Ay Pee Bee

Now that the first phase of beta testing for the long-awaited APB is almost at an end, I thought it was high time to share my experiences with it. I've had a whale of a time testing it, so much so I've been shunning other commitments – gaming and otherwise – to make way for the limited play windows.

For those of you who haven't heard of APB, it's an MMO from Realtime Worlds, the relatively new software house founded by the chap who invented Grand Theft Auto – and the lazy but somewhat accurate description I've often heard of APB is that it's GTA: The MMO. It's essentially a third-person run and gun game, where you play as either a Criminal or Enforcer (a semi-official vigilante), and fight to ensure your group's control of the city of San Paro. It's based on Unreal Engine 3, just like every other game out there, but rarely have I seen it put to such good use as in APB. The detail you can put into the game is incredible, starting with the unbelievably tweakable character creation which lets you change everything from height to hairstyle to scars to freckles, through equally impressive clothes customisation down to the exact shade of the stitching, the wide selection of upgradable weaponry and designable vehicles and custom decal design – which you can then apply to your clothes or car, have tattooed onto your character's skin and even spray onto an in-game wall. Anyone who's seen some of Realtime Worlds' press releases will be familiar with some of this, but it bears mentioning just how powerful yet simple these tools really are – and I've a feeling a few million more copies will be sold to the red-blooded male demographic for the simple fact that the game includes an adjustable slider for female characters' breast size. Not kidding.

So once you've created your character (in a matter of minutes if you're eager to start, though I can happily spend hours on just that) and chosen an allegiance, you're dumped into San Paro's Social District, a small area where you can access further customisation, purchase new weapons and items, and chat to other players – no missions available here, and indeed you can't even equip a weapon, but you can view statues of players who've reached notoriety or other achievements in recent days and explore shops and galleries at your leisure. Then it's on to one of the city's "action districts". Each has its own history and warring factions, and both share a scattering of hubs/spawn points for each side – police stations for Enforcers and gang hideouts for Criminals. These are places for players to meet, replenish ammo, check in-game messages, pledge allegiance to faction leaders and spawn vehicles in the attached car parks. The allegiance thing is an interesting one – the person you're allied to is the person who'll phone you up with jobs when you're out and about in the big bad world, and there are tiers of leaders to work your way up as your character increases level.

Missions in the game vary between preset instanced missions: essentially training missions, where you're sent on random errands; and the infinitely more interesting PvP missions where you're dispatched against other players – either to stop Enforcers looking too closely into your Criminal activities, or to stop nefarious Criminals by killing or arresting them as an Enforcer. This is where the game really comes into its own, and indeed where it gets its name – when the proverbial hits the fan, an APB is issued for players to put a stop to it. The clever matchmaking system ensures that the ensuing fight will always be a fair one, with individual players or whole teams being pitted against others of similar power. You can put out a call for additional backup if you're having too hard a time stopping your opponents, and your opponents can likewise do the same. When you're not on a mission you'll occasionally receive such calls for backup, which you can accept or ignore. It creates a very fluid game experience where you're never stuck for something to do for any length of time. One minute you can be flying solo hunting one or two other players who are breaking the status quo, and the next you can be part of a frenetic balls-to-the-wall tactical assault with a dozen other players fighting over their patch of the city. There's enough variety in these missions that I haven't even started feeling bored by the end of a five-hour play session.

Very little is out of the ordinary in terms of combat, which bears much more resemblance to GTA than an MMO – there's no interlock to speak of, though you can only fire on players when you're on a mission against them, but the gunplay is very fast and fluid and has more in common with an online deathmatch in something like Unreal Tournament than it does with other MMOs I've played – and this is most definitely a good thing. The HUD clearly shows where your friends and enemies are at any given time, you shoot the guys with red flags and protect the guys with green. The starter weapon leaves a lot to be desired, but at least this adds a bit of a challenge to the early missions and shoves you into the weapons buying & inventory system. There's a good smattering of guns, all of which feel very different and very realistic (or at least they might if I'd played with real submachine guns). You can only carry two at a time – one large, one small – which means you have to choose very carefully, but generally I've stuck to a decent pistol and either a rifle or shotgun, depending on whether I'm planning long-range or close-quarters fighting. There is a rocket launcher, which is a bit of a disappointment – it's very hard to aim and only holds two rounds, after which you need to switch to pistols or find somewhere to reload – but I guess this is somewhat close to reality. In all the time I've played APB I've only been hit by a rocket once, and never actually managed to successfully hit anyone else with one.

Something that seems to be a cause of concern for many people I've spoken to is the size of the instances – each having a maximum of a mere 100 players at any given time. In all honesty I've never found an instance to be too quiet (and during the beta they've been limited to 80) – there's always been plenty of activity visible on a short drive around, and near-constant APBs being put out for one player or another. Characters are not restricted to a single instance, hopping from one to the other is a piece of cake, and the interface allows communication with buddies on other instances as well as being able to locate and join friends or group/clan members across instances. Established groups can easily join the same instance automatically and not lose any players in the process. The system works well, so anyone worried about the small servers really don't need to.

There's been some killer moments I'll never forget, like the first time I ram-raided a shop (a branch of Currys, no less – actually called Curbys but the logo and window dressing look rather familiar) or the first time I joined forces with three other criminals, all driving round in the same car with two leaning out of the windows shooting at a gang of enforcers bravely trying to put a stop to our killing spree. I'm sad that my part in the beta is coming to an end tomorrow, but can't wait to jump back in. Open beta begins in spring 2010, and I eagerly await seeing some of you in San Paro then.

Finally, I wouldn't normally do this but I feel the need to give a shout out and danke vielmals to Hobbes, a player who's been both at the receiving end of my rifle and in the passenger seat of my car on many a long night of endless fighting, and always been a source of entertainment and stamina. Auf wiedersehen, mein freund.

Addendum: I should really mention that APB.com is a great source of information, their podcast is very informative and a good place to see some in-game video footage, and is also where you can register for the next wave of beta testing (open beta begins in March 2010). You can also keep track of developments via Facebook and Twitter.

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