11-25-2010

All Points Bulletin (commercially abbreviated to APB) was a remake of an ancient game for Commodore 64 of the same name. The original game now has dated graphics, sound effects that make you want to take the bullet to the head and gameplay consisted of racing down a road and knocking littering gangsters. There was no reward for wasting your time on such trivial pursuits and there was no sense of progression. It was disastrous (maybe not for it's time but it certainly is now).

And so it was Realtime Worlds took the initiative to take the principle of cops versus criminals and transform the game into a massively multiplayer game. Why? They had amazing success with all their previous titles: their Crackdown series (which was also a renovation of an old and pretty dull title) was a reinvigorating revival of the original and they became a quality accredited developer amongst their dedicated following of fans. So their next step forwards was truly ambitious: they were to create an MMO from a stale, forgotten video game.

Working conditions were apparently superb at Realtime Worlds and the employers really made sure the expectations of their developers and other employees were met. Regular meetings were held where they discussed the progressive addition of content into their upcoming releases and discussed how the project, which was the unannounced APB, was being managed. According to personal recollection from former employees the treatment and democratic governing of business was remarkable. But these conditions were about to end.

Shortly after the closure of All Points Bulletin I wrote the following:

"The game took five years to develop and approximately $100 million was put into creation of the game. It received mixed numerical ratings from professional game critics, varying from the low end of the spectrum to considerably good scores. APB also boasted in-depth character creation tools, varying from tattoo designers for clothes, music composition and the ability to alter even the most insignificant physical attributes of your in-game avatar. Similar features will be included in Call of Duty: Black Ops, demonstrating how the gimmicks that APB brought to the table have influenced customisation within video games.

Unfortunately, by release date, Realtime Worlds were suffering financial difficulties and very little advertising led to low sales, an unexpected blow to Real Time Worlds. With the game released under-developed with many key components flawed and few activities available, the already small, active community plummeted dramatically and thus insubstantial subscriptions fees were paid.

Realtime Worlds later went into administration, unable to pay the debts that they'd left themselves in. The game and its servers failed to attract a buyer, consequently, the servers were pulled from their online status, members were disconnected and APB was finally put to rest."

But APB's luck has taken a twist for the better and it may not see the ephemeral existence that Realtime Worlds has done. How has it eluded the grave? It found a buyer. And it's being revived with an all new free-to-play business model. I'm presuming the company will get its payments through microtransactions; which is fair enough. Upkeep and maintenance for all the servers and fixing all the biting problems that clung to the game like obstinate barnacles will cost money. Lets just hope the items that you can buy (using real currency) do not push the balance issues deeper: they were bad enough. Nonetheless, I'm happy that this game is getting another chance as with a few months more development it could've been so much more and the game that many anticipated.

So did anyone buy APB? What were your thoughts on it? If you never got it (and if you looked into it) what do you think about it? Would you ever consider buying a game like it?