The Xbox Live promise of Xbox 360 has been bolstered further recently by the exciting announcement of massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) All Points Bulletin.
KEEPING IT REAL TIME! APB promises to drive the gameplay of GTA to the online crib it always dreamed of, handing over the keys to a living world of criminal gangs versus police squads. The man behind APB is Real Time Worlds' Dave Jones, creator of the original GTA franchise, so this potential GTA-killer is certainly in experienced hands. Players will either operate as loners or choose to join 'hood gangs or police squads, the gangs battling each other for turf while the authorities struggle to maintain law and order. Every skirmish victor will gain cash to spend on customising weapons, hair, clothing, vehicles, music and their environment.
TURF IT OUT! Law enforcers are charged with shutting down 'Turf Areas', the most prestigious and rewarding areas of the city for gangs to control, but must wait for gangs to accumulate 'Heat' and eventually an APB before busting them for rewards of honour and greater expenses to upgrade vehicles and weapons.
TEXT PESTS! The world lives, breathes and battles 24/7, so while not on Xbox Live you'll need to set up AI control to defend your turf and the game will contact you by SMS texts to warn you of trouble. In this case you can either jump back on Xbox Live, or possibly even log into the game's website and allocate resources to other online gang or squad members, your donated armaments arriving in the game as vans of munitions to hotspots. The game is a way off yet - 2007 at the earliest - and the screens you see here are from a concept video.
After GTA4 multiplayer, I can see what APB will do for the online community. We simply don't have MMO's on consoles but there is proof that they will work.
The idea of combining an MMO with the stratagy of mini management is a fantastic idea that I believe has never been done sucessfully before. If APB uses the Euphoria engine, taking the best bits of Grand Theft Auto and putting that in a mix with a true sandbox multiplayer experience, we may see this as Game of The Year.
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