Perhaps it is the subjectiveness of the scores that is the issue, World of Tanks getting a 9 for innovation yet this game getting a 5 is beyond laughable. What use is a scoring system when the numbers mean different things to different reviewers? If your idea of what's innovative is so extreme compared to that of other reviewers then the scores end up being meaningless and arbitrary. Same with the social aspect, very few MMOs force any grouping, let alone communication, the points you have against this game could apply to any MMO yet very few receive such low scores.
Good points. Hrm. On a personal front, I've always been known to be brutally honest and somewhat harsh in my reviews. I seldom give glowing praise. However, in terms of the direction we're given as reviewers, the truth of the matter is the description of the categories is, well, very brief and very subject to interpretation.
However, you've raised a number of fair points, points I'll bring up with the editors. If nothing else, this might mean a more comprehensive set of review criterias to ensure that future pieces don't feel so different. ^_^
I'm just going to comment on one bit here. You're entitled to your opinions, otherwise. While APB Reloaded does have the most STUNNING character generation I've seen in an MMO yet, it's not new. Need for Speed allowed you to customize your cars. The Sims allowed you to customize your characters. Those are just two games that have been implemented chargen. Polish, regardless of how masterful it is, is just that - polish. Then again, I could have interpreted the word wrongly. ^_^; As far as I can tell, innovation means something that has been newly introduced.
So the ability to take 25 different symbols and peice them together to make a custom symbol, then use three custom symbols to customize 1 article of clothing (up to 75 individual symbols for 1 peice of clothing) isn't innovative, it's just polish? You make it sound like it's no different then just adding some dye to your armor. The character customization in this game is well beyond any other game out there, bar none. Need for Speed customization is a joke in comparison to the ability for a player to use their own artistic talents to create the look they want in APB:R. And to even mention the Sims is just a slap in the face.
Oh and you said there was no garbage laying around....
Heh. Fair enough.
Again, I suppose it's a difference in opinions. I'm fully aware of how comprehensive the personalization system is. It makes my jaw drop. But, is it really a new way of doing thingsor is it an improvement? I see it as the latter.
This review has so much wrong, even some of the screenshots aren't from the relaunched APB. It complains about not being able to do 1 shot kills to the head, which would kill balance and make all fights short in an arcade style shooter. It says you can't tell a cars damage, try looking at your screen and observe the huge dents in it.
I am not angry, rather I am disappointed. This review hardly covers some areas, not mentioning many aspects of each category, and then it hammers at weak points with misinformation or a lack of.
APB gets a 'boring world' con when SW:TOR doesn't, which is the KING Of absolutely boring worlds and APB's city is extremely populated with NPCs that move around speaking on Payphones and buying newspaper and window shopping at the malls. All sorts of shit goes on in the APB city and this "reviewer" just pulls out a random bulls**** con to slap onto this game.
This website needs to stop doing reviews. They don't even take them seriously.
I no longer play APB due to many of its flaws. However, you have identified 0 of them. This review is not just awful, but plain wrong in some cases.
Aesthetics-
I don't understand your qualms about the city. "If you've seen one part of San Paro, you've seen the rest." Well, yeah. It's a city. Not a fantasy world. And even then theres a lot of variation. From that large building in the middle of the lake you can fight at, to Gai Jin (a night club), to the subway, the motel flats, the construction yard, the garages, the highway, the unfinished parking lot etc there is so much there.
"how do I take on missions?" Press K. As said in bold letters on the left side of your screen.
"Why must I run around the first NPC I met in a very uncertain fashion before she addresses me with a task?" It's a PvP game so it obviously needs time to wait for an equal matchup to arrise. Standard for any matched PvP game.
"Why is all the necessary information located in a frustratingly discreet of my screen?
So that your screen isn't cluttered. This game is first and foremost a TPS. The only "Neccessary info" you need is how much ammo you have, where you need to go and your minimap as clearly displayed, or the scoreboard accessed with TAB.
"Who are these people you are grouping me with?"
Random people in the same faction as you as displayed on the team bar on the left side.
"Most importantly of all, why won't you let me back into the Tutorial District after I make the mistake of leaving it the first time?"
So that vets can't go back in and stomp newbies. Yes, it would be nice if people at low rating could go back in but you could simply create a second character, do the tutorial and then delete it and go back to the first.
Innovation -
A five for innovation from the same site that gave SWTOR an eight for innovation? Really?
