Jones: APB Suffered From 'Misconceptions'
People had too high expectations, apparently.
RealTime World's APB has taken a bit of a battering by reviewers, but creator Dave Jones has defended the game and said that people had "too high expectations" in the first place.
Jones - of Crackdown fame - responded to critics of the game's control system and online matchmaking (which would appear to be the bulk of APB, to be totally fair) by suggesting that players had expected a different game to the one that they were actually getting. These "misconceptions" apparently led to comparisons between APB and one of Jones' past creations - Grand Theft Auto.
"The game years ago was initially tagged as [a Grand Theft Auto] MMO, which we'd never said. Obviously people put two and two together - our history and the fact it was online - and said, 'Oh it's going to be like a GTA MMO'," Jones explained to Eurogamer. "I think that's set huge expectations. That's not what we were building, so I was expecting that."
"It's not for absolutely everybody," he added. "If some people are diehard FPS guys and Modern Warfare is their life, they're going to struggle to make the change. But Splinter Cell players, or guys who are in to more tactical combat and they just love being online with their friends in a multi-player game, we're finding we're really resonating with those guys."
In APB, players create a custom character and participate in a persistent online cityscape. After joining one of two sides - Criminals or Enforcers - you take part in various online missions that help your gang either take control of the game world, or defend it from criminal activity.
The game was released on Friday, for PC.
Jones - of Crackdown fame - responded to critics of the game's control system and online matchmaking (which would appear to be the bulk of APB, to be totally fair) by suggesting that players had expected a different game to the one that they were actually getting. These "misconceptions" apparently led to comparisons between APB and one of Jones' past creations - Grand Theft Auto.
"The game years ago was initially tagged as [a Grand Theft Auto] MMO, which we'd never said. Obviously people put two and two together - our history and the fact it was online - and said, 'Oh it's going to be like a GTA MMO'," Jones explained to Eurogamer. "I think that's set huge expectations. That's not what we were building, so I was expecting that."
"It's not for absolutely everybody," he added. "If some people are diehard FPS guys and Modern Warfare is their life, they're going to struggle to make the change. But Splinter Cell players, or guys who are in to more tactical combat and they just love being online with their friends in a multi-player game, we're finding we're really resonating with those guys."
In APB, players create a custom character and participate in a persistent online cityscape. After joining one of two sides - Criminals or Enforcers - you take part in various online missions that help your gang either take control of the game world, or defend it from criminal activity.
The game was released on Friday, for PC.
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