Online Game from developer Realtime Worlds. It is a game in which players enter cities as one of two sides, an enforcer or a criminal. With up to 100 people per city, the two sides, as well as various gangs, are in a constant conflict.

APB strives to make the gameplay more player driven, than game driven as with most Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) games. They like to consider it as a Dynamic Action Based game, not an MMO or a Role-Playing Game (RPG). Realtime Worlds has decided to create this game with what they call "The Three Cs", and what they mean by this is Creativity, Conflict and Celebrity.



The Creativity aspect of the game is evident in everything the player does right when they start the game. You begin with creating your character, and APB features one of the most robust character creation systems seen in a game to date. Every part of the body is fully customizable and you can manipulate hair styles by pulling and pushing the hair around. When choosing race and skin color, every change will affect bone structure and characteristics to make sure that the character's race is properly showcased.

The game provides a broad range of base items in terms of clothing articles, and allows the player to change the material, or even perform various actions with clothing to give it a unique style. So if you prefer a bandana covering your face, or a tucked in shirt, or even a rolled up pants leg, you can easily give your character your unique style.

Tattoos, decals, and symbols are all created by the user themselves. You can use unlimited amounts of layers to create the design you want, and the variety of designs you can do are practically infinite. Once you have created your unique design, you can apply it any which way you want.

If you decide to do it as a tattoo, it will take on the proper characteristics of your characters skin and body features, and won't give off that body paint look that affects many games. But if you do prefer the body paint look, you have that option as well. The same applies to clothing decals, as the design will conform to fit the clothing.

Vehicles are similar to clothing, as there will be a variety of models, in which you can then fully customize and even upgrade. Vehicles are also fully destructible and the game will feature repair shops. Everything you create material wise, can be bought and sold on a marketplace, similar to that of Ebay.



When it comes to Conflict, the game pits player versus player, and not versus NPC opponents. The developers stressed they wanted to move away from the NPC and AI routines. And everything in this game happens in real time.

When a criminal commits a crime, usually an NPC citizen or an alarm will send out an APB to a neabry Enforcement Agent. They then head to the scene, without the criminal knowing who is on their way or where they are approaching from. Sometimes, an APB won't even be transmitted, but the criminal will still have that sense of tension that someone may come after them at any moment. If not a lot of crime is occurring, the game my create escort missions for the Enforcers, and the game will then tip off the criminals about the movement.

Every conflict and confrontation is matched up with an interesting level based system, yet not your typical way of pitting players of the same level against each other. APB will many times pit 4 lower level players against a higher level player to create a challenge to each side.



When bringing all this together, you reach the Celebrity aspect that Realtime Worlds is striving for. You will create your own entity, a character completely unique to you. This way, when someone sees your character, they know who you are, not based upon a name above your head, but instead on your style and reputation.

Adding to the celbrity aspect even more, you will be able to create your own "Death Tune", with which you can force upon your opponents after you have taken them out. This will help create more of a rivalry between players. The "Death Tune" is yet another feature that you completely create yourself via their in game music generator.

Realtime Worlds has even teamed up and integrated Last.FM into the game. So as the players drive around in their vehicles, your music style will blast from the car stereo and everyone hears exactly what your style of music is. Upgrading your car stereo will also play the music louder and crisper to the surrounding players.

Another great feature in this game is the Voice Over IP capabilty, which will broadcast dynamically in 3D. So as you are walking through the city, you hear the proper direction in which other players are talking. Even while players are in the middle of the firefight, you will be able to hear them yell out to eachother.



Overall, APV is shaping up to be an amazing game and experience, unlike anything currently out there. It mixes the MMO genre with an open world, sand box structure. For those who have always wished for a true Grand Theft Auto or similar style online game, Realtime Worlds is working on bringing that experiendce to the player. They would not announce the pricing structure, but would say it wouldn't be your normal monthly subscription that many online games feature.

APB is due to launch in the first Quarter of 2010 and is currently slated for PC only.