History VideoGame / AllPointsBulletin

'''''APB: All Points Bulletin'''''(now APB: Reloaded) is a Massively Multiplayer Online Action Game, clearly inspired by the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series and developed by Real Time Worlds, creators of ''{{Crackdown}}''. The players can play either as [[CowboyCop Enforcers]] or as Criminals of [[CityOfAdventure San Paro]] — for each side there are two factions (Prentiss Tigers and Praetorians for Enforcers, and G-Kings and Blood Roses for Criminals), each with its own bonuses and unlockable content.

One of the most important features is customization. During a presentation on Game Developers Conference, the creators showed lookalikes of Creator/PeterMolyneux, [[Franchise/{{Ultima}} Richard Garriott]], [[VideoGame/DeusEx Warren Spector]] and [[SuperMarioBros Shigeru Miyamoto]], complete with logos of their respective companies (or, in Miyamoto's case, the Mario sprite and [[GoofyPrintUnderwear boxers with the 1UP mushroom pattern]]) on their clothing. In a later gameplay, [[Creator/EpicGames Mark Rein's]] character sports the [[VideoGame/{{Unreal}} U logo]] on his back.

* GenericGraffiti - Don't be surprised if you see a Pedo Bear, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Shinra logo]], SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker or [[ItAmusedMe the Awesome Face]] sprayed on a wall or billboard up high.

* DrivesLikeCrazy - Mark Rein's driver in the gameplay mentioned above. The city, as you may see, is designed just so the players can Drive Like Crazy: ramps to jump off from, gaps in highway barriers allowing you to drop to the street below, all sorts of random trash to be run over like in those [='70s=] movies and drainage canals for that ''Terminator2Judgmentday''-kind-of chases.

* AndYourRewardIsClothes - In the original gaining standing with organizations and spending time in the clothing editor gave you customizable clothes, while gaining standing with contacts gave you preset ones, in case you're lazy and don't want to fiddle with the editor, but still have something decent-looking on. Preordering also granted you two different sets of clothing, one for Criminal characters, one for Enforcers. Beta testers also got a special shirt called "The Lousy Shirt," which says "I was in the APB beta and all I got was... MULTIPLE BULLET WOUNDS". In the Reloaded version all clothes, predesigned and designable are now unlocked via contact standing, forcing you to grind hours to get access to things like boots.

* BagOfSpilling: [=GamersFirst=] allows you to import your character from the retail version. You keep your clothes and some other customizations, but lose all your gear.

'''''APB: All Points Bulletin'''''(now APB: Reloaded) is a Massively Multiplayer Online Action Game, clearly inspired by the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series and developed by Real Time Worlds, creators of ''{{Crackdown}}''. The players can play either as [[CowboyCop Enforcers]] or as [[CaptainObvious Criminals]] of [[CityOfAdventure San Paro]] — for each side there are two factions (Prentiss Tigers and Praetorians for Enforcers, and G-Kings and Blood Roses for Criminals), each with its own bonuses and unlockable content.

** Original there were also two additional factions and one extra district planned. The RedRain and the SPPD in the Midtown District. Reverences to them can still be found in the character bios.

* UnusableEnemyEquipment - Not actualy weapons or mods, but clothes. Charlotte Bloodrose, Zombie, LaRocha and Sofia, unlike every other contact or NPC in the game, are not made with the character creator but direct copies of their concept art. As a result their unique clothes can not be used by players.

* GasMaskMooks - With the newest patches the players can now look like this. Also, [=TipToe=] of the criminals wears one.

* AuthorExistenceFailure - Real Time Worlds went under in August 2010, and the game followed briefly.

* CreatorKiller - The game's commercial flop caused Real Time Worlds to shut down.
** According to interviews the game did well enough, but not good enough to save the company from it's debts.

* NoExportForYou - Australia is screwed again, but this time, the reason isn't MoralGuardians - it's MoneyDearBoy, as the cost of renting servers and high-speed connection in Australia is tantamount to extortion.

* PutOnABus: Pagan Bloodrose with the newest patch.

* [[ScrewedByTheNetwork Screwed By The Devs]] - The game was released by Realtime Worlds already in high waters due to the prolonged development time, in an ObviousBeta state, and they did little to fix the kilometric list of problems it had, like they knew they were going belly-up already (mostly because of disastrous financial model of the company, as one of the ex-employees pointed out on his blog). The game had great potentialities but no time to reach a state to really express them, and people have basically paid to be beta-testers for a cancelled product. The game's servers were shut down a mere three months before release. The game has now been acquired by [=GamersFirst=] with a new Free To Play model.

