APB: Reloaded is a game that completely puzzles me. It begins with a fantastic cutscene illustrating the clan warfare between the Criminals and the Enforcers. So far, I'm psyched! But then the game started, and everything went to shit. If it isn't the learning curve, the pay2win gunplay, the "just do sh*t" mission style, or the controls that turn you off, it's the driving, the matchmaking, and just about everything else. This game is BEYOND unfinished.
Fun: 4/10 --- You will enjoy this game every 5 minutes for about 30 seconds, and then you will start hating it again. These missions are chores, when they should be opportunities.
Combat: 4/10 --- Ugh.
Pet Peeves:
1. The game has this weird mission system where you "pledge your allegiance" to an NPC, and doing missions increases his appreciation level of the player (level 1 to 10) and later level unlock guns and vehicles for the player to purchase. You can switch from NPC to NPC at your will. This sounds like it could work, but the lack of explanation for it early on is off-putting.
2. Expiration economy. All guns and vehicles purchased ingame expire after 10 days. The only things that last cost real money in the pay2play store (the Armas Marketplace).
Matchmaking: --- What matchmaking? That thing in this game where every once and a while high level people with pay2play guns mow me down? Oh. Yeah, that thing sucks. Even after finding a group and clicking 'Ready,' you will find yourself waiting for missions for seriously unimpressive amounts of time.
Graphics: 6/10 --- Nothing we haven't seen before; very jumpy and generally unimpressive.
Customization (Human): 2/10 --- Broken and unintuitive; It gets a 2/10 instead of zero because it has the options, but not the interface to use it!
Customization (Car): 10/10 --- Oh, F*ck Yes! This is so awesome it's ridiculous, and from a free game, no
Potential: infinity/0 --- APB looks and feels like it's trying to be a dynamic GTA MMO, and that's about the coolest idea I've heard in a long, long time.
Until this game stops sucking (the developers promise updates relevant to the demands of the community), I would avoid this game. The only redeeming factors are that it's a free game that doesn't REQUIRE spending money to have fun, and that the customization is god-tier. Look out for this game, but don't give it the time of day just yet.