If you've ever played games like Grand Theft Auto IV or Crackdown and thought to yourself, "I'd like to see someone do an MMO like this", then prepare to have your mind blown.

If you've ever played games like Grand Theft Auto IV or Crackdown and thought to yourself, "I'd like to see someone do an MMO like this", then prepare to have your mind blown because a developer in Scotland is working on that very game. Do I have your attention? Great! Keep reading for our first look at Realtime Worlds' upcoming fast-paced third-person action MMOG titled All Points Bulletin (APB).

During our demonstration with Dave Jones, Realtime Worlds' Creative Director and E.J. Moreland, Lead Designer of APB at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) last week, we were shown a game that not only looks like a blast to play, but one that has more customization and depth than most of the games we've taken a look at this year. Unfortunately we still weren't able to give it a try for ourselves but the demonstration definitely kept us enthralled and fed our anticipation glands.

The most impressive feature that we were shown is also unfortunately difficult to explain. Character creation in All Points Bulletin is beyond anything you've ever seen in an MMO. In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find something with more depth in a game across all genres.  "We want everyone to be look absolutely unique and give them a chance at the widest range of features.  … In our game, whereas a lot of other games have crafting, our game is actually more about artistic expression. It's actually truly crafting based off the users talent and not off arbitrary stats." Dave Jones explained as we watched a recorded demonstration of the character creation process. He mentioned that the essentially limitless creation process has even allowed for the construction of an easily recognizable Barack Obama character.

Everything is customizable, clothing, facial features, the veins popping out of your neck, even the size and shape of breasts (manginas of the world rejoice). We're talking actual customization too. We were shown a tattoo creator in game where you can literally create your own tattoos and then place them wherever you like on your character. Same goes for clothes and from what we were shown, the possibilities are endless. I can already see the army of player created Marlon Brandos and Al Pacinos.

Overall customization doesn't stop there. At launch APB will have over 40 different car models that players will be able to customize. What's more, players will have an in-game MP3 player that they will be able to load up with songs to annoy their comrades or combatants. Players will also be able to use the in-game audio editor to create their own theme music that their enemies will hear after they kill them. Imagine being able to hop into your car that you've customized, plug in your MP3 player and do drive by shootings all the while blasting songs like "Barbie Girl" for your victims to listen to as they get shot at. Then, after you've killed them, they get to your theme song that you've customized "Never Gonna Give You Up". All of this is possible within APB's city of San Paro.

So what about gameplay? Well, as I mentioned earlier, we didn't see any live play; however, the pre-recorded gameplay that we saw looked promising. Moreover, what we were told about the action that players can expect was exciting. Dynamic matchmaking is a great example of this. When you create a character you'll have to pick one of two sides: Enforcement or Criminal. If you go criminal you'll likely be in the city stealing cars, committing robberies, etc. Whenever you choose to do one of those acts, you're committing a crime and in this example you'll be dynamically matched against someone from enforcement. Then again, you have to be caught committing your crime. "The actual matchmaking is dynamic itself but also the act of committing crimes is not a guarantee. For example, when you break into a car, if there's no one around, you might get away scot-free. So players are actually playing off the tension of a match rather than just the match itself." Jones explained.

To close, All Points Bulletin has a unique focus on customization that will probably compliment the gameplay in exciting new ways. Realtime Worlds is utilizing cutting edge technology, like the Unreal 3 engine, to create a "living, breathing city". The game is still slated to release in Q1 of 2010 but unless we see a beta by October, I have my doubts that the company will meet that goal. We're definitely excited to see more of the game and look forward to the time when we can drive down the street forcing players to listen to the Slapchop remix.

Andrew "Tamat" Beegle
Editor-in-Chief
ZAM.com