Over the weekend, we got a chance to play with DC Universe Online, the superhero-based MMO in development by SOE.? SOE unveiled the game at Comic-Con because, according to their reps, they “really wanted to show the game to the fans first”.? Show the game they did; despite the fact that the game is still in pre-alpha, Sony did a good job – no, actually it was a great job – of piquing the interest of MMO gamers everywhere. ?

A couple of caveats.? First, we only saw one level of the game, no doubt purposefully constructed just for demonstration purposes.? Second, you could only play with one of about eight pre-created characters.? Third, the scenario was a simple one, in which your superhero fought against a large numbers of robots and mind-controlled humans. ?

I immediately picked up a controller and started playing.? Inside of about 9 seconds, I was doing some of the things I enjoy most in life:? cracking heads, and throwing cars at people.? Seriously, the game was intuitive with a capital “I”.? Flying?? Easy as pie.? Picking up heavy objects to club people over the head with?? Piece of cake.? Firing energy bolts from my fingertips?? Nothing to it.? Maneuvering around so I could see under Supergirl’s skirt?? No prob — I mean, of course, that I’d never do anything like that, ever.???

The whole experience was a blast.? Really fun, to be frank.? It isn’t your typical MMO; it’s more in the style of an action game than anything else.? Don’t get me wrong, there is going to be a lot of character customization, powers can be specifically selected, you grind, complete quests, and level up just like in every other MMO in the universe.? However, the feel of the game isn’t like City of Heroes/Villains, where your stats (working in the background) determine your hits, misses, and damage.? It’s much more like Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, or some of the more recent Hulk or X-Men console games (ok, ok, I know it’s blasphemy to mention Marvel games during a DC game review; so sue me).? In a nutshell, you manually point your character at the enemy, shoot your energy blast, punch, block, throw a telephone pole, etc.? DCU is fast and furious, twitch-based action.

For the innovations DC Universe is bringing to the genre, as well as a lot more in-game pics, hit the jump.

And that may have been the biggest surprise – DCU is actually quite innovative.? It’s subtle, but the innovation is there.? A few things really struck me as I played.? First, they have successfully blended action gaming and MMO gaming, and the two don’t naturally blend all that well.? DCU managed to graft together MMO principles with action-oriented game mechanics, and it worked.? Second, they’ve come up with a truly innovative way to give out quests.? Quests occur spontaneously; if you are in the right place at the right time, you get the quest.? In the example I saw, Superman radioed my character, and told him what to do.? There was no printed quest dialogue, no options, no branching responses.? Superman just showed up in a small video window, and told me what he needed.? Third, the game can be played equally well with a PlayStation controller, or with a mouse and keyboard.? Though nothing is final, it appears that SOE may be able to finally bridge the gap, and have console and PC gamers playing the same MMO together.??

More than anything else, the DCU demo was a lot of fun.? Our staff found ourselves repeatedly returning to the SOE booth at Comic-Con…the game kept drawing us back there.? (The last time this happened, it was because a game company was giving away free donuts.)? We just couldn’t stay away.? Flying was fun, using my various powers (one character had an ice buzz saw melee attack, an ice blast, and an ice-block snare) in creative ways was fun, throwing cars was fun, and the fast action (very fast, quite frankly) kept the game exciting. ?

For a first impression, I’ve never seen an MMO do better.? SOE didn’t just tantalize us with a trailer and some promises; they delivered a fun-to-play demo, and they rocked the crowd with it.? The entire time we were there, the DC Universe booth was packed with fat, sweaty nerds enthusiastic gamers.? By the looks of things, our fellow gamers really liked what they saw. This is definitely one to watch.

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The gallery of in-game shots follows:

I know this will result in great disappointment, but this dude does not appear in DC Universe Online. (I’m sorry.? Go ahead, just let it all out. There, there.)

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