This… isn’t.

http://www.apb-evolved.com

As a criminal you do missions like robbing a small store, earn some money, buy better equipment so you can try your hand at a bank heist. Police side, obviously you try and stop this from happening, you can go to the police station, arrest people, stop bank robberies etc. All in glorious 1st person too, imagine recreating the HEAT robbery.

Now this comes along and has really got my attention. It may be 3rd person and have the cliche “look at me, I’m a gangsta” element to it, but it’s a start

I’m going for this look, as will probably every other guy that plays this -
http://www.gerlecreek.com/images/mikedunbarmustang.jpg
http://images.buycostumes.com/mgen/merchandiser/333.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y75/Libra930/07-06-062Magnum.jpg

I have to second Dorian, who sorta seconded me so fair enough. Gunz Online drew me in promising that I could build whatever character I like and jump into this great shooter game, but instead just.. ick. There is no choice of how your character looks, you only unlock a new clothing and weapon item every five levels and if you want to continue to advance you must constantly upgrade to the most optimal equipment.

It’s certainly relevant to mention it here. If the developers of APB mess up, or their publisher pressures them, they could fall into the exact same trap. A sea of customization and equipment options, subsumed and ruined by a grindathon leveling mechanic.

I’d far sooner see APB borrow every feature good and bad from CS, than see it turn into another grindariffic torture session of a game. Thus, in the end, I’m not that worried by that bulletpoint.

I am worried at the lack of support that Webzen is giving to its products though. Neither APB nor Huxley have official sites of their own, it lists their official websites as N/A, but used to say ‘Coming Soon’. Additional, Webzen’s site still lists both of them as coming out in 2007, which clearly is not even remotely true.

Webzen doesn’t seem to have any publishing legacy in the U.S., and the games that have been published (mostly in Korea only) are either incredibly derivative or obviously and exclusively casual-focused or family-focused.

It really makes me wonder if we’re going to look back at this situation in a year, and say, “Webzen is where good games go to die.”, or, if this signals a hands-off approach that will leave the burden on developers to make great games or wilt on their own. APB looks golden now because they’ve just released impressive gameplay vids, but Huxley did the same thing years ago and now? Still no official website, no marketing, no sign at all it’s coming out anytime in the foreseeable future.

Bad sign. Even Atriarch Online had a more active and supported community than this. Hell, it probably /still/ does.

zzzzzzzzzz

It’s significant that there are only two multiplayer shooters ever to capture my attention – Team Fortress 2, which primarily got me with its amazing style and distinctive class roles, and Call of Duty 4, because it has levelling and perks. (And even then, I tried TF2 only because it was included in my Orange Box purchase, at a price point of $25. I don’t own CoD4, so I can’t play multiplayer, and I’m not buying it for that at $50, or even $30, nosir.) TF2’s the sort of thing that many will no doubt try to emulate but few will achieve, if any. CoD4’s system, on the other hand…that’s the sort of thing that people can run with.

That would be better phrased as a question rather than a statement, you clearly don’t know what someone else is thinking or why they dislike something unless they specifically say so.

I personally am just sick of MMOs because playing with huge amounts of other people no longer holds any interest for me. That and it seems a new one is being announced every week.

I just don’t like the assumption that taking, for example, your favourite singleplayer game and suddenly sticking 1200 other people in its setting with you somehow makes it better. For me it just results in any lack of connection or immersion with a game.

KG

Now that you’ve responded, I can’t edit “RPS-borg” to something snazzier, like “RPS-zinger Z.” I only just now remembered the Star Trek connotations the suffix evokes. I was going for “cyborg,” because I mentally compare RPS to various forms of fighting robot, some flashier than others. I even have precedent on this point.

Apologies if you took offense at the slip, I mean this sort of thing as a compliment. But I stand by the rest of my irrational and emotion-fueled ramblings because I can’t pretend they’re not what they are, and admit as much.

And to add something more meaningful to the discussion, I’m worried about what will make the game good–the expectations for something MMOish are a bit different from a pick-up-and-play online match-up round. Even if the… MOG isn’t quite as massive as its persistent world peers, one wonders how the game will feel when there’s a lack of discrete “stop, breathe, switch out to other game modes/servers if you feel like it” downtime between bouts of killing your fellow players.

From a more objective standpoint, I guess I’d like to see how they fill in that downtime. Will they try to make a “do whatever” sort of breadth of activity that one finds in GTA–and could they do so without making pure, unbridled chaos on any given server? Usually, MMOs have quests, travel, community, and all that stuff to keep players occupied.

As the mechanics will be primarily skill-based, not stat-based, I’m growing more curious about these questions. Though, to be frank, I see CS’s lack of progression as a quality of its gamestyle and how it’s geared–not being persistent and all. And while progression isn’t as… dramatic in what we see and hear of APB compared to the market it means to compete with, it’s still progression of some sort.

Because players do seem to like it, so long as it doesn’t screw up the barrier of entry too bad. “More options” as opposed to “better equipment,” again. I’m looking at the example of the asymmetric matchup between new players and a more established one. So it’s not a true progression-less MMO, but it’s an online game where progression isn’t as daunting as it is in an MMO-RPG-thingamajig.

I recall another article mentioning “flattening the playing field” in MMOs not too long ago. And some responses mentioned that true flatness isn’t as appealing, or as interesting, as a generally level field with organic variations based on factors like, say, money, skill, and so forth.

Also, CS was at least persistent within evenings, what with a night’s winnings, losses, and all. It’s not progress-flat like, say, TF2 is. Which, by all rights, is so good that flatness isn’t a liability, but rather a strength. Though, the length of a given TF2 match also tends to keep things interesting. Probably won’t see any Sudden Death matches in a persistent MO. Class variety and depth of team-wide strategy doesn’t hurt, either.

Wait, no, now I’m just rambling.