Jimmy O'Ready, character art team lead at Realtime Worlds, says that the developer's been working hard to make sure it's just as fun to play as an enforcer as it is a criminal in upcoming MMO title APB.
The developer had originally feared that PC players' dark side would lead to everyone choosing to play as criminals, potentially unbalancing the game, which will support up to 100 players per server.
APB
Official trailer
1:52Awesome APB movie direct from E3
APB
Official trailer
1:52Awesome APB movie direct from E3
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"It was a big focus two or three years ago," he told Edge. "We thought about how that was going to play out visually and in gameplay terms. Design wise there are a few things you can do if you're an enforcer in the game that you can't do when you're a criminal, which are exciting. Basically we want to make sure that people have just as much of a fun time and that it's obvious that it's as cool to be an enforcer.
"In fact, now we have more of a different problem in that we're thinking that the enforcers look too much like criminals and sometimes it's difficult to differentiate them." APB's criminals and enforcers will have gameplay icons that identify them as you enter battle situations though, he added.
O'Ready also said that APB's characters - whose looks have been inspired more by metal than by "clichéd" hip hop styles - wouldn't look like those in GTA or Saints Row games.
"We wanted to differentiate the game from other games, so that when you look at a character you don't go, 'Oh, look, there's another one of those online shooter games'. We want you to look at our characters and think that it is All Points Bulletin.
"We also decided to aim for a technical quality similar to the characters in leading single player games at the time. That's a pretty lofty ambition because we're an MMO. The characters [in most MMOs] are very simple and they don't look like anything like the characters in a first person game on PS3. We want to make characters in an MMO that have that visual quality."
its cops n robbers all over again and no one wanted to be the bacon when we played as kids and nothings changed most of the people i know who will play this want to be the crims not the cops
Because everyone is going to want to be a criminal I'll be more inclined towards the law enforcement side anyway...
Surely there will be something in place so you can have different characters for both sides though? And I'm sure all the achievement whores out there will guarantee some law enforcement presence...
I only noticed this game recently and talk about potential. Could be a very very fun game. Im really looking forward to it and I would be happy to bust some criminal skulls with my law enforcing baton
I am looking forward to this game, although it is taking years to get the game finished, especially as this was first shown within the demo disc released with the 360 at launch, so I hope it ends up being a class game!
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