35 minutes of utter boredom. The game taunts you with its potential – you recognise the good bits and see how great it could be, but the actual gameplay never quite manages to hit the promised notes.

[HaemishM]

This game is fun as hell.

I strongly disagree.

I don't strongly disagree, but I don't entirely agree.

I played the Euro beta, so the lag could be affecting my experience - which is why I'm downloading the Key to the City beta. The game starts off fun, the mission matching system reminds me of a system we were spitballing for the Cyberpunk MMOG development pre-Waterthread that never went anywhere. The shooting could be a lot more precise. A shotgun to the face seemed to be the most effective weapon, mostly because lag and/or memory leaks totally fucked up the game after a while. The driving is especially hurt by the lag problem. It's not very tolerant at all.

I doubt I'll be buying the game unless the NA beta gives me a different feeling. The customization, the style, the art direction, the ability to craft your own music and tats and such is all good, but the shooty bits get repetitive. It might be better if the game was 1st person instead of 3rd, but that's a personal preference. The lag is going to be a key issue for this game.

[TripleDES]

I don't have a lot of screenshots, since I didn't get a chance anymore to go back into the game before they ended the beta earlier than planned. But anyway...

[TripleDES]

And oh, as far as lag goes, yeah, it'll influence your performance, but it is unknown how many aimbots were active in the beta.

I've run into a lot of situations that made my head scratch. I'm not sure how much of them I should attribute to lag, the name tag floating above your head even if there's no line of sight, psychic abilities and aimbots. But I've come across enough screenshots of different player names to think they were more prevalent than you'd want to. RTW guys in the forums said they were not banning them in the beta, to lull them into a false sense of security.

--edit: