I highly recommend this game as the one that must be played in 2011

DC Universe Online Beta Review (Part I)

Dated back to 2004, Cryptic Studio launched its first earthshaking MMORPG City of Heroes financially supported by NCsoft. Although the game was not mature enough and had much repeated content, it was still highly anticipated by players at that time and made players including me immersed thanks to its diversified movement methods and anti-physical characteristics.

Cryptic Studio developed the second-generation superhero MMO Champions Online in 2008. In comparison with its prequel, it rendered more cel-shaded graphics, but offered less immersing game controls. To some extent, it was more like World of Warcraft and disappointed players due to its non-super characters. Therefore, people had to place their hopes on DC Universe Online (DCUO for short), which was still in development then.

At the end of this year, DCUO, which was originally scheduled to be online on November 30th officially, encountered a sudden release delay. As little game info has been made public, people cannot but worry that it may be another disappointing product. Fortunately, all doubts have now melted away. I cannot even extricate myself from the game every night. Besides, I highly recommend this game as the one that must be played in 2011. Why?

ARPG-oriented Controls

In most existing MMORPGs, players should press the numeric keys 1-0 to cast corresponding skills in the shortcut bar. More often than not, such games seem very rigid and inflexible in combat. However, DCUO is designed and developed actually shooting for smooth ARPG battles.

Players need to choose Power and Weapon while creating a character and will gain Power Points and Weapon Points in the course of leveling up. The two kinds of points have much to do with players' performance in the in-game combats.

Similar to those in most MMOs, skills based on Power can be released at the cost of Energy and can be assigned to numeric keys 1-6 for quick use. With the augment of skills, players have to choose desired or suitable skills conforming to actual conditions and drag them to the shortcut bar. Power Skills include defensive, control and healing skills, aside from attack ones. In DCUO, players use Weapon Skills by means of the mouse commonly. No matter what weapons players have chosen, left clicking is to attack at close quarters, while right clicking to attack from afar.

Since players have devoted to Weapon Skills, things will become very interesting. For example, a special skill can be released by a right click after a left click, and a series of special combos can be generated by holding the right button on the mouse after 3 right clicks. After learning more Weapon Skills, players are able to launch a succession of smooth attacks by simply using the mouse. With the help of Power Skills, they can even control the combat, absorb damage or heal allies. In this way, players can hardly run into the common problem in traditional MMORPGs, that is, a certain class can play through the game by just using the numeric keys 1 and 2 repeatedly.

More Meaningful Movement Methods

When knowing there would be only three movement methods in DCUO before the beta test, I felt a little disappointed, because as far as I am concerned, diversified movement methods are a major selling point of superhero MMOs. Otherwise, the fun of such games may be lost seriously. Likewise, I find that I was wrong again after playing DCUO.

In the previous superhero games, most of movement methods are 2D ones. Except Fly, many movement methods like Super Speed are confined to ground. Players have to make a detour in the face of huge barriers, such as skyscrapers. On the other hand, characters who gain the control of the air occupy a dominant position in PVP. Luckily, DCUO has resolved this problem and further improved the design of movements.

DCUO offers three movement methods: Fly, Super Speed and Acrobatic, none of which is restricted by terrains. Thus, players are free to travel around the gaming world and get a kick out of leaping onto roofs and vaulting over walls. Additionally, characters are allowed to enhance their movements after reaching Level 9 so as to bring about offensive, defensive, control and healing effects as well as dazzling visual effects. Exclusive mini-games have also been designed based on movement methods, take Super Speed for example, if only players complete special Speed Quests within the shortest time, they will obtain different appearances of The Flash.

New Conception Contained in Traditions

In the previous superhero MMOs produced by Cryptic Studio, customizable characters have been the highlight of the games. It can be said that no characters with identical looks can be seen in these games. Frankly speaking, DCUO made me upset at first when I created my character, for a very limited number of appearance options were provided. However, things became different when I began to pick up equipment after entering the game.

Players can upgrade their character attributes through equipment, which is the case with traditional MMORPGs. Furthermore, the appearances of equipment can be reserved. For instance, players can wear Equipment A, but change into the appearance of equipment B. Along with the progress of the game, players can unlock various appearances for enjoyment by attacking monsters, making achievements, completing quests and collecting clues, just to name a few. With more appearances in store, players can alternate them as they please. In this way, DCUO can not only satisfy players' fondness for dressing up, but also maintain the basic MMORPG elements to attract players. That's why I speak very highly of this game. Next time, I will give an account of the quests, environments, instances and PVP. Please stay tuned!

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