MMOs and consoles have never really been a good fit. Hugely successful on PCs, the business model has just never been able to make the leap to the Xbox or the PS3. Other than Final Fantasy XI on the PS2 and the Xbox 360, I can’t think of any PC-style MMOs (with a monthly fee to play) that have been successful. Instead, we’ve see plenty of different console titles that adopt MMO elements like persistent on-line characters and various levels of RPG growth.

There may be hope though, with the soon-to-be-released DC Universe Online, which will bring the entirety of DC’s heroes and villains to the realm of the MMORPG on both the PS3 and the PC. The heroes and villains of the DC Universe will be front and centre throughout the game, with big names like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman making expected appearances, while secondary and tertiary characters will also be quite common. You won’t get to play as an established character though, as you’ll be creating your own.

Fortunately, Sony Online Entertainment is giving you plenty of choices to create your ideal hero or villain. That’s right, in DC Universe Online, you can fight alongside Superman or the The Flash, or team up with the Joker or Lex Luthor to wreak havoc. The character creation tools look to be deep and rich, with fully customizable abilities broken into three categories: fighting style, movement style, and super powers. Want to be a flying cyborg ninja? Done. Amazonian shape-shifting with speed powers? Done. This customization will include appearance as well, with a plethora of design choices to let you customize your hero. A quick check of the inventory screen shows 18 different equipment slots for your character, showing just how much you can buff and define your abilities and visual.

One little touch that I think is great, is the ability to equip items you may want to wield because of their stat boosts, but you can choose whether it becomes a part of your character’s visual look or not. So if you’re muscle-bound hulk of a superhero wants to wear Harley Quinn’s jester hat for the buffs, you can, but you don’t have to actually look like you’re wearing it. A small touch but a nice one.

At E3, I was able to see a demo of one of the missions, and get some quality hands on time with a live multiplayer session. In single player mode (which can be played with multiple online players), one of the developers took us through a typical mission, in which you have to rescue Robin from the clutches of Harley Quinn. The build was a little rough around the edges in some places, but for the most part it looked bright and colorful, with the Jim Lee-inspired designs looking appropriately superhuman. Gameplay in either single or multiplayer mode consists of episodes, like a story in arc in a comic book. Depending on whether you play hero or villain, you’ll work along side known characters, defeating a variety of grunts and lackeys before finally facing off against the hero or villain boss character.

There is a storyline within the game, with the ultimate goal leading up to the endgame of working so closely with a particular super hero that you will earn the right to wear their custom crafted suit of armor for the final mission. And the armors do look very cool and apropos for the chosen hero.

When I got hands on with the game, it was interesting to see how it felt definitely looked and felt more like a PC MMO title, rather than a typical console action title. Perhaps it was the more PC-ish interface, or the zoomed-out third person perspective, but something was telling my gaming mind that this didn’t feel at all like typical PS3 fare. Not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

As for the gameplay itself, it played smooth, though I found the combat (which of course was the majority of gameplay in this demo) was a bit unsatisfying. You have a variety of powers to choose from that you can employ during each mission or combat situation, and you can whip them out at will to lay waste to your opponents. Unfortunately, in playing a game that boasts such in-depth character creation, it felt completely unsatisfying to be playing someone else’s creation. Particularly when that shapechanging healer is so completely different from anything I would have come up with. But in combat, I did find that the limited number of offensive options I was given weren’t all that impressive, including the Poison Ivy-like plant-based powers. That, and it ended up being much more of a button mashing experience as my opponents and I repeatedly locked up in melee combat, which also wasn’t front and center on the screen, unfortunately.

The game will be available for both the PS3 and the PC, though unfortunately the gamers on the two systems will not be able to play with each other. Hopefully Sony Online Entertainment can work that out in short order, to ensure that players on either system will have extra team mates to work with. In the demo, we also saw that the PS3 version will be playable with the standard controller or with a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Great news for the more PC minded console gamers, and maybe a sign that the games are closer to being interconnectable that we might have thought.

But let’s talk about the big issue. As announced after E3, DC Universe Online will run you $14.99 per month to play. Now, that’s a number that’s very familiar to any PC MMO gamer, but it’s unheard of for console gamers. Obviously, the success of this game doesn’t hinge on its mission structure or graphics or character customization. It’s going to be all about whether Sony Online Entertainment can convince PC gamers to either give up the MMO they have already invested time and money in, and/or convince PS3 players to adopt a whole new gameplay model.

As a father and husband, I have a limited amount of gaming time as it is, which is one reason I’ve never given in to the obvious allure of World of Warcraft. I just never saw that I would get enough time in for it to be worth the money. The same holds true with DC Universe Online. As great as it may be, asking for a $60 investment up front, plus $15 a month to enjoy that $60 is a significant investment. If  I had all the free time in the world, I think I’d be all over this, but if the game really is great, I’m going to have to give it long and serious thought. Because ultimately, I do love my superheroes, and this game offers a ton of them.

After many years in the pipeline, the long-awaited DC Universe Online will be arriving on PS3 and PC on November 2.  I think there’s still plenty of legitimate reasons to be skeptical about the success of an MMORPG with a monthly fee on a console, but if any game is going to have a chance to break through, you’d have to think DC Universe Online is the one.

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