DC Universe Online Preview

E3 2008 Preview

The massively multiplayer superhero genre has certainly received its share of attention. Cryptic and NCsoft started the trend with the City of Heroes franchise, evolving it to the add-on City of Villains. That world is about to combine into a one-world dynamic. Marvel Online was in development, was cancelled and then the developer, Cryptic – again, spun out a new superhero game, Champions Online.

Sony Online Entertainment announced plans a year ago for its entry into the superhero genre with DC Universe Online. The title was not really shown at E3 in Los Angeles Wednesday during a meeting at the SOE room, but GameZone had the opportunity to chat with developers about what this will bring to the MMO space.

The joy of DCUO is that players can customize characters and step immediately into the world as a fully powered superhero or supervillain, not an underpowered character who has to learn powers as they level up. This, alone, should make for some exciting gameplay elements. Yes, you will get more proficient at your powers as you level but this is not about having players dive into a game world where they are not able to compete.

The developer that chatted about the game stated that there are more than 150 iconic characters (heroes and villains) in the title and players will be able to either build a new hero from scratch or base their character on one of the existing heroes. Because players have a lot of skills and abilities (players will pick a power source, pick a power type and pick a movement ability to navigate the full three-dimensional world), they will be defined by their combat skills.

Which leads to the thoughts behind the combat; DCUO is a twitch-based game. There are no magic missiles here. Players will be able to dodge melee attacks, and even ranged attacks, if they time it right. And because there are both heroes and villains, the game will feature PvP, though – it was stated – there may be servers for consensual PvP.

In true MMO fashion, players will be able to level their characters, and the plan does call for guild or clan features as well.

Trailers were shown and many of the assets were taken from in-game footage, revealing a strong 3D game that looks amazing with great effects.

No timetable was given for a  projected release and it is clear the team is driven to create a deep game that meets the vision of players leaping, or flying, fully into the immersion of the DC Universe.

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