Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Ah, who has never fantasized about being a super hero at some point in their life?  I mean, what’s not to like – absurd powers, gaudy outfits and a knack for never aging.  The folks over at Sony and DC Comics have spent the last couple of years putting together a new way for players to live out those dreams on the small screen with DC Universe.  Aeropause Games was able to score a pass into the early beta and was met with some surprising facts about the game and the world.  Sure it was rough, but it was surprisingly fun and polished.

My trip into the world was first started off with a nice, thick 12.7GB client download, so yeah; I did not get to start off all that quick into the world.  I was interested by this, because the last MMORPG that I played was Star Wars: Galaxies (insert laugh here), and I remember the install coming in around 2-3GBs of data.  Of course that game looked like ass, and had to fit on a couple of CDs during its time.  It was a bit painful, but hey, it gave me a reason to bust out my Burn Notice Season Two DVDs and catch up on a few episodes.

That Outfit Says Pure Class...right?

Moving forward a few hours, we finally had a fully working install and logged into the game to find…the character creation screen!  Okay, maybe that was not a surprise, but the look of the default character was amazing.  Lots of color and detail immediately showed off the work that Jim Lee had contributed to the project.  As for character creation, the system offers up a nice selection of costume parts, body types and most importantly, powers.  I did like the idea of having the ability to work off of a power template, where you can use a pre-existing hero as a guide for your hero design.  I wanted a powerful female character, so I decided to base my character on Wonder Woman.   A few stat clicks and one half slutty outfit later, and KillCrush was born.

I should point out at this point that the game has one of the greatest CGI movie intros ever in a game.  I absolutely was floored by the intro movie.  Sure, we had already had a chance to see it earlier this summer, but watching it in full HD on my computer monitor was a sight to behold.  I am not sure if the continuity is from the DC Universe at some point (more of a Marvel Guy here), but it shows Lex Luthor and most of the DC bad heavies, duking it out with most of the DC hero heavies.  Carnage is everywhere and through attrition, both sides are losing players fast.  In the end, Superman and Luthor battle it out and he finds a way to defeat Superman, and as he celebrates his victory, Brainiac shows up and ruins the party by taking over a hero-less and decimated Earth.  Luthor has gone back in time to help the heroes fight this future, and has brought a bunch of hero spawning spores to boost up the hero population, which is how you end up with powers.  Sounds a bit corny, but it works.

Woah! Heavy Metal.

With the CGI and character creation out of the way, my character was dropped into a Brainiac ship, and had to battle my way through minions to get back on the ground.  Basically, this whole first section is a tutorial in disguise and it shows you the ins and outs for combat, movement, power management, etc.  It seemed simple enough, and most of the common commands could be mapped to a controller if you chose to do so.  Of course, you had to use the menu to get to a lot of stuff, but the controller is a viable option, and should put PS3 players at ease.   As I worked through the tutorial, I found combat to be fairly easy, with left clicks of the mouse representing light attacks and right button mouse clicks representing slower, but heavier attacks.  Combat does seem to get a little more complex as you earn unlocks, which require clicking combinations to perform them successfully.  Nail one of these combos, and your enemies will experience a lot of damage.

At a point, you pick up your first power point in the tutorial and get the chance to add your first real power from the selection trees you chose during the character creation process.  For me, I had Telekinesis, so my first power was a mind blast that could knock players off their feet and hit them for big damage.  Powers were easy to trigger, and by default were mapped to the quick access toolbar as you got them.  Hitting 1-8 on the keyboard would activate the corresponding power.

The View and City Detail is Stunning

Escaping the ship was an easy challenge and from that point, I was shipped off to a police station in the middle of Metropolis.  Here I got to meet with Zatanna, Martian Manhunter, and several other characters.  It also acts as a hub for in-game messages, place to meet players and more.  I quickly grabbed my first task and moved out the door, eager to experience the world.  I should note that Wonder Woman has been chiming in the whole time, talking to me about my mission progress, use of powers, and generally acting like my own Tony Robbins.  Sure, it is a bit annoying, but it does make you feel like you are one of the team, rather than a small time lackey.

Out in the world, the game looks expansive.  Massive skyscrapers tower into the sky as I looked into the horizon.  There were tons of well detailed buildings, looking like they were separated into districts.  I found myself in an industrial part of town, but also found a section that was reminiscent of Chinatown.  There are billboards themed in the DC Universe scattered around the world.  At one point, I found a Booster Gold billboard hawking some cereal, and a burger joint advertising their buns.  It made the world feel a little more alive and real, and it just made for an immersive experience.

Yes I Do

Everything in the game is graphically stunning, including the great character models.  Again, the influence of Jim Lee can be seen in a lot of the character art and modeling, and most look like they could fit into the pane of a comic book.  And with all details turn on and set to full, the game ran like a champ cranking out a solid frame rate at 1920×1200.  Even with all of the graphics turned up on full, I never saw any lag, or major hiccups in the world.  As a matter of fact the game ran silky smooth, leading me to question why the delayed the game.  It seemed to solidify my idea that it was more about Cataclysm and less about polishing up the game.  There were only two glitches I ran across during my several hours of gameplay.  One had my character land from flight upside down, which was fixed by flying and then landing again.  The other was my character beating a bad guy but he locked up into a dying position for a few minutes until he stopped colliding with a flight of stairs that he was on.

Before I wrap this up, I should mention that the first section of the game that I played was full of cameos during the missions.  I had Superman show up during the training mission to battle it out on Brainiac’s ship, and in my first big mission, I had to save Zartanna from the clutches of a magical prison.  It was nice to see this, because you want to be involved with the big heavies of the DC Universe, and not just C-List characters like Wilderbeast or Apache Chief.

Time for a beat down

At the end of my allotted section of the beta, I had to admit that I had a lot more fun with DC Universe Online than I thought I would.  I have been critical of this title and its chances on the two platforms, but on the PC, I can say that DC Universe has been shaping up to be a rock solid title.  It was stable, fun and easy to play.  I cannot wait to get my hands on the final product and get a chance to see the rest of the world that Sony and DC have created.  Also keep an eye out for a second preview that will look at some of the higher level quests and items in the near future.