APB, now Reloaded!

[faide]

Wish I was a fileplanet subscriber still.   I've got some friends that are pre-ordering the game, but I'm on the fence.  I've heard some negative stuff being thrown around about it.  Would be cool to try to decide if pre-ordering is worth it.

[faide]

Went ahead and sprung for the 1 month fileplanet sub and tried this out.  Glad I did.  Think I saved myself 50 bucks 

[EngineNo9]

Went ahead and sprung for the 1 month fileplanet sub and tried this out.  Glad I did.  Think I saved myself 50 bucks 

Yeah...I am a huge fan of open world games and was really looking forward to this one, and it is telling that I can't even bring myself to play it any more.

[Vidiot]

Somehow I missed every beta key offering for this one.  Odd.  Sounds like I am not missing much though.

[Ascendent]

this is a video I found maybe you guys could find more but what I'm seeing here looks like fun to me *shrug*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7fLXBRyDs8&feature=related

[KePoW]

this is a video I found maybe you guys could find more but what I'm seeing here looks like fun to me *shrug*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7fLXBRyDs8&feature=related

Have you actually played it, or only watched videos?

[Ascendent]

Vids only, haven't gotten to try beta though I applied for it a while back.

[Harkonis]

I am no longer interested in this after playing.  Maybe down the road.  It has potential but I don't think it's close enough to being realized at the moment.

[Vidiot]

I am no longer interested in this after playing.  Maybe down the road.  It has potential but I don't think it's close enough to being realized at the moment.

The videos all look interesting, but it is comments like this that hold me back from any pre-order.

[faide]

I don't know if the NDA has been released and we can talk about it.  I will say that I agree with Harkonis on it.  A lot of potential, I'm just tired of paying to play potential. 

[Blackjack]

I am no longer interested in this after playing.  Maybe down the road.  It has potential but I don't think it's close enough to being realized at the moment.

The videos all look interesting, but it is comments like this that hold me back from any pre-order.

Who knew Harkonis wielded such God-like power in his comments. He's like Thor^TM. 

[Vidiot]

I am no longer interested in this after playing.  Maybe down the road.  It has potential but I don't think it's close enough to being realized at the moment.

The videos all look interesting, but it is comments like this that hold me back from any pre-order.

Who knew Harkonis wielded such God-like power in his comments. He's like Thor^TM. 

A handy quote, there are at least a few more above him saying pretty much the same thing.

[CeeKay]

I may get this game just on the basis of not being fragged by Harkonis everytime I turn around 

[Harkonis]

If CK gets it, I may just have to sign up for the opposing faction just for the chance the game will dispatch me to stop CK

[faide]

If anyone is interested in checking it out during the Key to the City open beta check:  http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/

That site is giving out lots of keys.

[Vidiot]

Fileplanet has some also.  Time to give this a real shot.

[Vidiot]

I gotta say, so far this thing is a blast.  I need to get the video recording setup because there have already been some crazy awesome moments.

I am again considering a pre-order.  Definitely a game that gets much better with friends playing.

[coopasonic]

I gotta say, so far this thing is a blast.  I need to get the video recording setup because there have already been some crazy awesome moments.

I am again considering a pre-order.  Definitely a game that gets much better with friends playing.

I've played a few hours and it's growing on me. My reaction times are bad, but my tactics are good, that's a decent balance in this game. I'm not sure about the subscription model. It would probably be good for me as I'd never pass 50 hours.

There are certain types of missions that play to my skills and some where I'm a target dummy. I do love the "crime in progress" mechanic, where you get notified to stop some criminals mission, though I'm usually on my own missions rather than waiting. The mission setup is pretty attractive to me overall, now if I could just afford a better close quarters weapon! As I do suck, I don't have the cash to upgrade much and am still using the newb semi-auto rifle.

[drifter]

I was sent a key yesterday; its good for 5 hours of gameplay WTF?  If I pre-order the e-mail says I will get 10 more hours of early release play.  What marketing genious came up with that crap offer?

[coopasonic]

I was sent a key yesterday; its good for 5 hours of gameplay WTF?  If I pre-order the e-mail says I will get 10 more hours of early release play.  What marketing genious came up with that crap offer?

I guess the hope is it's enough to get a feel without getting bored so you'll order it?

I'm curious if Hark could say a little more about what he feels is lacking. After playing for a couple more hours, it feels to me like this would be right up Hark's alley. Excluding the pay/sub model, what's the main complaint?

===

speaking of complaints,yesterday I found the place to buy new weapons, now that I have more cash I can't remember where to go. Anyone?

[morlac]

I was sent a key yesterday; its good for 5 hours of gameplay WTF?  If I pre-order the e-mail says I will get 10 more hours of early release play.  What marketing genious came up with that crap offer?

