DC Universe Online Beta NDA Lifted: My thoughts on the game.

[DidelotM1]

Since the NDA has lifted I thought I'd give you my opinions on the beta since I got a beta invite not to long ago. I'll break it down into pros and cons and my thoughts on each. A little background first, I've played City of Heroes for 6 years before not opting to renew my subscription to it and before that I played the much maligned Star Wars Galaxies. Odds are very good that my judgments will be colored by experiencing the above. Right then? Here we go.

PRO- Atmosphere - The game LOOKS great and it feels like Metropolis and Gotham. It feels like cities that needs your help against evil. Compared to City of Heroes, who's city has some serious scaling problems like cars that only come up to your characters waist and others, the sheer scale of the cities stunned me. This is what a City of superheros should be. Something else that I LOOOOOOOVED is occasionally running across the DC Heroes and villains in world. I ran across Batman skulking about a rooftop, Green lantern perched Hiiiiigh up on a skyscraper before he flew off, Deathstroke and Malla and the brain-in-a-jar. Seeing these heroes out and doing more than standing in the zone makes it feel more real as well as making it feel like their in the fight with you instead of standing about handing out tasks like some corporate executive or something. traveling to a mission you're also able to come across civilians trapped under items or suicide jumpers needing to be talked down (if your a villian you can SHOVE THEM OFF! a big time evil cackle moment for me when I did it.).

CON - Too short - with my initial character I made it to the max level in under a month. Yes I could have then PVPed or done constant raids, but one, I HAAAAATE PVP and two, I tend not to have the time for raids of any real length. The missions varied enough to keep my interest but if they want my money they'll seriously need to increase the mission load out by a factor or ten or more.

PRO - The Missions themselves - The above said the missions themselves are great. The quality is great and fighting alongside the green lanterns, Supergirl, Superman, etc. IS a bit of a rush for any comic geek and fighting the named DC villains is great too. A big plus for any comic geek. I don't want to harp on City of Heroes too much, but a pig plus for DCUO, IMO is the lack of treating you like a lackey. IMO, City always seemed to come across as 'your not as important as the characters in game' or even worse 'your nothing but a flunky' if you were a villain. I didn't get that feeling from DCUO. Your mileage may vary

CON - The Character Creator - Can you say 'very limited' kids? I knew you could. Like the pattern on one shirt but want it on this other one? Tough. Want a skull face with a hood? Tough. Want more than 3 colors on your costume? Not happening. Want a hair style that's not one of the small number they have? Nope. Want a tail or wings the same color as your characters skin? Hope you like having one of your 3 costume colors the same color as your skin for it. In short: it sucks, frankly. I don't mind the finding costume bits in missions, but not having various generic bits of costumes(ones without stats) for the creator is mind blowing to me.

PRO - The Voice acting - Conoroy as Batman? Yes please. Hammil as The Joker? ^$#@ Yes. In short YES. Aside from some that play 'generic hapless civilian #531' the voice acting really adds to the game in a way that I hadn't considered before. They all sound like they should, IMO. Props to the developers on this. Something I noticed not related to the game persay, to me it seems that doing the joker's voice for so long has started to effect Hammil's voice. It sounds a lot rougher and harsher than I'm used to. Makes me feel for the guy somewhat.

CON - Power Selection - I frankly don't get the developer's choice here. NO SUPER STRENGTH? No electricity powers? No Spooky dark power? Disappointing and baffling, frankly. The choices are fire, ice, magic, plant, shape shifting, gadgets and probably one I'm missing. I liked the variety in the powers that were available, just FAAAR too few of them.


OVERALL - Ultimately My suggestion is thus. 'Try it for a month or two, it'll at the very least entertain you for that long.' Do not expect a deep game with lots to do if you're not a raider or PVPer. The atmosphere of the game is outstanding, but for me it's like standing in a kid's pool. Little depth.