Lost In Translation/APB - All Points Bulletin

About The Game
APB (or All-points Bulletin) is an overhead-view driving arcade video game in which players take on the role of policeman 'Officer Bob' as he takes to his patrol car and drives the streets in pursuit of lawbreakers. The object of the game is to meet (or preferably exceed) the daily quota of 'busts', as he tries to catch a variety of law-breakers.

Along the way, players must refuel their patrol car (by driving through filling stations) as well as meeting targets within a set time limit. Any accidental collisions or running over of pedestrians will result in the player earning 'de-merits', while a 'perfect day' will earn bonuses, with further bonuses awarded for each arrest made that exceeds the daily quota. Picking up donuts extends the time limit for a day.

Trivia
APB was Dave Theurer's last game at Atari Games. He went on to work on the 'DeBabelizer' for Macromedia with other Atari alumni. Other games by Dave include "Missile Command", "Tempest" and "I, Robot".

The game enjoyed moderate success in the marketplace, as most Atari games did. It's high-resolution graphics and novel cabinet design, with the flashing lights atop, added to it's initial appeal.

Greg Gibson holds the record for this game with 1,002,324 points on January 23, 1988.

An APB machine was shown at the 2003 classic arcade games show 'California Extreme' in San Jose, California.

Tips and tricks

 * Warp : When you start a new game, you may press the Siren button and start to get a level 1-8 warp, or press Gun+Siren and start to get a level 1-16 warp.


 * High scores scrolling : Right on the joystick to scroll down and Left to scroll up.


 * During the preliminary level where you have to 'arrest' cones, to beat the timer and get the bonus after you arrest enough cones you can do a 180 and return to the start the way you came.

Staff

 * Credits:
 * Dave Theurer (DFT)
 * Mike Hally (MLH)
 * Alan Murphy (AJM)
 * Mark West (MLW)
 * Brad Fuller (BAF)
 * Hal Canon (HLC)
 * Earl Vickers (EAR)
 * (RBD)

Ports

 * Consoles :
 * Atari Lynx (1990)
 * Microsoft XBOX (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasures 2")
 * Nintendo GameCube (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasures 2")
 * Sony PlayStation 2 (2004, "Midway Arcade Treasures 2")


 * Computers :
 * Commodore C64 (1989)
 * Sinclair ZX Spectrum (1989)
 * Atari ST (1989)
 * Amstrad CPC (1989)
 * Commodore Amiga ("APB (All Points Bulletin)", 1989, DoMark)
 * PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (2006, "Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition")

