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2010 · Realtime Worlds · Action-adventure · Racing

APB Reloaded

APB: All Points Bulletin is a multiplayer online video game for Microsoft Windows developed by Realtime Worlds. Based in urban sprawls and featuring two factions, Enforcers and the Criminals, players can form sub-groups in either faction and carry out missions. The game design was led by David Jones, who created the original Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, and was developed by Realtime Worlds.

Released: 29 June 2010
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Action-adventure Racing Shooter Third-person shooter
Developers: Realtime Worlds
Publishers: K2 Network
Modes: Multiplayer
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action
Engine: Unreal Engine 3
Country: United Kingdom
Age ratings: ESRB M PEGI 18
Time to beat: 39hmain story145hcompletionist

About

APB: All Points Bulletin is an open world multiplayer online video game for Microsoft Windows developed by Realtime Worlds and acquired by Reloaded Productions, which is part of the GamersFirst company. Little Orbit acquired GamersFirst in 2018 and is now in charge of the game's development. Based in urban sprawls and featuring two factions, Enforcers and the Criminals, players can form sub-groups in either faction and carry out missions. The game design was led by David Jones. It was released in 2010 in North America and Europe.

After Realtime Worlds was placed into administration, the servers for online play were shut down later in 2010, but they were reactivated when online gaming company K2 Network purchased APB for £1.5 million and relaunched it under their subsidiary company Reloaded Productions as a free-to-play game, renamed APB: Reloaded. In 2015, Deep Silver announced versions of the game for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in collaboration with Reloaded Productions and The Workshop Entertainment for release in 2015. The game was ultimately released in 2016 for Xbox One and in 2017 for the PlayStation 4.

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The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

APB: All Points Bulletin takes place in the modern-day city of San Paro where there is a constant battle between Enforcers and Criminals, and the player will need to decide to which faction they want to belong.

Gameplay typically consists of the two sides fighting one another in missions, where one side must complete a series of objectives with the other side attempting to stop them doing so. For example, several Criminal players may rob a convenience store within the game; the game will then seek out one or more Enforcer players of equivalent skills and other criteria and will issue an all-points bulletin for them to stop the robbery and apprehend or eliminate the Criminals. Players earn money for participating in these missions, which can then be used to upgrade weapons, vehicles, and their character appearances, all of which influence the game.

Development

APB has been described by Realtime Worlds executive Colin MacDonald as being "the bastard child of everything we've been striving towards over the 15–20 years" and a culmination of "what [David Jones has] always wanted to do from GTA and before Crackdown and APB." APB was planned as early as 2005, initially as a Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 title, and intended as the flagship title for the then-newly founded Realtime Worlds studio created by David Jones. Then, it was planned that the Xbox 360 release would be in 2010. In the interim time, Realtime Worlds developed the video game Crackdown, released in 2007, which bore some resemblance to the concepts that were to be in APB.

At the 2008 Game Developers Conference, David Jones stated that APB would be released in 2008. Jones noted that APB would be more like a multiplayer online game with players interacting with up to 25 other players at the same time. He also noted that the game compared well to the typical style of fantasy or sci-fi "multiplayer online" games such as World of Warcraft, but did not expect to compete with those games, as the concept was different. On 14 April 2008, Realtime Worlds announced that it had raised $50 million for APB and other future projects.

Reception

Reception to APB has been mixed, with the game holding a 58% average on Metacritic as of February 2016.

Initial reviews included PC Gamer giving the title 55/100. and Eurogamer giving APB a 6/10 1UP awarded APB a grade of D and Destructoid gave a 35/100. Other reviews were higher, with IGN giving a 77/100 and Edge granting a 7/10. The main criticism includes the game feeling unfinished and underdeveloped.