OMG RPG

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery and with the massive success of the Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row franchises, it was inevitable for an MMO version right? Well, if you refer to All Points Bulletin as such, you'll likely end up six feet under. Yes, there are some similarities, but no, it's not an MMO clone, and that's a good thing.

At E3, we got an opportunity to meet with Realtime Worlds and get the latest and greatest on All Points Bulletin. The game is in your face, and walking into their E3 booth you certainly got that. Greeted by booth babes with more ink than the Declaration of Independence I certainly knew that in your face style was in store for APB. Some might find APB a little intense to start out and that's not necessarily a bad thing, but like Niko, if you give it some time and it will certainly grow on you.

The great thing about APB is their emphasis on you being the celebrity, which appealed to me especially (given that I am the noob). What exactly does that mean? It means that you the player determine your story, not a story determining how you play. That allows the user to do what they want, when they want and most importantly, HOW they want in the rough city of San Paro. If you want to rob a bank, go for it, if you'd like to jack a car, by all means. What you want to do, will directly affect what happens to you next.

Not only does your action affect what happens to you next, but also determines who will interact with you. Something the Realtime Worlds staff was really excited about. But they were quick to dismiss that this title was all about the villains. When you log in and create an account, you have an important choice, you can be apart of the thieves or the enforcers. This decision is quite a simple one as the thieves (by their title) break the law and the enforcers, well they bring the law.

We were a little skeptical at the outright, given the fact that we've jacked ourselves plenty of cars, banks, and other criminal activities with little or no difficulty escaping the cops in games like Grand Theft Auto. So what makes APB all that great? Well, because there aren't any NPC's, at least ones that are going to chase you. What Realtime Worlds explained is their new "dynamic match-making system" that matches enforcers to criminals based on their level of experience once a crime is committed. The enforcer receives and "APB" (yes, just like the title) and gets the location information of where the crime is being committed. This is directly opposite to what the thief gets, nothing.

If you're a thief and you commit a crime, you could have an enforcer on you in 5 seconds or 5 minutes, you just don't know. You also don't know how many enforcers are going to be paired up against you. Because its a dynamic match making system one veteran thief may get paired up aginst 2, 3 or even 4 noob enforcers while an elite theif might just have the entire opposing team against him/her. This adds a really interesting aspect to the cops and robbers format that APB is embracing.

But don't worry if you're not the kind of cop that likes to work (play) 10hours a day, Realtime Worlds says they only expect you to patrol the mean streets for just a mere 15minutes. That's right, no longer are games expecting you to time sink 3-4 hours on instance running. As Realtime Worlds understands, you have a busy life and need a game to adapt, allowing you to play, when you can, for as long as you can.

Missions in the story line mode are created specifically to only take 10-20minutes to complete, same thing with a dynamic matchup. Not that you can't play for 4hours or even more for that matter, but the emphasis of APB is on feeling like you've been successful after just a little amount of time (and who can argue with that being a bad thing right?).

Also, don't think that the emphasis on short missions means a drop in game play, it's actually quite the opposite. Utilizing a Ventrillo like system that will be apart of the games software, Realtime Worlds is integrating chat directly into the game. Walk around, and hear people talking to one another (and even a couple weirdos to themselves). This works really well when enforcers are trying to encircle thieves or vice versa. Communication is key, especially if you want to get ahead, and trust me you do.

The whole point of APB is to become the top cop or criminal of the city. Stop more criminals (notice I didn't say arrest) and you'll get paired up against tougher crooks. Commit more crimes without getting caught, you'll have better (or more) enforcers coming after you. Unlike in World of Warcraft, where the guild leader is sometimes just the guy who drew the shortest straw, with APB, you can't be a gang leader without earning it. For those that earn it though, Carl Johnson or Niko Belic level status awaits.

But how will this style of game be received by the all important consumer? I'm not really sure to be honest. While the game sports a deep level of customization to go along with a gaming style that fits any schedule, my concern will be balance. Realtime Worlds says that they will rectify this by allowing enforcers and thieves to city hop in order to maintain that balance, but they can't leave their world (roughly 100 people per city and 100,000 per world currently). Also, they would not explain their subscription method, stating it would be "non-traditional", how will that work with this new EA strategy of short bursts of gaming?

Clearly this game still has a way to go before it hits stores (likely in 2010), however from what we saw, we were impressed. The customization options are extremely entertaining (literally available from head to toe) and the from the gameplay trailer, the world looks robust, realistic and full of surprises. I'd put out an APB on Realtime Worlds latest title, but I think I already have :-)