The first TPS to;
- Offer insane customization to a shooter with a fantastic clothes, tattoo, car and music editor
- Have up to 100 people in the same district, all fighting at once
- Have HUGE maps which randomly pick objective locations for varied gameplay every time
And technically iy's also extremely innovative.
The is no game like APB on the market. You could only compare it to another game if you played Fight Club.
Gameplay -
No, this is not what you'd call a "FPS". An FPS is a First Person Shooter. Meaning it's a shooter, that plays in first person. This game plays from a third person perspetive at all times.
"You will also be able to car jack stationary vehicles, a task that involves nothing more than pressing 'F' next to a car and waiting. Though entertaining to an extent, I've seen no real point to this."
How about getting to the objective you need to take/defend quickly? This seems like common sense?
"Cars and trucks do not feel too different from one another."
I'm sorry but this is just so, so wrong. It confuses me how someone could come to that conclusion.
"An MMO should provide the option for solitary play. You should be able to enjoy this alone. You should not, if you choose so, be shackled to other players... Away from the frag-fests, San Pedro is painfully barren of interesting things to do. Sure, there might be people to mug, money to launder and vehicles to steal but actual interaction is limited. You can't talk to pedestrians. You can't pick up random quests. You can't really do anything."
I disagree. APB always has been, and always will be COMPLETELY about players. Players as content. And that's why it's great. If you don't like going against real people with real people then it's just not for you. If they started taking that out of it, then APB would just become another generic TPS.
With so many other players, civilians and cars whizzing about it's hard to feel like the city is "dead" in a full district.
Social -
It makes me wonder if you jumped into district with about 5 players. Theres always chatting, raging and trolling going on in any decently populated district. But as said it is a shooter. So as with any other shooter you may not find as much talking as for example an MMORPG. There is plenty of ways to find a group and make friends, and that's how the game is best enjoyed.
Polish -
APB doesn't have headshots because of its customization. Every character in the game has the same hitboxes. Why? So you can be a fat giant with a pumpkin for a head without losing an advantage to someone using an extremely small character. For this reason, adding a headshot to the game would mess it up. On small characters you would have to aim above them for headshots, and at the chest of large characters for headshots.
There is plenty of skill to the game. If you're just spraying at people then you're either using an SMG/LMG or doing it wrong. No obvious indication of ammo? How about the AMMO COUNT in the top right of your screen. No way to determine car health? How about the creaking that starts, then white smoke, then black smoke, then fire?
Longetivity-
The one point I agree. It just needs more districts and content. Two districts and fight club maps aren't enough after a while.
A feature article and no mention of the matchmaking system?
I'm sorry, OP, but your article focuses far too much on cosmetics, the lack of more cosmetics, and how the interface isn't easy enough rather than focusing on what really matters: the actual play experience.
Yeah i have to agree, APB have flaws... In my mind a few less then back in the RTW days before reloaded but as mentioned above very few if none of those are brought up in the article... .. .
But no... I agree that APB is in no way shape or form WoW/EQ/*insert theme-park MMO X here )...
This was all in all a hack job, but it does a great job of illuminating how APB look to a newcommer, this game have a VERY steep learning curve and is about as forgiving as a kick in the groin.
Maybe change the title to "a newcommers frist view of APB:Reloaded" and it would fit a lot better.
I only played the original version but i don't think they could change the main fundamental problem of the game.
I regulary got setup agains much higher clan groups that rofl stomped me with their maxed out guns. That's no wonder as the game only had 50 players to choose from to setup you agains and every zone had 2 or 3 maxed out clan groups that killed anyone with ease as their counter part group was already on a mission and so not free to be setup against.
Add to that and unbelivable amount of bots and cheaters and you know why the game failed.
In the end about 1/3 of the players used some form of cheats and i don't think that will be others now.
So even if i would give the game a different rating in the sections i would come to the same game rating as the game is simply totaly unbalanced for most players.
I've been playing this game since APB:R beta. (I've also played the original) Sounds like this reviewer only played the game for a day and then tossed it aside to get this review done. Granted this game isn't perfect. I would give it a 7 out of 10. But bashing it for its' late entry into the gaming world isn't the way to go. I'm sure if this game came out, like how it is now, when it did before (refrencing original APB lauch date) this game would get a way better score. You also gotta remeber it's a F2P game. Compared this game to other F2P games and get back to me then.
