First of all, I want to discuss the looks of the game - the aesthetics. Characters are heavily customizable in terms or bodily features (hair, skin color, height, weight, and even details like eyelashes and freckles). The characters are pretty detailed in terms of 3D. Better than the characters in Test Drive Unlimited 2 (what a horrible game). I noticed this game uses a lot of bump-mapping/normal-mapping, mainly on objects, vehicles, and weapons. Weapons are modeled to a decent level, and so are the buildings. Both provide enough detail (buildings have very scarce polygon bugs sometimes) to suit your eyes. Vehicles are, what I imagine, in between low poly and medium-high poly, giving you just enough detail to fathom them.
Next, I want to discuss gameplay. I play as an Enforcer (police) but the missions are similar for both "factions" (factions = enforcer vs. criminal). You get dispatched to do stuff like take pictures of a garage labeled a crime scene, break into cars, ram into doors, all performed with the function (F) key. Depending on the opposition (opposite faction), they will be dispatched against you to try to stop you, or even reverse your actions taken by you. Missions range widely, from stealing/delivering cars, investigating/breaking into crime scenes, eliminating/assassinating a VIP, capturing a suitcase for the longest time, and all that good stuff. And with the great 3D environment as I mentioned earlier, it never gets boring (although recent updates took out "camping" spots, what a fucking shame). Note: you can only kill online players if you are in a mission/group with them.
Lets talk about the social aspect. You can have a friends list that is limited to a very small amount of people (I think 50 or lower, never counted). I guess it's enough for a good time though. You can also make a group with a maximum of four (4) people that always get put into missions together. This is not to be confused with teams, which are your allies only during missions. With groups, you can mess around/kill each other while out of missions. Speaking of messing around, this game has a lot of griefers: people that aren't in your mission, and are influenced by the opposition to ram your car, and losing valuable time because of them. Really horrible. As far as the social environment itself goes, you can meet both assholes and really nice people. You can also have clans, which is basically a giant group that usually share a certain clothing style, certain vehicle, certain gameplay, etc. and usually group up with each other for a good time.
This next subject is a mixture of gameplay and social aspects: matchmaking. These are the people who get put on your team, and the people who are dispatched against you. First off, let's talk about threat and rank. There are four threat levels (five if you include trainee/beginner). Green, bronze, silver, and gold. Gold is the highest, and for the overly-accomplishing outstanding players, and green just suck in comparison. Your threat color is based upon your wins/losses in mission. I myself play as a silver, sometimes gold when I'm lucky. This is what pisses me off: matchmaking. I am always dispatched against golds. Like, fucking high-level golds. I rarely get the option to call for backup either. Rank also comes into this. Rank ranges from R1 to R200+. Most of the very-good golds are R200+ and those are the same fuckers I get dispatched against, when I am only R150. Matchmaking: bullshit. Makes me prejudiced that the game is shitty, even though most of the game is good.
Customization is a HUGE role in this game. With over approximately 15-20 vehicles to choose from, you are pretty covered. Especially considering some factions get certain cars while others don't. There is a large variety of clothing too. Want to look like some low-life, thief, nigga? Then get golden chains and baggy clothes. If you want to be a hardcore police officer, get a kevlar vest and a police uniform. Really, clothing customization is awesome. There is also a comprehensible [but not refined] symbol designer with symbols and letters to put on your car. Cars can be customized as much as clothing. Make them police-themed, make them camouflaged, make them lime green with Monster Energy decals. You name it. Cars also have a lot of options to be customized with in terms of body parts, especially as an Enforcer. You get a plethora of police lights that make your vehicle extremely noticeable on the streets. In an addition to all of this, you have a music player to make in-game music from, which can be 5-seconds long for death themes (if you are killed by a person, their theme plays). The customization surpasses that of any other games in my opinion.
Finally, is this game free? Well, yes. Uh, no. Well... sort of. You can play Free2Play (as many do) and get it through either Steam or GamersFirst Live (GamersFirst is the distributor of All Points Bulletin). Honestly, GamersFirst Live is just crapware, and if you have Steam installed, get it through Steam. If you don't, get Steam. However, if you want to take things further: have better weapons, clothes, vehicle kits, you can get Premium which increases the money you make in-game, and also helps you progress quicker. You also get access to weapons which are superior over Free2Play weapons in many situations. However, with enough skill, you can easily beat these (I do not have that skill, unfortunately). Premium is costly. You pay a certain amount of Euros for G1 credits which are used to purchase things in-game. It's not a one-time fee, which is bullshit to be frank. Seriously GamersFirst, this is expensive as fuck. You capitalist pigs are making tons of money. Some people are paying 30 Euros just for a vehicle. Congrats for being successful scam artists.
In short, here are the major pro's and con's of the game.
Positives
- Game is Free2Play (preferably through Steam)
- Customization of everything is extremely vast and unique
- Allows for realistic roleplay and cooperative teamwork
- The game itself never gets boring due to the variety of missions it offers
- Great way to spend time with friends and have a good and/or funny time
- Large problem with hackers/aimbots in the game, who demolish even the most skilled
- Premium/Pay2Play is a slap-in-the-face to Free2Play players
- The developers/respected forum users do not respond well to constructive criticism
- The matchmaking is awfully dreadful (I'd quit my job if I designed the matchmaking)
- In general, a lot of easily-fixable problems are ignored by developers due to laziness
I would not say the game has more negatives than positives, but hell, it is pretty close to that at this rate. Overall, I give the game about 7.5/10, but I spent over 400 hours on it since late December, according to Steam, so they must have done something right.
