I broke down last night and purchased APB on Steam. I had played the 5 hours that were allowed in the open Beta and had a blast. I was looking for a massive FPS to tide me over until either Dust or Planetside 2 comes to PC. (I know Dust is headed to consoles first, but I am not a big fan of console gaming.) The main contenders were APB and Global Agenda. They both have strongpoints, but the customization and style of APB pulled me towards crime sprees and away from futuristic paramilitary fighting.
The character customization in APB is really nice. I spent a significant amount of time tweaking my look. (I will try to get a screenshot soon) Once you are in the active PVP zone, the best strategy is to manually join a group. If there are multiple players disconnected or if everyone is scattered around the zone, leave and try another group. The gang warfare is excellent, and the mission system is nice in the way it funnels good guys vs. bad guys dynamically. In the first night of play I was able to upgrade my weapons to be more effective. By using cover and following a more experienced player with better weapons, you can help out and get kills right from the start.
The MMOish features in APB are slick. There is a step sequencer/synthesizer that allows you to make your own theme song. This will play to the enemy when you frag them! I had a blast making a dark, echoed, techno freakout to assault the ears of my victims. You can also customize your look, your clothes, and your car. If motivated, you can design your own tattoos and symbols.
One of the very fun ways to trigger a mission in ABP as a criminal is to drive around the city mowing down pedestrians and wreaking general havoc. This behavior will spawn a mission for "Enforcer" characters to bring you to justice. You have 10 minutes to evade capture while they hunt you down and try to kill or subdue you. Driving is fun in the game, and there are many different car-jackable vehicles with different speed, handling, and toughness. You can drive around the city evading the Enforcers and then jump out and run into an alley for a little urban warfare. It feels very "movie like." I found myself howling with laughter often during my first night of play.
Some people are saying that APB is not an MMO. I'm not sure I agree, but I mainly don't care. The game is fun: you can shoot people in the face, drive over them at silly speeds, explode cars, snipe, run-and-gun and develop a wicked individualized avatar. The graphics are beautiful, and can run smoothly at 1920x1080 on high settings on an ATI 4870. I found it to be very slightly choppy on maximum setting, while high was smooth even with lots of people running around. You would need a faster card than a 4870 to completely max out the graphics with a big monitor.
Overall, I think APB is a great compliment to EVE. It provides a burst of kill that is quick and accessible. It really makes me realize that CCP needs to flesh out Dust and eventually bring squad based FPS into the PC EVE client. Then I wouldn't have to dip into another virtual universe for that visceral FPS PVP fix!