Comparing this game to a game like WoW is extremely shamefull as a reviewer. WoW is an established MMO brand with several years behind it. How can you even put the two against each other. Almost any game out there will fall in comparison to WoW just due to it's age of development. Note: I'm not a WoW player, but the general concept of compaing little versus big is unfair. This game should be compared to other F2P shooter games around to keep it fair. (not saying F2P shooters are the only comparable games)
I only played the original version but i don't think they could change the main fundamental problem of the game.
I regulary got setup agains much higher clan groups that rofl stomped me with their maxed out guns. That's no wonder as the game only had 50 players to choose from to setup you agains and every zone had 2 or 3 maxed out clan groups that killed anyone with ease as their counter part group was already on a mission and so not free to be setup against.
Add to that and unbelivable amount of bots and cheaters and you know why the game failed.
In the end about 1/3 of the players used some form of cheats and i don't think that will be others now.
So even if i would give the game a different rating in the sections i would come to the same game rating as the game is simply totaly unbalanced for most players.
First off if you find a clan dominating there are four maps with tons of different channels to move to. Second, This version has its' own custom hacking prevention system on top of already established hacking prevention software. I LOVE the low amount of hackers in this game. Hackers are like 1% or less of the population.
Yeah i have to agree, APB have flaws... In my mind a few less then back in the RTW days before reloaded but as mentioned above very few if none of those are brought up in the article... .. .
But no... I agree that APB is in no way shape or form WoW/EQ/*insert theme-park MMO X here )...
This was all in all a hack job, but it does a great job of illuminating how APB look to a newcommer, this game have a VERY steep learning curve and is about as forgiving as a kick in the groin.
Maybe change the title to "a newcommers frist view of APB:Reloaded" and it would fit a lot better.
I completely agree with this post. Actual flaws aren't mentioned.
It's pretty obvious the "reviewer" spent more time spewing out this article (with thesaurus in hand) then they did actually playing the game. Typical fare from mmorpg.com.
barren world? wtf!? there's all kinds of real people and NPCs and vehicles moving all over the place.
lack of story? in a pure PVP shooter? wtf!?
lack of innovation? W. T. F. !!!!?????
there's around 400 MMORPGs nearly identical to each other, and not a single other MMO like APB, which ISN'T even an RPG, thats how different it is from the norm.
this is probably the worst review i've ever read in my life!
for all the simple thinkers out there, i personally don't like and don't play the game. but like others pointed out, most of the real problems aren't touched on, and a bunch of totally false stuff is mentioned instead.
... OK. I've played APB on and off since original release.
I've had to say this ... a few hundred times between then and now.
APB is -not- an MMO. It -is- a team-oriented FPS who's entire core gameplay mechanic is PVP. There's no actual quest-givers. "XP" exists, but not in the traditional sense.
Attempting to compare it to WoW, or any other current MMO on the market is invalid. The only reason it even falls under the umbrella term MMO is that the servers are able to support multiple concurrent discrete matches in one 'city' - by that ever so thin stretch of logic, it's an MMO. By that same stretch of logic, a 64 player TF2 server would be classed an "MMO".
No quest givers? Accurate. Your "Contacts" are just that - general supervisors in the chain of command, and they'll sell you some goodies if they like you enough or feel you've 'earned it'. The Missions make sense - a criminal is going to want to take advantage of what they can get when they can get it, the Enforcers will want to stop them. Ideally, one shouldn't -ever- have a mission without opposition - it does depend on servers and time of day, but it still is what it is. The backstory exists, from what I understand, but RTW and Reloaded seem content to sit on it, by and large - this is not really unexpected, as PVP shooters usually don't roll out with epic storyline progression.
Since you are the -first person ever- to bring this up, however, I feel a need to point something out that is logically inconsistent : On the point of "not being able to talk to the npc's" - Let me put a hypothetical out there. Let's say you're the NPC, and I will assume you don't mean a contact for obvious reasons, but just the random sheeple walking around town. You sure as hell don't trust the criminals, and there's some really big doubts in your mind that the enforcers are much better. Someone carrying an AK-47 walks up to you and says "Hi!" - are -you- going to stop and ask them to help you find your lost cat, or do you think it's best to possibly -try and get away from the bullet magnet- before a member of the opposing faction decides that they feel like spraying lead in that general direction? ... thought so. Head down, walk -faster-. Or, umm, you know, run in fear - the NPC's do that a lot. I don't much blame them.
