Hands-on: DC Universe Online
MMOs on current-gen consoles? We've yet to see it really happen. However, DC Universe Online for PlayStation 3 and PC sure looks (and plays) like a game on its way to completion. When we last sat down with the game in February and talked to its producer, DCUO already had a ton of polish and -- even to our console-addled brains -- felt like an MMO we could get on board with.
The controls on PS3 felt quick and intuitive then, and not much has changed (other than graphical fidelity, character animation, and bug squashes) since we last saw it. We muscled our way around S.T.A.R. Labs, turning zombified security guards back into their old selves and then employing the security guards to take down our foes. While the squad mechanics felt woefully underdone (as in, they don't exist -- you roll with a gang and they take down fools as the gang sees fit), we appreciated the ability to pick up a crew mid-mission to assist us.
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Though the game's creative director Jens Andersen kept assuring us that DCUO employs a physics-based combat system, it felt nothing like even the most basic of console action games (we're looking at you, X-Men Origins: Wolverine!). Which isn't to say it's no fun, it's just not quite the 1-to-1 physicality that Mr. Andersen chocks it up to be. You get knocked back by some characters' special attacks, but you're not going to see ragdoll physics either. For all intents and purposes, the fights still look like MMO fights.
We unfortunately didn't get a chance to check out the game's now hopefully more fleshed out open-world environments, but from what we played of the rest of the game, DCUO looks to be on the path to becoming the first console MMO of this generation (other than FFXI and PSU, kinda) to not only be released but actually get console gamers playing an MMO.
