We've seen the screen shots. We've seen the video clips. But at E3, there was the chance to actually get some hands on with the game and take it for a pre-beta joy ride. I also got to sit down with one of the designers for the game to get a little more on the game that has yet to be released through their MySpace account or any official press releases. I will say that I wish I could have played around with the character creation tool a bit, but they did have some of the network play up and going. Well network play as in between PS3 and PC and not over the PSN.
I for some reason was handed the PS3 controls instead of the keyboard and mouse the other guy, who I didn't know, was given. Not that I'm complaining, just wanted to make the statement so all of you out there reading this, the two of you, know what angle I'm coming from here. I will say that the controls were really good for being a pre-beta copy. There was only a few minor issues with the flying parts of the game, but for the most part everything reacted as you would expect a 3rd person action game would. The flight hiccup being mainly in the altitude controls as well as some of the landing. But like I said, it is pre-beta, and to have only that be an issue, not to shabby.
The power and action controls are all based on the Triangle, Square, Circle, and X buttons and if you have L2 or R2 pulled in tight. Pushing any of them with out the triggers pulled throws a basic move, like punch or kick. These didn't deviate in flight or not. While holding down L2, your moves would change to four of your power moves, chosen by you, and activated by the corresponding button. It is the exact same for Items except that you press R2 naturally. At least I think naturally.
The character I was playing was all based around earth and rock stuff being hurled or encasing people in, so I really only got to see a few powers under my own control, but once you figured where they were mapped to, it was as easy, if not a little more, to string together a few good combos to mess up your enemies. There was one I did where I encased the person in rock, picked them up, threw them at a wall, shot them with a stone type blast as they fell and then finished with stone spikes from the ground. All really easy to pick up right away. Worked wonders on the Green Lantern.
Now this is where the question gets brought up, how high a level do you have to be to take on those named heroes/villains? The answer, you could be level one and still take them on. How's that so? Yes I asked that specifically. Well they have set up a level scaling feature that will nerf down some of the big bad asses so you and your team might stand a fighting chance. There will also be explanations for these as well and not just the well your level six so we need Batman to be level six. They have explanations in the missions and mission story as to why this is the case.
Example: You are helping Lex Luthor steal something to hold the city ransom. You know that Suppes isn't going to like this. Lex gives you a piece of kryptonite that weakens but won't kill Superman. So he still has all the stats of being a top level NPC, he just can't use them because of the specific actions that have taken place.
One last thing I will touch on before I shut up and let you two get on to the other articles here, is the PvP function of the game. Well one is a function the other is a little nit pic. Or at least something that should be addressed. The prior is the fact that you have an option to jump right back into the action of things right away if you where defeated in PvP. Well at least three times. Petty much, you get asked if you wish to rally back into the fight. From there, you pop back where you were last defeated with a little bit of health. Something to help in the case that the enemy had one hit point left and they dropped you before you could make that hit. Kind of a nice little feature. There is also the option to Run at any time after being defeated. Which will of course have you respawn away from where you were at with almost full health.
The latter from the above is the fact that all heroes seem to flock to you like stank to shit. Even when there are others on your side, not on your team but on your side, still running around. I still blame Green Arrow for me dropping so fast in PvP. Not very fair to have an AI helping your enemy out in a PvP fight. At least in my opinion.
In the end, there is a few other things that I think need tweaking and fixing for this game, but it will be worth a buy. At least for any tried and true DC fan. Hell even if you are bigger into Marvel, this still looks to be a good game. Something to totally topple City of Heroes/Villains and give Chanpions a good run for it's money.
