DC Universe Online Beta

Written by Craig Will Monday, 27 December 2010 06:00

RPGs are a longtime favorite of mine although I never did get caught up in any MMOs. I’ve tried World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings, Warhammer Online, and Final Fantasy XI  but never stuck with any of them for more than a couple months. If the beta for DC Universe Online is any indication of the final release,* I may find myself sucked into the online fantasy space once and for all.

Though not technically an MMORPG, it’s more of an MMOAG (action game), there is enough customization and the standard MMO skill trees to satisfy the RPGer inside. After selecting either a PVE or PVP server for your character you are launched into the character creation menu where you choose an alignment, fighting style, movement style, power type, a mentor, as well as assemble a costume, select an icon, and choose your hero/villain color scheme. The intro level does an admirable job as a tutorial to the games controls and interface, though skims a bit on explaining the contents of each in game menu. At this point in the beta the color scheme of the menus makes it hard to read and there is no option for subtitles which, can be problem during some cutscenes.

MMOs and their often times menu laden interfaces don’t lend themselves well to console controllers especially when it is necessary to have over 20 skills slotted for easy use. SOE has overcome this particular issue by allowing the shoulder buttons to access skills per each face button, keeping the cool down times for abilities fairly short, and making abilities more complimentary to combat than making it the foundation. Most important is the fluidity of combat; square results in melee attacks while triangle fires off a ranged attack and combos are unlocked through the skill trees as your character levels up.

How complete and exciting could an MMO be without quests? Not very. Thankfully DCUO delivers more than just fetch quests and beat ‘em up fare: a quest available to villains is to explore Metropolis by visiting and activating kiosks to learn about the world. This kind of immersion and presentation is just the kind of thing that will keep players hooked into the universe being presented. The quests are organized cleanly and efficiently making it easy to select what quest to work on and the destination for the chosen quest is displayed on the mini-map. Item management and equipment selection can be a little cumbersome due to difficulty in identifying and distinguishing different yet similar items as well as the tendency for the menu to lag or not even show the stat changes when scrolling over items.

Overall, the DCUO beta has done a great job of proving that consoles can have a great MMO and deliver an engaging storytelling experience. There are a few bugs that need to be addressed and some overall polish that should be applied before the game releases in January. If the wrinkles can be smoothed out by release then this will definitely be one MMO I’ll be sure to spend more than a few weeks with.

*Review based on gameplay from unfinished/unreleased game and may not reflect content of completed game

Comments  

 

# bizarrorollins 2010-12-28 12:14

I've been playing for a few months now and my experiences with the game have definitely changed for the better. The devs are definitely looking to get as solid of a game as they can at release, but I can't help but feel like it still could use at least another month or two to really shine.

I can still remember my first experience in the game as I jumped into an entirely empty Gotham city. Dark, dreary and not a soul to be found as i was one of the first in the early beta. The place seemed empty and none was working as well as it is now. Hopefully they will have enough players on release to keep things interesting.

My only problem is trying to decide whether or not I want to play on the PVP server where things are bound to be more fun, or to choose the spot that is sure to have the most people on PVE.

 

 

# Craig Will 2010-12-28 20:16

I was not in the early beta but this is not the first time I've heard of it not being all it was cracked up to be. The fact that they've made so much progress is such a positive sign to me for what the finished product will be.

I've actually played on both types of servers in the beta and have found that PvE is more fun for me. That's probably because I'm not a huge fan of trying to accomplish timed quests and getting my butt kicked out of nowhere by some d-bag 4 or 5 levels higher than me. But that's just me.

 

 

# brockst4r 2011-02-02 10:07

I'm really itching to play this, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will go free-to-play at some point in the near future. I just can't justify subscription fees to my conscience (aka wife).

 

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