'''''APB: All Points Bulletin''''' was a Massively Multiplayer Online Action Game, clearly inspired by the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series and developed by Real Time Worlds, creators of ''{{Crackdown}}''. The players can play either as [[CowboyCop Enforcers]] or as [[CaptainObvious Criminals]] of [[CityOfAdventure San Paro]] — for each side there are two factions (Prentiss Tigers and Praetorians for Enforcers, and G-Kings and Blood Roses for Criminals), each with its own bonuses and unlockable content.

Due to a disastrous launch phase and lackluster sales that fell far below predictions, Realtime Worlds was placed into administration in August 2010, and on September 16, 2010, the future of the game was sealed when Realtime Worlds announced that the servers would be shutting down soon after. However, [[NetworkToTheRescue [=GamersFirst=] has picked up the game and has put it in Open Beta,]] under the name "APB: Reloaded", and in December 2011, released the beta on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} as well.

Due to a disastrous launch phase and lackluster sales that fell far below predictions, Realtime Worlds was placed into administration in August 2010, and on September 16, 2010, the future of the game was sealed when Realtime Worlds announced that the servers would be shutting down soon after. However, [[NetworkToTheRescue [=GamersFirst=] has picked up the game and has put it in Open Beta,]] under the name "APB: Reloaded", and in December 2011, released the beta on {{Steam}} as well.

* FiringOneHanded - An odd example, only the criminals will fire the small-caliber pistols one-handed. Enforcers will always use their other hand to brace the same weapon. Played straight when firing out of cars - both factions will wield their pistols, SMGs, and even assault rifles one-handed.

* AwesomeYetPractical - The O-PGL is a 4-shot repeating grenade launcher that can one-shot kill at its epicenter and has an ample blast radius. With experience, you can engage any enemy at any range with little detriment to yourself, and can be nightmarish for enemies assaulting an objective. However, it is rarely seen in the hands of high-level players due to its more popular (and cooler) counterpart in the form of the OSMAW, and its learning curve dipping into DifficultButAwesome territory.

* DyingLikeAnimals - Chickens specifically. If a civilian sees one of the city's omnipresent gunfights, they cower in fear or run like hell... [[ArtificialStupidity likely directly into the line of fire or into an oncoming car.]]

One of the most important features is customization. During a presentation on Game Developers Conference, the creators showed lookalikes of [[VideoGame/BlackAndWhite Peter Molyneux]], [[Franchise/{{Ultima}} Richard Garriott]], [[VideoGame/DeusEx Warren Spector]] and [[SuperMarioBros Shigeru Miyamoto]], complete with logos of their respective companies (or, in Miyamoto's case, the Mario sprite and [[GoofyPrintUnderwear boxers with the 1UP mushroom pattern]]) on their clothing. In a later gameplay, [[Creator/EpicGames Mark Rein's]] character sports the [[VideoGame/{{Unreal}} U logo]] on his back.

* SoundtrackDissonance - When you'll hear songs like "Brindisi" and "Night on a Bald Mountain", you will most probably ask yourself why the hell did the devs include those songs. Can be invoked if you upload your own dissonant tracks to play in-game.

* SoundtrackDissonance - When you'll hear songs like "Brindisi" and "Ride of The Valkyries", you will most probably ask yourself why the hell did the devs include those songs. Can be invoked if you upload your own dissonant tracks to play in-game.

* SoundtrackDissonance - When you'll hear songs like "Favorite Jeans" by Bertie Blackman or "Rewind" by Make Sparks, you will most probably ask yourself why the hell did the devs include those songs. Can be invoked if you upload your own dissonant tracks to play in-game.

One of the most important features is customization. During a presentation on Game Developers Conference, the creators showed lookalikes of [[VideoGame/BlackAndWhite Peter Molyneux]], [[Franchise/{{Ultima}} Richard Garriott]], [[VideoGame/DeusEx Warren Spector]] and [[SuperMarioBros Shigeru Miyamoto]], complete with logos of their respective companies (or, in Miyamoto's case, the Mario sprite and [[GoofyPrintUnderwear boxers with the 1UP mushroom pattern]]) on their clothing. In a later gameplay, [[GearsOfWar Mark Rein's]] character sports the [[VideoGame/{{Unreal}} U logo]] on his back.

* CurbStompBattle - Matchmaking can easily result in new players with little experience and just the starter guns to face well coordinated well armed veterans, resulting in this. The steep learning curve doesn't help either and the developer have on multiple occasions admited that this is a problem.

* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece - The Colby M-1922. The one you get from TipToe is even stated to be stolen from a museum.