- By way of Kill Ten Rats, the new comes that APB has finally met its destiny.
- I don't have a lot to say about the game. I tried it out on my current toaster and found it wanting. Evidently there was fun to be had, but only a few people managed to find it.
- The game is running for free until they turn off the servers. So if you want one last chance to see it, or if you're just morbidly curious, now is the time to check it out.
- I wonder if they deployed the 1.4.2 Patch before they shut down.
© 2010 Marty Runyon. All rights reserved.
Well, I guess this shows other developers that they shouldn't spend lots of time and money making a bad game, and then try to fix it with a massive overhaul just after launch. Or even a couple years after - looking at you SWG!
ReplyDeleteThere as a really interesting post mortem series by one of the developers:
ReplyDeletehttp://lukehalliwell.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/where-realtime-worlds-went-wrong-part-3/
From what I have read about APB, it had some greats systems but basically fell down on some game design basics. Kind of a shame, cops and robbers the MMO sounds like a fun concept.
I tried it for a bit as well, and had fun doing it though it wasn't something I could play for the long term. Apparently, a sentiment shared by many. Such a shame though, it had potential.
ReplyDelete@ Jayedub - I don't think that a bad game can ever become good after it launches. A busted game can be fixed, but there has to be a good game under all the broken bits.
ReplyDeleteOf course, I'd love if someone could prove me wrong and remind me of a game that launched bad and got the good patched in.
@ Yeebo - Thank you so much for the link. I hear about that blog and I wanted to check it out.
@ MMOGC - That does sound familiar. If they had just launched it Guild Wars style, people might have been more willing to try it. Having the spectre of the hourly rate hanging over the game hurt it quite a bit.