First of all, it's running on the Unreal Engine 3, which seems to be the most popular choice for many of the games I've been checking out at this year's GDC. Of course, it's all in what you do with it, as witness my look at America's Army 3. But I'm happy to report that Vogster's doing a great job with the textures and overall topography of the environment, and all the avatars I saw were sharp. The look of the game is Urban, slightly futurised. There's a just-noticeable not-quite-American aesthetic to everything, and that's a positive in my eyes. The range of clothing seems pretty extensive, ranging from Road Warrioresque/Biker Bar chic to Bike Messenger Couture to Comfy Club Casual. Vogster says that more choices will become available as part of regular content releases over the life of the game. Other than very slight body shape choices, clothing will constitute the majority of character customization.

Unless, of course, you count the weaponry. This is where it gets fun. First of all, CrimeCraft is considered a persistent first-person shooter -- meaning that your character levels up with experience. Experience is gained primarily through combat, though there will be quests to run as well. But the whole point of CC is its combat, which bases success on skill, rather than on stats. So, while certain clothing types might have defensive bonuses to them, they won't mean a great deal if you haven't learned to use your weapon.

And here's another great thing about the game: its weapons are based in reality -- no plasma rifles, crazy railguns, personal energy shields, none of that stuff. Weapons need to be bought at the various shops found throughout the game's different city areas. What's to prevent someone new to the game from buying a high-powered weapon and wreaking havoc? It seems the more powerful items are barred to those who haven't gone through the proper training to become proficient at that weapon type. You'll start out with the ability to fire simple small-caliber weapons, then as you gain experience, you can train to learn how to operate weapons like machine guns, sniper rifles, shotguns, firebombs, etc.

Another important detail: these weapons' fire behavior is consistent with their real-world counterparts. During the demo, I watched my guide spray an opponent with a submachine gun, and saw the muzzle stutter upward and back with the force of the expulsions. So, while more bullets were being delivered, fewer were accurately striking their target. However, crouching while firing served to mitigate this wild dispersal pattern, at the cost of mobility.