  I guess their servers were getting hammered as I was trying to donwload it yesterday at 125 kb a sec.  Once i noticed the 5 hour limit i cancelled the dload.  It should 't take 3 times as long to download as the allowable play time

[CeeKay]

I was sent a key yesterday; its good for 5 hours of gameplay WTF?  If I pre-order the e-mail says I will get 10 more hours of early release play.  What marketing genious came up with that crap offer?

I guess the hope is it's enough to get a feel without getting bored so you'll order it?

I'm curious if Hark could say a little more about what he feels is lacking. After playing for a couple more hours, it feels to me like this would be right up Hark's alley. Excluding the pay/sub model, what's the main complaint?

===

speaking of complaints,yesterday I found the place to buy new weapons, now that I have more cash I can't remember where to go. Anyone?

did you try your contact?  I also remember them mentioning Joker Vending machines.  I played a bit yesterday and the controls felt laggy; I'm playing an enforcer and it's making driving a bitch because I keep hitting pedestrians due to the vehicles handling oddly.

[coopasonic]

I was sent a key yesterday; its good for 5 hours of gameplay WTF?  If I pre-order the e-mail says I will get 10 more hours of early release play.  What marketing genious came up with that crap offer?

I guess the hope is it's enough to get a feel without getting bored so you'll order it?

I'm curious if Hark could say a little more about what he feels is lacking. After playing for a couple more hours, it feels to me like this would be right up Hark's alley. Excluding the pay/sub model, what's the main complaint?

===

speaking of complaints,yesterday I found the place to buy new weapons, now that I have more cash I can't remember where to go. Anyone?

did you try your contact?  I also remember them mentioning Joker Vending machines.  I played a bit yesterday and the controls felt laggy; I'm playing an enforcer and it's making driving a bitch because I keep hitting pedestrians due to the vehicles handling oddly.

Well I found it again today, but I don't remember what it was. I think it was a different tab on the contact. There's a buy tab on top of the contact interface. Vending machines are for loadouts and buying ammo. I think that was part of my confusion.

I haven't touch my criminal, I like being the good guy. I haven't found avoiding peds too much, they seem to react to my blasting horn. Depends on the vehicle though. At high speed, an armored truck is a bitch.

[EngineNo9]

When I played I found the combat to be very lacking, especially for a game that is based around that mechanic.  Compared to other shooters it just didn't feel very good, but unfortunately I can't remember anything more specific than that.

[Vidiot]

You buy weapons from your contact.  Better ones unlock as you raise your status with them.

Yes, you only get 5 hours of action district time with this stress test, but you have unlimited time to play around with the customization stuff in the social district and get a feel for what you can do.  Overall the offer of hourly is throwing people I think.  In the end you can still play 10$ (33% cheaper than most) a month to get unlimited play.

So far the combat has been a lot of fun, chaotic but with a lot of tactical options in the open world.  Definitely pick up one of the first guns you are offered, so much better than the starting gun.

When I have had a good team this has rocked.


Edit to add:
My only fear is that the content looks kinda lacking.  With only two action districts and a couple of contacts per district I am not sure how long before it gets old.  I am wondering if the design was to be more like a FPS (lots of repetition, but you keep playing because it is fun and these days you get some unlocks) vs a mmorpg with monster gobs of content.

[coopasonic]

Edit to add:
My only fear is that the content looks kinda lacking.  With only two action districts and a couple of contacts per district I am not sure how long before it gets old.  I am wondering if the design was to be more like a FPS (lots of repetition, but you keep playing because it is fun and these days you get some unlocks) vs a mmorpg with monster gobs of content.

The game is definitely FPS replayable fun over MMO extensive content. I finally ran out of time this morning and I definitely wanted more. I'm going to think about this one for a while.

[Vidiot]

Edit to add:
My only fear is that the content looks kinda lacking.  With only two action districts and a couple of contacts per district I am not sure how long before it gets old.  I am wondering if the design was to be more like a FPS (lots of repetition, but you keep playing because it is fun and these days you get some unlocks) vs a mmorpg with monster gobs of content.

The game is definitely FPS replayable fun over MMO extensive content. I finally ran out of time this morning and I definitely wanted more. I'm going to think about this one for a while.

Yeah, I think I am almost out...very tempted to pre-order.  Sure you are doing the same thing over and over for the most part, but it is a lot of fun doing it.


Edit:
My time is up, and I think they sold me on it.  Anyone know if the NDA is up?

[coopasonic]

My time is up, and I think they sold me on it.  Anyone know if the NDA is up?

It's pretty much open beta at this point, how much could they be counting on an NDA? Besides your time is up, what are they going to do, make you stop playing? 

