All Points Bulletin First Impressions

All Points Bulletin officially launched today.  However, the headstart for pre-orders began on Saturday. It was limited to ten hours for those who pre-ordered.  Nonetheless, people from everywhere logged in and played during the last three days.  So far, the game launch has gone very smoothly.  The biggest problem seems to be people not understanding how to use their keys (or which key was for pre-order.)  Once actually in the game, problems have been minimal.  Some people went through their ten hours on Saturday, but others tried to be more conservative.  One thing is for sure, most people couldn’t wait for the game launch so they could play without limits.  That says a lot about how much fun people are having in the game.

All Points Bulletin is an massively multiplayer online shooter.  Players will choose between two sides, the Criminals and the Enforcers.  The Enforcers are supposed to be the good guys, although I often find myself questioning that description. There are some roleplay elements, but the crux of the game can be divided into two elements, shooting and driving.  That’s not to say the game is simple, far from it, in fact.  There are several types of progression in the game; enough to fulfill any achievers dream of continuous accomplishments.  From basic achievements to level progression with contacts and organizations, to rank progressions within different types of activities (like doing missions), there’s so much going on in that area.  I spoke more in detail about all the different numerical systems in the game in my previews, so if you want just the facts, go check those out.

All Points Bulletin Preview Part 1
All Points Bulletin Preview Part 2

The shooting in the game is pretty straightforward.  Get a gun, aim and shoot.  The controls are familiar to anyone who has played shooters on the PC, with mouselook and click to shoot.  Some guns require repetetive clicking to keep shooting and some are click and hold to continuously shoot.  At first, only a very limited selection of guns are available, but as players progress with contacts and organizations (through completing missions), more weapon choices are unlocked.  This is the way to unlock content throughout the game, as well.  Besides weapons, there are new vehicles, clothing, tools, and various customizations for vehicles, clothing and weapons to be unlocked.  Don’t think this is going to be quick, though.  Unlocking everything in the game, including the really great guns, will take a massive time investment.  

Weapons and modifications have an impact on a player’s ability to kill other players, but skill is incredibly important.  A good gun on a poor player isn’t going to help that player beat a really good player with a poor gun.  However, even if a player isn’t skilled, getting with a well-oiled machine (a team that communicates and works together) can make even the worst player feel useful.  Even if it’s as cannon fodder, distracting the other team while teammates take them out or complete objectives, every type of player and skill level can have a use in All Points Bulletin.  The team system really makes the game that much better.  Soloing is possible, but it’s simply not as much fun as getting with a group.

The driving  is equally as important.  Players can be run over by vehicles, which makes the vehicle just as lethal a weapon as a gun, and a good driver can be priceless in several types of missions.  One thing that is pretty interesting about driving is how each car handles differently.  It’s very realistic in this regard.  The higher performance sports cars get up to higher speeds, accelerate faster and take turns easier, but they are touchy.  The bigger vehicles don’t take turns as well and are slower, but take and inflict more damage.  It’s really cool to drive various vehicles and see how each one handles.  Some players have really perfected their ability to drive, as well, so during a lot of missions, one player will step up as the driver, collecting and dropping off other players at mission objectives, using the vehicle offensively, and in driving missions, taking charge of the whole thing.

The game world also must be mentioned in this first impressions piece.  The world itself is a metropolis, filled with multi-level buildings, warehouses, junkyards, and a variety of functional buildings.  When navigating throug the world in a vehicle, there’s shortcuts that the knowledgeable can utilize to skip through town.  There’s also several places where cars can do some pretty neat tricks, like jumping gaps, and that’s just simply fun.  On foot, though, is where the gameworld comes alive.  Fences are jumped, doors kicked opened, buildings leaped off of (with some body damage, of course), crates can be kicked or jumped on, and it just goes on and on.  Using the world as cover during shooting matches can be the critical difference between life and death.  Running from one objective to another, avoiding the streets and cutting through buildings, is such a guilty pleasure.  It simply doesn’t get old (at least not yet.)  The words ‘Mirrors Edging’ are become a common place terminology in the game for cutting around on foot, referencing a console game where the objective is to get from one point to another by jumping, running, ducking and more.  It definitely has a great feel to it.

The gameworld is also neat because of the how alive the city feels.  Cars driven by civilians are passing by (and can be jacked or commandeered, depending on which side of the fence you chose).  Pedestrians cross streets and walk down the sidewalks.  When a player’s vehicle comes close to a pedestrian, they’ll either shout obscenities, scream or run.  RealTime Worlds has done an impressive job creating a living world, rather than just throwing players in to a fight against each other and them being the only characters in the game.  Of course, this comes with a side effect.  Bodies, both of player characters and NPCs, litter the landscape.  Criminals gain notoriety for running down pedestrians and general havoc wreaking, while sometimes, its’ very hard for an enforcer to avoid that pedestrian during a high speed chase.  They become acceptable collateral damage, although it hurts the enforcer’s prestige rating in doing so.

All this high praise doesn’t mean the game doesn’t have its issues.  Twice now, I’ve run into a bug where something we had to carry got stuck in a place we couldn’t get to (when someone dies, the item drops from that person), meaning that mission couldn’t continue.  There’s talk about aimbotters, people who use an outside program to help them aim, running around in the game.  Not to mention the game does have a pretty hefty specs requirement, so if you don’t have a beefy machine, you may find it hard to impossible to play it.

Despite the issues the game is facing, the overall launch is going very smoothly and All Points Bulletin is a blast to play.  There’s also a social district where players can customize their look, but I’ve spent so little time there, because the real fun to be had is in the action districts doing missions and building up contact rating.  For people who really love to do customizations, though, the customization system in All Points Bulletin is a real bonus.  For everyone else, there’s non-stop action, great group mechanics and a lot of fun. 

We’ll have a more complete review of All Points Bulletin in the next week, after we’ve spent a lot more time in the game.

[imagebrowser id=52]