This post from Darius Kazemis has spurred me to finish this post. It has existed in my head for a few days and in my defence, I have had some rather more important things to deal with, so it got that I felt the moment had passed, though I agree with Darius that I should “just write it” and get some life back into this blog.
DC Universe has been off my radar for a while, what with my having played my fill of both City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online, I didn’t really see what a game under licence could really deliver over Cryptic’s efforts. Then again, there have been two Superhero MMOs and both are fairly widely regarded as being on the right side of decent, compare that to the ratios on the fantasy and sci-fi genres in the field.
So with Marvel’s MMO being cancelled and remade into Champions, DC Universe Online gets to be the first comicbook MMO backed by a widely recognised brand. I’ve been Making Mine Marvel for the most part these last few years, so I didn’t really pay much attention until I saw the impressive but uninformative intro video, which regardless had me looking the game up on Wikipedia and YouTube. Combat and traversal is alleged to be inspired by possibly the best superhero game of recent years, Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and some of the video I’ve seen would seem to bear that out:
I myself find it hard to get too excited about turn and timer based combat as most MMOs use, for this is really appealing to me. I won’t know until it’s in my hand, but the actual act of playing the game looks fun and involving. The main concern for me will be if this might make the game too exclusive if it requires too much skill (or too little to stimulate better players) or it could be more difficult to play on lower internet connections, but this is just conjecture at this point. And I like that the high-tier gear shown in the second video, which I think looks great, will not be “forced” on players at a certain point and make everyone look identical in the end game like WOW. When you earn an item, you earn it’s appearance and benefit, and can use either or both. This affords players the freedom to create their own look, but also show off the fancy stuff they’ve earned, showing where they’ve been even if there is another item they would rather actually be using.
I fear there were points I’ve forgotten to make since I’ve waited so long to put this up, maybe it will come back to me, but the main ones: I want this game, and it sounds like these guys “get it”.
0 Responses to “DC Universe Online – Resuming shit-giving”