[Harkonis]

for a game that has such a heavy driving component, the driving is utter shite.  Keyboard controls don't cut it since they are digital and you really need analog controls to drive.  Lag is almost non-existant... then you get in a car and people rubberband.  Basically I had a blast every time right up until I'm told to stop a player and they get in a car.  Not a damn thing you can do to get them at that point.  Steering was a complete joke and they didn't have working gamepad support or joystick or mouse for driving.

I love the game in principal and I could see it being very fun, but playing an mmo version of grand theft auto without a working 'auto' part just didn't seem fun.  I played for many hours but it was constantly punctuated by me cussing at the controls.

Long load times was another complaint, but not something I would say would put me out of playing it.

I agree with the previous statement btw, this is very much in the model of the f2p fps type games rather than a traditional mmo.  If they fix driving I'll be begging someone to sign me up.

[Vidiot]

Driving was definitely different.  By the end I was getting the hang of it.  Once you accept the latency as the predefined turn radius for a quick click it starts to become easier to swerve though traffic.  You still end up in boneheaded crashes, but not as often.

I got some cool videos.  Having a 20 second record buffer is awesome for a game like this where crazy stuff can happen.  I just wished they used more modern demo system that could then dump to a movie file rather than have it go straight to a movie.

[CeeKay]

here's another hands on preview.

[coopasonic]

Edit to add:
My only fear is that the content looks kinda lacking.  With only two action districts and a couple of contacts per district I am not sure how long before it gets old.  I am wondering if the design was to be more like a FPS (lots of repetition, but you keep playing because it is fun and these days you get some unlocks) vs a mmorpg with monster gobs of content.

The game is definitely FPS replayable fun over MMO extensive content. I finally ran out of time this morning and I definitely wanted more. I'm going to think about this one for a while.

Done thinking. I ordered it.

for a game that has such a heavy driving component, the driving is utter shite.  Keyboard controls don't cut it since they are digital and you really need analog controls to drive.  Lag is almost non-existant... then you get in a car and people rubberband.  Basically I had a blast every time right up until I'm told to stop a player and they get in a car.  Not a damn thing you can do to get them at that point.  Steering was a complete joke and they didn't have working gamepad support or joystick or mouse for driving.

I love the game in principal and I could see it being very fun, but playing an mmo version of grand theft auto without a working 'auto' part just didn't seem fun.  I played for many hours but it was constantly punctuated by me cussing at the controls.

Long load times was another complaint, but not something I would say would put me out of playing it.

I agree with the previous statement btw, this is very much in the model of the f2p fps type games rather than a traditional mmo.  If they fix driving I'll be begging someone to sign me up.

Thanks for replying. That's certainly not the response I was expecting. I agree that the driving controls are lacking, but not to the point that it ruins the game. Apparently, I don't think it's as big a part of the game as you do. Also, some of the nicer cars definitely drive better. My perception may be a bit different as I have played through multiple FlatOut games using keyboard control only, so I've gotten pretty decent at it.

On the flip side if they don't have gamepad controls for driving now, it's gotta be on the list.

The whole concept just feels right to me. Luckily I don't really have to worry about the cost.. and with my limited gametime the "free" 50 hours will go a long way with me.

[Vidiot]

I put my pre-order in too.  Next we need to start a name/servers thread.   

[Vidiot]

Everyone got 5 more hours...  Time to try out a cop for a bit.

[Daehawk]

I got in beta months ago but never got it to play. I tried a few times. Re downloaded it and all. It just would NEVER work. I gave up over 2 months ago on it. It looks pretty fun for some time wasting.

[CeeKay]

Everyone got 5 more hours...  Time to try out a cop for a bit.

cool.

[jersoc]

this game is pretty fun, but it heavily favors the criminals

it seems as a cop im always attacking, where as everyone knows defending is way easier. one would think this would be flipped

[Vidiot]

this game is pretty fun, but it heavily favors the criminals

it seems as a cop im always attacking, where as everyone knows defending is way easier. one would think this would be flipped

I have seen it be pretty random. Yesterday all I was getting was protect missions as a Enforcer.

[coopasonic]

this game is pretty fun, but it heavily favors the criminals

it seems as a cop im always attacking, where as everyone knows defending is way easier. one would think this would be flipped

I have seen it be pretty random. Yesterday all I was getting was protect missions as a Enforcer.

I think it's just bad luck you've been having jersoc. I've seen a pretty good mix. It also depends on if you are taking the missions or being called in response. Seems like as a responder you are often defending so wait for that - it will also get you more chances to get called in as backup or get bounties if you aren't always on contact missions, imo.

I've only played enforcer and loved the hell out of it, I guess if we really have more time I should give the criminal element a try.

[coopasonic]

I've only played enforcer and loved the hell out of it, I guess if we really have more time I should give the criminal element a try.

I played about an hour as a criminal at lunch and I must say, I couldn't tell any difference between criminal and enforcer from a gameplay standpoint.