As a game, Grand Theft Auto 4 was nothing exceptional. It was thoroughly enjoyable, but nothing about it was particularly revolutionary. Save, of course, for the city itself. Liberty City in GTA4 felt more alive and real than any locale in any video game I've ever seen. If someone could take a beautifully scripted and programmed city like that and make it into a persistent online world, they'd have something spectacular on their hands.

That's what makes upcoming game All Points Bulletin so exciting. Developer Realtime Worlds bills it as basically Grand Theft Auto: the MMORPG. Imagine taking 10,000 people, splitting them into 100 person districts, dividing them between cops and robbers, and letting them loose in a realistic city with enough firepower to run a third world insurgency. That's the allure of APB.

Visually, the game looks like someone dumped ten gallons of cyberpunk and a few dollops of anime into Liberty City. From the few screenshots we have right now, there appears to be an enormous variety of weapons to choose from. Everything from big shiny revolvers to rocket launchers and machine guns. We've also seen an incredible variety of tattoos, as well as a tool to allow players to build their own 'tats. There seems to be an almost endless variety of style and customization options for characters.

The character creation video gives you an idea of how customizable APB will (apb gold)be. We've still heard nothing about the 'cops' half of this cops and robbers game, but more info about what choices players will have as to 'class' and 'profession' should come soon.