Play a free, futuristic 'Cops and Robbers' on your Xbox One
Now Xbox One owners can play 'APB: Reloaded,' too.
Rumors are swirling that we could see more of the new Crackdown in just over a week's time at E3, but until Microsoft's media briefing you'll just have to make due with All Points Bulletin: Reloaded. The free-to-play online game of futuristic cops and robbers recently launched on Xbox One after a lengthy delay, and if you log in within the first month (or before its initial patch, whichever comes first), there are a few bonuses for you. In addition to weapon skins and a placard for your avatar if you play for 10 hours, there's a special weapon (the Fireworks Flare Launcher) and vehicle (Mikro JC14 "New-Cross") in store for everyone, regardless of play-time.
But how are Crackdown and APB even remotely connected? Well, in case you forgot, it's time for a bit of a video game history lesson. Developer David Jones worked at Rockstar North precursor DMA Design, and was a producer on the original Grand Theft Auto. He worked on a few Nintendo 64 games after that (Body Harvest and Space Station Silicon Valley) before returning to a life of crime with Grand Theft Auto 2.
Jones founded Realtime Worlds in 2002, which was responsible for the first (and best) Crackdown, a comic-book styled open-world game that put you in the shoes of what was essentially an acrobatic superhero cop, and then the original All Points Bulletin. If you're a fan of GTA Online, know that it got a lot of its ideas from APB.
Despite the game's ambition and potential, though, financial woes forced the game to shut down in 2010 after the MMO's servers had been live for just three months. It was picked up and turned into a free-to-play game by K2 Network in 2011 under the name APB: Reloaded. Now, Jones is heading up development on Crackdown 3 for Microsoft. See? Full circle.
APB: Reloaded is still scheduled for release on PlayStation 4, and the developer promises Sony fans will be able to play the game sometime after the Xbox One version's first patch hits. The announcement post also lists all the changes that've been made to the game or that are en route for the new PC version as well.
