All Points Bulletin: Can drop-in PvP succeed in the MMO space?
All Points Bulletin is one of those games that fans of Grand Theft Auto have been wanting for years. Merely saying 'want' cannot convey the unbridled desire that a number of people have expressed for an urban crime game where you're not completely isolated from other players. There is a certain person on the Massively team -- blown away by GTA: San Andreas years ago -- who would go to sleep with whispered prayers in the dark, that his deviant rampages could be shared online with his equally deviant friends around the world, day or night.
The allure of this type of game is strong, but equally strong is the likelihood of an overdose on pure chaos. One imagines a map full of amped up Criminals in desperate need of Ritalin, taking to the streets with RPG's and flattening traffic jams in backward-firing tanks, countered by a legion of overzealous Enforcers dispensing 'justice' with reckless abandon. Therein lies the problem: Part of what makes GTA so successful is that as Tommy Vercetti, or C.J. (or any of the other questionable protagonists a player becomes in the legacy title), there's no one else out there who's as badass as you. But what happens when mobs of Criminals or Enforcers of your caliber are turned loose in the city? What if they're even worse than you are? Welcome to the blender.
This raises the concern that there may not be much depth in APB beyond the cops-and-robbers PvP. Even so... an immersive storyline doesn't seem to be what the game is all about. Realtime Worlds makes no bones about APB being a skill-based factional PvP game. However, Scott over at Pumping Irony wonders if GTA-style drop-in PvP can succeed in the MMO space:
"APB sounds great and all, but I also can't help but wonder if it's enough to keep people interested? Sure, Counter-Strike (original and Source) have been going strong for a decade now, but CS doesn't involve a monthly fee. Other than the ridiculously detailed character and vehicle creation system, will players flock to a whole new type of game that isn't an RPG? Is PvP enough? Could APB's PvP and drop-in game play succeed where Planetside failed?"
Scott calls APB a big shift in the MMOG paradigm, but remains skeptical about the game's long-term potential. He wonders what APB will have that the hundreds of first-person shooters already out there don't. Do you think a non-RPG, non-persistent, PvP experience will be enough to hold your attention? Would it still do so at $15 per month?
