APB is the cops and robbers MMO from the creators of Crackdown. There are no levels, no 'Artificial Incompetence' to battle, and no numbers to slowly grind. Why? Well, according to Real Time Worlds' boss Dave Jones, "leveling is a broken concept, it's called a grind for a reason." So APB isn't about killing 2000 bunnies or crafting a new sword from the skins of 600 lizards; APB is about action and takes Counter Strike as its inspiration. APB is always player vs player with real rewards for success and real punishment for failure.

Like a massively multiplayer GTA, criminal players are set tasks by the city's crime lords and let loose on the streets to commit their misdemeanors, ranging from low-level theft of someone's TV, right up to multimillion dollar Heat-style midtown bank robberies. Players on the Enforcer side just have to stop them. At the moment a crime kicks off, the game assesses the skill level of the players involved in the crime and sends an All Points Bulletin to a corresponding team of Enforcers, marking them on their radar.
The chase is then on. The first Enforcers on the scene scoop up a straggler or two as the criminals bundle into their van, other Enforcers set up roadblocks with hijacked vehicles or give chase, exchanging gunfire with the half-dozen robbers in their cash-filled wagon. Escape means clothing and kit for the gang, while capture yields similar rewards for Enforcers.