We may not have a Crackdown sequel anytime soon, but Crackdown developer RealTime Worlds has something good up its sleeve: a sandbox MMO. In a GDC 2008 presentation, RealTime Worlds' Dave Jones showed off APB, a sort of cops and robbers-type of MMO with a strange yet welcome emphasis on style.

So what sets APB apart from most other MMOs? For one thing, RealTime Worlds' first-ever MMO will not involve grinding of any sort (yes!), and playing it will look and feel like moving in the real world, albeit more stylish and violent. One good way to sum up APB that its a game that has a lot of character creation and shooting. Good so far? Yes it is.

To show off just how much gamers can customize their characters, Jones' revealed a few character samples in his GDC 2007 presentation, four of them modeled after major gaming personalities: Richard Garriott, Shigeru Miyamoto, Peter Molyneux, and Warren Spector. Miyamoto as gangster? We're sold.

There's just so many character design options: one can choose to mar his or her avatar with scars, and the scars even have varying degrees of aging. There's even unprecedented depth in clothing options; a player can choose to have his character wear his boxers in such a way that it peeks out of his jeans or even wear a t-shirt over a long-sleeved shirt.

But enough about eye candy. How about gameplay? Jones showed off a couple of sample missions, one of which involved four criminals hijacking an armored truck, and another having a pair of cops squaring off with the bad guys.

Another feature unique to APB is Free Form Music, where players can sync their game music from their computer through Last FM. Free Form Music will also match a player's background music with other gamers, if possible. If not, Free Form Music will pull up a tune performed by the same artist or genre.

It sounds pretty good already, and we can't wait to hear more about this awesome title. Do check back for more info!

Images courtesy of MTV Multiplayer