E3 2011: APB Reloaded – First Impressions

I’ve heard a lot of grumblings about Gamersfirst’s APB: Reloaded. For those of you who know nothing about this game, think a GTA-esque open world MMO where players are divided between Enforcers (Police) and Criminals. It is this universe that Jonathan London would/will feel destined to rule.

APB: All Points Bulletin was released by Realtime Worlds in June 2010. Just two and half months later, the game was shut down due to the developer’s financial issues. Gamesfirst took over, tweaking a few gameplay aspects as well as the title. APB: Reloaded released earlier this year as an open, free-to-play beta.

Here’s a rundown of some changes, as well as gameplay features in the game:

New Shooting System

APB: Reloaded will have more a recoil when shooting a weapon instead of the shaky cam users are familiar with. The effect was easy to adapt to if you’re an avid gamer that plays shooters. Weapons zoom in when using the right click depending on what type of weapon it is. A rifle will zoom in some of the way compared to a Sniper Rifle that will use the scope feature.

New Matchmaking

Gamesfirst features a new matchmaking system that will improve the overall experience with gameplay. You’re going to need it in this MMO in order for this open world to be fun. I’d suggest making a few friends along the way.

Clan Support

Through this feature, you’ll be able to keep in touch with friends, schedule clan matches and meetings. Clan support is an obvious win here. The continuing clan matches will keep this game fresh if you’re like the competition.

Customization

I’m a sucker for customization. Anyone who has played Soul Calibur IV with me knows this. Fortunately, APB features a full-body customization. Perhaps the coolest customization feature worked into APB is the theme song tool. In APB, you’ll be able to create or upload your own theme song for your already fully customizable character. You can create a song using tools built into the game, or simply cut and upload your favorite Bieber song. The song will play when in missions during the story aspect of the game. The best thing about this? The song also plays for every opponent you kill. So while your enemies sit in respawn, they’ll be listing to your tunes.

Gameplay

The game had a nice flow. It wasn’t bright to play this shortly after playing Assassins Creed: Revelations. APB does feature fall damage, even when jumping rooftop to rooftop. The goal was defend an object on the map from opposing forces. I quickly found myself in an industrial part of town. The controls were easy to get the hang of and felt natural. The same went for driving. I drove a large van for a short while before crashing and wrecking it, not before hitting a few pedestrians of course. I was able to carjack an A.I. after being told it wasn’t possible to carjack another player.

The shooting mechanics also seemed to work well. I fired off a few shots before being gunned down by a sniper standing on a freeway overpass. Overall, I had a good experience playing this.

Keep your eye out on any future APB news and releases. I know we will.

Article written by:

Jake108 & Kelsie Nicole