APB is the cops and robbers MMO from the creators of Crackdown. There are no levels, no #DY#Artificial Incompetence#DY# to battle, and no numbers to slowly grind. Why? Well, according to Real Time Worlds#DY# boss Dave Jones, "leveling is a broken concept, it#DY#s called a grind for a reason." So APB isn#DY#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#DY#s crime lords and let loose on the streets to commit their misdemeanors, ranging from low-level theft of someone#DY#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.