As far as innovation - the game -did- innovate from an FPS viewpoint. Multiple concurrent yet still independant 'matches' that can in theory call in backup from each other occuring in one 'city' that can, on the drop of a hat, go from CQB to Vehicle to Vehicle combat. I can't easily think of -any- FPS title that does that.
... all that said? I agree with your overall score, although for reasons that have nothing to do with your own. You raised a few valid points even if you came at this from entirely the wrong angle. The sad reality is this game has no buisness being regarded as an MMO, and you can't really send an MMO reviewer into what really is a Pure Shooter and expect the review to make an awful lot of sense.
I have one question that was not covered in this review and that is the hacking. I stopped playing the game due to all the hacking. Have they done anything about this problem?
Comments
Good points. Hrm. On a personal front, I've always been known to be brutally honest and somewhat harsh in my reviews. I seldom give glowing praise. However, in terms of the direction we're given as reviewers, the truth of the matter is the description of the categories is, well, very brief and very subject to interpretation.
However, you've raised a number of fair points, points I'll bring up with the editors. If nothing else, this might mean a more comprehensive set of review criterias to ensure that future pieces don't feel so different. ^_^
Heh.
Fair enough.
Again, I suppose it's a difference in opinions. I'm fully aware of how comprehensive the personalization system is. It makes my jaw drop. But, is it really a new way of doing thingsor is it an improvement? I see it as the latter.
Mind to score that game's innovationn 1/10 bcoz its a rip off from this game...? Probably not... even me wishing this game to be available in PC as well...
I am not angry, rather I am disappointed. This review hardly covers some areas, not mentioning many aspects of each category, and then it hammers at weak points with misinformation or a lack of.
This review is a joke.
The guy clearly doesn't even like this kind of game.
This scoring system does not make any sense. So 5 is poor, then what is 1? Unplayable?
My gaming blog
No, it doesn't make any sense at all.
APB gets a 'boring world' con when SW:TOR doesn't, which is the KING Of absolutely boring worlds and APB's city is extremely populated with NPCs that move around speaking on Payphones and buying newspaper and window shopping at the malls. All sorts of shit goes on in the APB city and this "reviewer" just pulls out a random bulls**** con to slap onto this game.
This website needs to stop doing reviews. They don't even take them seriously.
I no longer play APB due to many of its flaws. However, you have identified 0 of them. This review is not just awful, but plain wrong in some cases.
Aesthetics-
I don't understand your qualms about the city. "If you've seen one part of San Paro, you've seen the rest." Well, yeah. It's a city. Not a fantasy world. And even then theres a lot of variation. From that large building in the middle of the lake you can fight at, to Gai Jin (a night club), to the subway, the motel flats, the construction yard, the garages, the highway, the unfinished parking lot etc there is so much there.
"how do I take on missions?" Press K. As said in bold letters on the left side of your screen.
"Why must I run around the first NPC I met in a very uncertain fashion before she addresses me with a task?" It's a PvP game so it obviously needs time to wait for an equal matchup to arrise. Standard for any matched PvP game.
"Why is all the necessary information located in a frustratingly discreet of my screen?
So that your screen isn't cluttered. This game is first and foremost a TPS. The only "Neccessary info" you need is how much ammo you have, where you need to go and your minimap as clearly displayed, or the scoreboard accessed with TAB.
"Who are these people you are grouping me with?"
Random people in the same faction as you as displayed on the team bar on the left side.
"Most importantly of all, why won't you let me back into the Tutorial District after I make the mistake of leaving it the first time?"
So that vets can't go back in and stomp newbies. Yes, it would be nice if people at low rating could go back in but you could simply create a second character, do the tutorial and then delete it and go back to the first.
Innovation -
A five for innovation from the same site that gave SWTOR an eight for innovation? Really?
The first TPS to;
- Offer insane customization to a shooter with a fantastic clothes, tattoo, car and music editor
- Have up to 100 people in the same district, all fighting at once
- Have HUGE maps which randomly pick objective locations for varied gameplay every time
And technically iy's also extremely innovative.
The is no game like APB on the market. You could only compare it to another game if you played Fight Club.
Gameplay -
No, this is not what you'd call a "FPS". An FPS is a First Person Shooter. Meaning it's a shooter, that plays in first person. This game plays from a third person perspetive at all times.
