Whenever you talk about future games in the GTA series someone always mentions how great it would be to have an MMO based on the GTA world. That may never happen as Rockstar continue to develop console versions of the game, but there is an alternative planned for release in the third quarter of this year.

That game is called All Points Bulletin (APB) and is being developed by Realtime Worlds in Scotland and published by EA. Not only does it look “very GTA”, but David Jones, founder of Realtime Worlds, originally helped create the GTA series. This is also the studio that gave us Crackdown on the Xbox 360.

The video above is a six-minute preview of the game with commentary from David Jones, as well as senior members of the team developing the title. It shows how we can expect to take part in gun battles on an “epic scale”, as well as car chases, shootouts, and a major emphasis on customization.

Players will be able to customize their characters with very fine detail to the point where you will be able to recognize someone without needing to see their gamer name. The same is possible with the vehicles in the game. But adding your own mark to the online world of APB doesn’t stop at your character or your car.

Realtime has developed a system where the player can create their own graphics, meaning you can create and spray paint your own tag around the city, or wear that design as a tattoo. Play as part of a team? Why not have team colors, tags, vehicles, etc. There’s even mention of music creation in the video.

As well as the customization features there’s the decisions to make about how to play the game. Choose from the three different districts and the criminal or enforcer roles. Do you want to protect the streets or cause chaos shooting everyone and stealing everything of value?

Realtime Worlds is promising a lot with APB. Is this as close to GTA as we are going to see in an MMO? We’ll find out in the third quarter when the game is released.

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Matthew’s Opinion

APB certainly looks promising, and especially so for those gamers tired of the very popular fantasy MMO titles currently available. Realtime Worlds also has a lot of experience working in this genre with its roots in GTA, and its expertise shining through in Crackdown.

Customization in games is always a double-edged sword, and especially so when your game is online and your publisher is the family-friendly EA. What’s going to happen the first time someone creates a tag that is a trademarked image? Will it get removed from the game, or embraced as part of the world? If it’s removed then realtime has a nightmare of game monitoring ahead of it, and upset players who want to use the customization freedom the game promises.

APB is certainly on my radar as an MMO to play. The expectation that this could be GTA online is going to draw a lot of players to it, and possibly many who wouldn’t otherwise consider playing an MMO. It also helps the game’s chances that it is so different from MMOs like World of Warcraft.