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E3 2011: APB: Reloaded (Impressions)

by: Sean -
More On: APB: Reloaded
Game: APB: Reloaded
Developer: Reloaded Studios
Release Window/Date: Currently in open beta
What's Polished: Matchmaking, driving, and fighting all looked like vastly improved ...
What Needs Polished: ... but the graphics could use some work. They're not bad, they're just not spectacular.

APB: Relaoded is the re-launch of the fairly-disastrous open-world shooter APB. Reloaded Studios was brought in to conduct the overhaul, and from what I've seen, APB:R is on track to fulfill the promise of the original.

Reloaded has brought a number of tweaks to APB since they began working on it in November, including something as simple as a new starting vehicle, which developers think will help correct the original games' extremely unbalanced gameplay, while keeping features like highly-customizable character creation. Developers also changed the firing reticle, making it more reactive to recoil and reducing the tendencies of players to "spray and pray." 

More substantial changes include the matchmaking system; the original's matchmaking only looked at your last 50 matches, so an experienced player could hunt down rookies for hours and massively overpower them. APB:R uses a sophisticated algorithm to match players in an area, and then recommends districts to a player via their individual maps to cater an experience to experts or beginners.

APB:R is in open beta right now, and is worth a second look.