"You will also be able to car jack stationary vehicles, a task that involves nothing more than pressing 'F' next to a car and waiting. Though entertaining to an extent, I've seen no real point to this."
How about getting to the objective you need to take/defend quickly? This seems like common sense?
"Cars and trucks do not feel too different from one another."
I'm sorry but this is just so, so wrong. It confuses me how someone could come to that conclusion.
"An MMO should provide the option for solitary play. You should be able to enjoy this alone. You should not, if you choose so, be shackled to other players... Away from the frag-fests, San Pedro is painfully barren of interesting things to do. Sure, there might be people to mug, money to launder and vehicles to steal but actual interaction is limited. You can't talk to pedestrians. You can't pick up random quests. You can't really do anything."
I disagree. APB always has been, and always will be COMPLETELY about players. Players as content. And that's why it's great. If you don't like going against real people with real people then it's just not for you. If they started taking that out of it, then APB would just become another generic TPS.
With so many other players, civilians and cars whizzing about it's hard to feel like the city is "dead" in a full district.
Social -
It makes me wonder if you jumped into district with about 5 players. Theres always chatting, raging and trolling going on in any decently populated district. But as said it is a shooter. So as with any other shooter you may not find as much talking as for example an MMORPG. There is plenty of ways to find a group and make friends, and that's how the game is best enjoyed.
Polish -
APB doesn't have headshots because of its customization. Every character in the game has the same hitboxes. Why? So you can be a fat giant with a pumpkin for a head without losing an advantage to someone using an extremely small character. For this reason, adding a headshot to the game would mess it up. On small characters you would have to aim above them for headshots, and at the chest of large characters for headshots.
There is plenty of skill to the game. If you're just spraying at people then you're either using an SMG/LMG or doing it wrong. No obvious indication of ammo? How about the AMMO COUNT in the top right of your screen. No way to determine car health? How about the creaking that starts, then white smoke, then black smoke, then fire?
Longetivity-
The one point I agree. It just needs more districts and content. Two districts and fight club maps aren't enough after a while.
Yes, this Review needs to be taken down.
It is 100% junk. Its an embarrassment for this website.
I agree with the review and would rate it lower if you aren't going into it with friends.
Also the long load times (the price for all that customization) is a pain. This is a pvp shooter, why does it need to be so unique?
The game is fine for what it is, but its nothing special.
A feature article and no mention of the matchmaking system?
I'm sorry, OP, but your article focuses far too much on cosmetics, the lack of more cosmetics, and how the interface isn't easy enough rather than focusing on what really matters: the actual play experience.
Outstanding response by Donnell, very detailed and far better than the original article. I agree 100%!
This review hasn't been retracted yet? Embarassing.
I hope that they will have someone who is willing to actually give the game more than a halfassed, uninterested look redo the review.
Yeah i have to agree, APB have flaws... In my mind a few less then back in the RTW days before reloaded but as mentioned above very few if none of those are brought up in the article... .. .
But no... I agree that APB is in no way shape or form WoW/EQ/*insert theme-park MMO X here )...
This was all in all a hack job, but it does a great job of illuminating how APB look to a newcommer, this game have a VERY steep learning curve and is about as forgiving as a kick in the groin.
Maybe change the title to "a newcommers frist view of APB:Reloaded" and it would fit a lot better.
This have been a good conversation
Now I'm pretty bad with language, but really, the editors need to step up their game a little bit here. Several grammar and spelling errors.
As someone who has done writing in the past, these things happen. That is why we have editors.
I only played the original version but i don't think they could change the main fundamental problem of the game.
I regulary got setup agains much higher clan groups that rofl stomped me with their maxed out guns. That's no wonder as the game only had 50 players to choose from to setup you agains and every zone had 2 or 3 maxed out clan groups that killed anyone with ease as their counter part group was already on a mission and so not free to be setup against.
Add to that and unbelivable amount of bots and cheaters and you know why the game failed.
In the end about 1/3 of the players used some form of cheats and i don't think that will be others now.
So even if i would give the game a different rating in the sections i would come to the same game rating as the game is simply totaly unbalanced for most players.
