Dated visuals and a toxic community make it very difficult to recommend APB Reloaded, even if it has proven its ability to survive on a shoestring budget and next to no developer support for the better part of a decade.
Massively Multiplayer.
PvP Multiplayer.
I have a pretty thick skin regarding in-game toxicity, but even I was surprised by the sheer concentration of toxicity that flows from the in-game chat.
During the span of just a few minutes, I witnessed the following;
The rest of the messages were in Russian and Chinese, so I could not decipher what they were saying; however, it’s possible even those messages were also toxic.
In addition, having been automatically matched with another player (as an enforcer/cop), I watched in dismay as my partner proceeded to run down every civilian he saw before finally running me over deliberately.
While I am sure not all of the APB Reloaded player base is toxic, from what I can see, the non-toxic players do little to combat the overwhelming toxicity surrounding the community, giving a new player the impression that APB Reloaded is a game populated by trolls and psychopaths.
While MIDI files are not the most pleasing way to enjoy music, being able to compose your own tracks and perform them for others is always a good thing.
While this system is not unique to APB Reloaded, and other titles such as The Lord of The Rings Online have a thriving midi scene, its inclusion is a nice reminder of a more innocent time before every streamer was petrified of their Tupac ringtone causing them to be demonetized.
Enforcers and Criminals have different objectives, as to be expected, with Enforcers being altered to ongoing criminal activity and Criminals being warned of police raids, bounties and similar police activity.
While it’s a simplistic system, it drives open-world PVP, ensuring that players who wish to progress continually engage with the players of both factions.
In many ways, this system has ensured that APB Reloaded has survived to see its 11th Birthday despite its niche status.
Players are given a massive range of customization options considering APB Reloaded’s age, including the ability to design custom tattoos and opt to play as a more heavyset individual.
Unfortunately, the “bulky” body type, while available to both male and female character models, is highly sexist, with an average build female being deemed “bulky” while the bulky preset on male characters is closer to clinical obesity.
There is nothing wrong with sexy female characters; I know many girl gamers who enjoy dressing sexy in an MMO. However, I know an even larger group of players who would rather dress more modestly; unfortunately, sex sells, and the developers know it, with almost every featured female npc character wearing ridiculously sexualized clothing, including but not limited to thigh-high leather boots, leather bikini bottoms, and revealing shirts that show ample cleavage and side boob.
The objectification of the female form extends to all aspects of marketing, where male characters are often fully clothed, and female characters (including police officers) look more like scantily clad cosplayers and OnlyFans models.
As a result, APB Reloaded has continued to attract “the wrong type of people”, and the community is overrun by angsty teenage boys and neckbeards who shudder at even the slightest hint of female characters dressing and acting as anything other than eye candy.
While some may dismiss this as a non-issue, I feel strongly that making content purely to titillate is wrong, and while there is a time and place for nudity in games, making every female character eye candy is offensive, and for those who are prone to acting on their lust, dangerous.
APB (All Points Bulletin) originally launched in July 2010, only to close a mere two months later in September when the publisher (Realtime Worlds) went into administration; the failed title would go on to be purchased by the K2 Network for a paltry $1.5 million later and was re-released the following year as APB Reloaded.
APB Reloaded is a shooter video game developed by Reloaded Productions and published by Little Orbit, it was released on 7 December 2011 and it is Free-2-Play.
APB Reloaded is available on the following platforms: PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
While the developers have been teasing a major update for well over four years, and there have been occasional beta tests of the same, as we enter 2024, there has been next to no progress since the release of the 2021 roadmap back in January 2021
As of April 2024, around 15,000 people play APB Reloaded on a fairly regular basis.
APB Reloaded suffers from low activity, meaning that while off-peak matchmaking is possible in populated regions, finding full lobbies in less populated regions is unlikely outside of peak playtimes.
On average APB Reloaded takes between and hours to complete.
Estimated completion times are derived from various sources and may vary based on the skill level of each player.
APB Reloaded supports:
APB Reloaded offers the following matchmaking options:
The APB Reloaded in-game store sells:
The following peripherals are officially supported:
APB Reloaded is rated PEGI 16+ and contains:
APB Reloaded is not a bad game, and for those who do not wish or are unable to play Grand Theft Auto Online, APB Reloaded is a free2play alternative; however, the visuals and gameplay mechanics are dated, and the developers have traditionally struggled to release content updates in a timely manner.
