I’m impressed. I had my doubts about a console MMO for a while. But DC Universe Online feels more than an MMO. If anything, it feels more like an action-adventure with RPG elements. Not only have the nailed the “action MMO” but they did a great job making you feel like a superhero (or villain). There’s nothing more heroic than flying through the skies of Metropolis and helping a lady fight off her mugger and leaving him tied up for the cops or more villainous than speeding through the streets of Gotham and killing police officers on your way to your objective.

That it how it works. This game wasn’t built to shoehorn mining or crafting because it really wouldn’t make any sense. This isn’t a Fantasy MMO. These are superheroes and it’s obvious that the folks at SOE stepped outside the box and said “Forget every other MMO, what do we have to do?” I haven’t played many MMOs (Only Flyff, City of Heroes and Champions Online), but I can’t compare this to either of then and in my opinion, that’s a good thing.

The two problems I faced with the beta are the obvious two things that any beta is expected to have. Freezing and disconnections. Before the recent update, I couldn’t play for more than 15 minutes before the game froze. And what’s even messed up is when the game froze or disconnected, a screenshot of Mr. Freeze would pop up. I froze right after coming out of character create a couple of times. The recent 3GB update made the beta a lot more playable. Text was bigger, freezing rate was reduced and there were more cutscenes. The beta seemed playable but there were still problems. My villain was speeding across Metropolis University and got stuck in surface. Communicating is still a little difficult, you need to pause and then press a few buttons to get to the social area and then you have to wait for the fat PS3 keyboard layout to pop up. It’s definitely a big issue for those who are without mics.

Character create is great. I was worried that, like Champions Online, it would have way too many clothes to choose from. But everything is pretty simple, you start out looking like a basic, weak fella (or gal) as you should. You can choose from 3 mentors (3 for heroes and 3 for villains). Each mentor will somehow influence your character in a way, but I have yet to see that in the beta so hopefully there will be a meaning to mentors other than just the sake of people picking their favorite of the bunch.

You can choose to select an inspiration or do a custom build of your character’s costume. No matter which you choose, you will be able to change the color (both during the creation and prior to it). Inspired costumes won’t affect your character in any way, shape or form. It’s there for those who don’t feel as creative as other players in the game.

The beta is fantastic and I’m very excited to buy it. DC Universe Online will be released on January 11th, 2011 for normal retail price and $14.99 per month but you will get your first 30 days free. As a beta tester, I’m extremely worried that this game will have issues. Most MMOs have betas six months before its initial release. Hopefully the game will have its shit together and not be a disaster like Final Fantasy XIV.

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