When the creator of such blockbusters as the original Lemmings and the original GTA presents his first Massively Multiplayer Online Game, you can expect something more than the usual Fantasy-Grind-MMORPG. In fact, Dave Jones' APB (which stands for "All Points Bulletin", a radio call between officers about the looks and whereabouts of a suspect) is radically different from most MMOGs: Instead of fantasy, you get the typical (modern) GTA setting. Instead of Grinding and Levelling, your accomplishments and your seniority in the game will be expressed by how your character looks. Instead of reading text messages and solving missions by using map tools (as Wowhead in WoW, fighting against "Artificial Incompetence" (as Jones put it), you'll be fighting against other players, missions will be dynamically generated by "matching players" from two sides, Enforcement and Clans/gangs. One example for that from the presentation: A couple of newbie clan guys (they're wearing plain clothes, no tattoes, no scars and so on) try o do a little robbery. The program generates a mission for a nearby, single law enforcer -- because he's a veteran, he should be able to cope with 4 newbies. If the law enforcer takes the mission, he will be guided to the site of the robbery, and both sides will fight it out.

Dave Jones cites Counterstrike as the perfect example for a multiplayer game with no Grind, where everthing depends on skill and player interaction. He wants to achieve the same with APB, giving you a big city to explore. One of the main features of the game is how extremely detailed character generation is, aside from the usual variety of heads, hair styles and body frame, you can individualize dozens of features including how much your avatar's veins stand our, how old the scars that he has are, and much more. Plus, you can apply "decals" in several layers to the skin (in form of tattoes), but you can also apply them to masks, caps, t-shirt, trousers and so on. You'll be able to modify your car, again adding stylish logos or clan signs, in many layers, creating totally individual vehicles. In fact, there's an editor to create your own decals.

The reason for this emphasis on creating and modifying your avatar and car is that not two players in the game shall look the same, Jones says. (see our picture). The incredible thing about all that modifying is how polished the user created avatars look -- you don't think "editor", you think "an artist made this character". We were really impressed by the demonstration; this could be an MMOG that will be very different to the existing ones, and at the same time could take a big bite out of the WoW-dominated MMO scene over time.