I've been playing this game since APB:R beta. (I've also played the original) Sounds like this reviewer only played the game for a day and then tossed it aside to get this review done. Granted this game isn't perfect. I would give it a 7 out of 10. But bashing it for its' late entry into the gaming world isn't the way to go. I'm sure if this game came out, like how it is now, when it did before (refrencing original APB lauch date) this game would get a way better score. You also gotta remeber it's a F2P game. Compared this game to other F2P games and get back to me then.
Comparing this game to a game like WoW is extremely shamefull as a reviewer. WoW is an established MMO brand with several years behind it. How can you even put the two against each other. Almost any game out there will fall in comparison to WoW just due to it's age of development. Note: I'm not a WoW player, but the general concept of compaing little versus big is unfair. This game should be compared to other F2P shooter games around to keep it fair. (not saying F2P shooters are the only comparable games)
First off if you find a clan dominating there are four maps with tons of different channels to move to. Second, This version has its' own custom hacking prevention system on top of already established hacking prevention software. I LOVE the low amount of hackers in this game. Hackers are like 1% or less of the population.
I completely agree with this post. Actual flaws aren't mentioned.
"Aesthetics: 6.5...Inovation: 5...Gameplay: 6.5..." Oh My God!! The amount of incompetence is..."Over 9000"!!!!
It's pretty obvious the "reviewer" spent more time spewing out this article (with thesaurus in hand) then they did actually playing the game. Typical fare from mmorpg.com.
barren world? wtf!? there's all kinds of real people and NPCs and vehicles moving all over the place.
lack of story? in a pure PVP shooter? wtf!?
lack of innovation? W. T. F. !!!!?????
there's around 400 MMORPGs nearly identical to each other, and not a single other MMO like APB, which ISN'T even an RPG, thats how different it is from the norm.
this is probably the worst review i've ever read in my life!
for all the simple thinkers out there, i personally don't like and don't play the game. but like others pointed out, most of the real problems aren't touched on, and a bunch of totally false stuff is mentioned instead.
---------------------------
Corpus Callosum
---------------------------
... OK. I've played APB on and off since original release.
I've had to say this ... a few hundred times between then and now.
APB is -not- an MMO. It -is- a team-oriented FPS who's entire core gameplay mechanic is PVP. There's no actual quest-givers. "XP" exists, but not in the traditional sense.
Attempting to compare it to WoW, or any other current MMO on the market is invalid. The only reason it even falls under the umbrella term MMO is that the servers are able to support multiple concurrent discrete matches in one 'city' - by that ever so thin stretch of logic, it's an MMO. By that same stretch of logic, a 64 player TF2 server would be classed an "MMO".
No quest givers? Accurate. Your "Contacts" are just that - general supervisors in the chain of command, and they'll sell you some goodies if they like you enough or feel you've 'earned it'. The Missions make sense - a criminal is going to want to take advantage of what they can get when they can get it, the Enforcers will want to stop them. Ideally, one shouldn't -ever- have a mission without opposition - it does depend on servers and time of day, but it still is what it is. The backstory exists, from what I understand, but RTW and Reloaded seem content to sit on it, by and large - this is not really unexpected, as PVP shooters usually don't roll out with epic storyline progression.
Since you are the -first person ever- to bring this up, however, I feel a need to point something out that is logically inconsistent : On the point of "not being able to talk to the npc's" - Let me put a hypothetical out there. Let's say you're the NPC, and I will assume you don't mean a contact for obvious reasons, but just the random sheeple walking around town. You sure as hell don't trust the criminals, and there's some really big doubts in your mind that the enforcers are much better. Someone carrying an AK-47 walks up to you and says "Hi!" - are -you- going to stop and ask them to help you find your lost cat, or do you think it's best to possibly -try and get away from the bullet magnet- before a member of the opposing faction decides that they feel like spraying lead in that general direction? ... thought so. Head down, walk -faster-. Or, umm, you know, run in fear - the NPC's do that a lot. I don't much blame them.
As far as innovation - the game -did- innovate from an FPS viewpoint. Multiple concurrent yet still independant 'matches' that can in theory call in backup from each other occuring in one 'city' that can, on the drop of a hat, go from CQB to Vehicle to Vehicle combat. I can't easily think of -any- FPS title that does that.
... all that said? I agree with your overall score, although for reasons that have nothing to do with your own. You raised a few valid points even if you came at this from entirely the wrong angle. The sad reality is this game has no buisness being regarded as an MMO, and you can't really send an MMO reviewer into what really is a Pure Shooter and expect the review to make an awful lot of sense.