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Mediocre Critical Reception
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0 3 9 5 |
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 Excellent  Good  Mediocre  Poor |
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Platform: |
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PC |
Genre: |
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Online Role-Playing |
Developer: |
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Realtime Worlds |
ESRB: |
Mature |
Release: |
June 29, 2010 |
Publisher: |
Electronic Arts |
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Critic Reviews The following reviews are used to calculate the overall reception for this game. All applicable scores are converted to our simplified rating system based on the specifics offered by each publication or the tone of each review. You can read more about how we do this here.
July 2, 2010 - Good - APB's odds of survival are, like those of its virtual De Niros and Pacinos, impossible to predict. Even if it fixes enough issues to avoid being labelled the world's first 'dumbed-down hardcore shooter', it seems doomed to comparison with obvious PC staples World Of Warcraft and Counter-Strike.
July 9, 2010 - Good - APB was fun, but not for long enough to warrant me to buy more time, or to even use all of what came with the game. If, six months from now, a great deal of content has been added to the game, then APB may be a great buy. For now, it's stuck in limbo.
July 12, 2010 - Good - Warts and all, APB has enough going for it that gamers who are looking for this type of gameplay on a larger scale will have a lot to enjoy. One hopes that some of the post-release balancing and matchmaking jitters will be ironed out enough to help the game reach its fullest potential.
July 19, 2010 - Mediocre - Some fixes have been made since launch, and developers are active in discussions about what the game could and should become. It currently feels like a first draft because from a certain perspective, it is. If APB can survive and develop over the next year, it could grow to be more like the game that occasionally peers through.
August 10, 2010 - Mediocre - Repetitive, shallow gameplay and a more or less non-interactive world cripples the fun and then the obnoxious in-game community more or less finishes it off. My advice - you're better off fulfilling your dreams of becoming a famous crime lord by skipping APB and replaying Grand Theft Auto IV.
July 5, 2010 - Mediocre - Right now, it's scrappy and rough around the edges. But in playing APB, you do get a sense of what Realtime Worlds have so desperately tried to create. It's not there yet - but given time, and a lot of player feedback, there's a good chance that APB will become the game everyone's been hoping for.
July 2, 2010 - Mediocre - It's polished and accomplished, and certain aspects of it, such as the meta-game structure and the player customisation, are fantastic. Even so, there's no escaping the fact that the game is hugely disappointing. The flashes of brilliance only serve to throw the mediocrity of the game into even sharper relief.
July 9, 2010 - Mediocre - APB is different enough to warrant consideration, but with so many refined shooters begging for your time, playing one that requires an extraordinary amount of patience isn't very appealing.
July 13, 2010 - Mediocre - Unfortunately San Paro is prime real estate for anyone that comes to an MMO to camp on a roof, which becomes the primary tactic for any faction that reaches the significant point first. Sure there is some gem of PvP in there somewhere, but you have to work far too hard to get there.
July 16, 2010 - Mediocre - APB's good points can't be ignored. It's got the best spread of customization features this side of City of Heroes, and the idea of a player-driven combat environment is certainly appealing. But the multitude of design and technical issues hamper the fundamental gameplay and make it hard to enjoy without some serious compromise.
July 5, 2010 - Mediocre - Massively multiplayer games live and die by the population, and as the game stands right now, we can't see many people ponying up for a subscription fee after their initial 50 hours run dry. Our fingers are crossed all the problems are fixed sharpish, because APB has the kind of potential we wouldn't want to see squandered.
July 20, 2010 - Mediocre - If APB is anything, it's a blank canvas. The creativity the game can inspire is truly one of the best features of the game. Unfortunately, it puts everything else in such a negative context. Combat and missions are simply a means to an end, and they feel like it too.
July 6, 2010 - Poor - Despite the years of work Realtime Worlds poured into their latest creation, APB still comes off as being woefully underdeveloped, and ultimately unfinished. The LittleBigPlanet-style focus on user-created content is a nice touch, but there's very little game here.
July 6, 2010 - Poor - The most promising thing about APB is that, for all its faults, most of them are relatively easy fixes. Then again though, these are old problems that have been carried from the Beta to the final game. For some reason, it seems like APB was intended to be this way - and that means APB isn't a game you want to spend any time on.
July 14, 2010 - Poor - APB: All Points Bulletin is not worth the $50 asking price, let alone a subscription, which is currently $9.99 per month for unlimited play within the two action districts, or $6.99 for 20-hour blocks. Better to dodge this bullet than sign up for aggravated assault.
July 3, 2010 - Poor - Initially fun, initially somewhat impressive, APB ultimately remains a game that a lot of people are going to aggressively hate. They'll be quite justified in their position, and one suspects Realtime Worlds will have quite some explaining to do.
July 14, 2010 - Poor - The issues are issues that can be solved through patches, meaning APB is gawky but will grow. But despite RTW's attempt to keep reviewers honest with their week-long embargo, they'll have a hell of a time convincing players to stay on board long enough to experience the game as intended.
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