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 are 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.
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
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.
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
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.
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
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.
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
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.
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
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, 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 2023, there has been next to no progress since the release of the 2021 roadmap back in January 2021
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
If any of these changes occurred, the developer certainly was secretive about them, with no patch notes or update announcements posted since the September 2020 weapon balancing update.
Image credit APB Reloaded - Published by Little Orbit and developed by Reloaded Productions.
Considering its age and the ongoing development crisis, APB Reloaded is relatively healthy, seeing peaks of around 300 players each day on Steam.
While we do not know how well APB Reloaded is performing on either console due to neither platform providing real-time player numbers, the Xbox and PSN communities are most likely comparable to the PC community and, in the case of the Playstation community, slightly larger.
APB Reloaded supports:
APB Reloaded supports:
The APB Reloaded in-game store sells:
APB Reloaded is rated PEGI 16 and contains the following:
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.
