This could be amazing.
APB First Look
David Jones wows us with his first MMO.
1UP Preview
Videos:
APB 'Drive-by' gameplay
APB 'Shaft' gameplay
APB 'Character Creation' video
APB 'Game World' video
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APB First Look
David Jones wows us with his first MMO.
Known for Lemmings, Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown, David Jones has tackled a number of genres in his successful career as a game designer. Currently he's stepping outside of his comfort zone and taking on the massively multiplayer online game with APB, but of course he's doing it with his own signature. There are no orcs or elves or space aliens in this game, as has become somewhat of a tradition in the MMO. This title isn't even an RPG. It's something new and rather exciting. We got our first look at APB at a talk Jones gave at the Game Developers Conference about approaching the genre for the first time. To say we were impressed is putting it simply. In a room filled with hundreds of developers eager to see what Jones had cooked up, we sat in a sea of people who make games for a living overheard saying everything from, "Oh wow!" to, "Why didn't I think of that?"
The lecture began with Jones introducing himself and a bit of humor. After mentioning the success of his new studio RealTime Worlds and Crackdown (It won "Best Debut" from the Game Developer Choice Awards at GDC.), he went on to say, "If you didn't like it, never mind it came with a Halo 3 beta." Fair enough, though after seeing APB it looks like Crackdown was made as something of a test bed for the next project.
The lecture began with Jones introducing himself and a bit of humor. After mentioning the success of his new studio RealTime Worlds and Crackdown (It won "Best Debut" from the Game Developer Choice Awards at GDC.), he went on to say, "If you didn't like it, never mind it came with a Halo 3 beta." Fair enough, though after seeing APB it looks like Crackdown was made as something of a test bed for the next project.
David Jones of Realtime Worlds, the guy behind Lemmings and Crackdown, opened a panel at the Game Developers Conference today by joking that after looking back at the last couple GDCs, Will Wright and Spore would be a tough act to top. It wasn't as funny to me then as it is now, because for me at least, that's exactly what he went on to do.
APB looks like the simultaneous appeasement of every wish/bitch list I've written over the years about both MMOs and open world games. It's a game that's combining both of those genres and stripping each of many of their respective annoyances. All I've ever wanted from an MMORPG is a place to be an individual and have a sense of accomplishment without wasting hundreds of hours doing nothing more interesting than killing the same boar a thousand times. And the central element of a great open world game has always been a big space full of interesting things to do with a great big pile of toys.
For the first time in recent memory I'm actually having difficulty containing my excitement enough to convey it properly. A short, instantly attention getting phrase like "MMO Crackdown" doesn't begin to do the thing justice. It looks far, far better than that.
APB 'Drive-by' gameplay
APB 'Shaft' gameplay
APB 'Character Creation' video
APB 'Game World' video
...
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