After years of waiting (and reporting) DC Universe Online has finally made its way to both the PC and PlayStation 3 console. And we are happy to see it has lived up to the hype. While DCUO isn’t a ground breaking experience that will redefine the MMORPG genre, it does provide an addictive and fun super hero world for people to play in.

Taking a few lessons learned from previous super hero titles like City of Heroes and Champions Online, DCUO allows players to experience an MMO world in an iconic universe with well known locations and super hero and villain compatriots at their side. Unlike SOE’s previous iconic MMO with Star Wars Galaxies, players are actually able to fight alongside their favorite heroes and villains instead of just receiving missions from them. The game also has a fully voiced cast, a much notable difference to players of past titles like classics like Everquest or Galaxies.

Gameplay:

DC Universe Online plays similar in many ways to most other successful MMOs. It is to be expected since those formulas have proven successful for the type of game. Players move using the traditional WASD format combined with their mouse for changing directions and looking around and aiming. Different tap and hold button combinations on the mouse (unlocking more as players increase in level) release different attacks on foes. Additional super powers are unlocked and assigned to the 1 through 8 keys that can be used during combat.

Combat itself is fast paced and fun without much down time between. Unlike many MMORPGs, combat is not item-centric where players must worry about equipping tons of healing items to use after each combat instance. As long as players don’t run through like a lunatic kamikaze, they should be able to take a breather between fights to allow their character to quickly heal up before heading into the next encounter.

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While the game may be delayed until next year, it hasn’t stopped Sony Online Entertainment from ramping up the voice talent for DC Universe Online. Names like Adam Baldwin, Kevin Conroy, and James Marsters are already attached, and the list is only going to get bigger. From Sony:

The new cast additions include Arleen Sorkin (Batman: The Animated Series), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Corey Burton (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Batman: The Brave and the Bold) and Dwight Schultz (The A-Team, Star Trek: The Next Generation).

“The addition of these actors to our existing cast reaffirms our commitment to gamers to deliver the most fun and authentic DC Universe experience possible,” said Sony Online Entertainment executive producer John Blakely.

Wheaton will be upping his geek cred by voicing Robin, the Boy wonder, while Alreen Sorkin returns for the role that made her famous, Harley Quinn. Also, Dwight Shultz steps in as The Flash and Corey Burton will be voicing the living computer Braniac.

Filling out the rest of the cast is Summer Glau as Supergirl, Mark Hamill as The Joker, Diedrich Bader as Solomon Grundy, Michelle Forbes as Circe, Robert Patrick as Hawkman, and Gina Torres as Wonder Woman. This could end up being the best voice cast for a video game ever seen…if the game ever comes out.

This week’s pick is the 1989 drama directed by Roland Joffe Fat Man and Little Boy which were the code names given to the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan, ending the war in the Pacific during World War II. The film stars Paul Newman in a tour de force role as Gen. Leslie Groves, the military head of what was to be known as the “Manhattan Project.”

The film also stars Dwight Schultz (better known for his role on the hit TV show The A-Team playing Murdock) as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the brilliant physicist which brought the scientific minds together to help create the project. Rounding out the cast is John Cusack (Michael Merriman) who is a young physicist who acts as the film’s narrator while keeping a secret journal of his time in the New Mexico countryside while research and development of the “gadget” was underway.

The film is a brilliant examination of how the hypothetical became reality. Groves and Oppenheimer begin pulling in some of the best minds in the world who are eager to create a super weapon which will smash the Nazi’s hold throughout Europe. Ironically, Hitler’s own notions of racial purity drove some of Europe’s greatest minds to England and the United States to help the allies come up with an atomic device that would grant them the terms to wage war on the aggressors.

Many of the scenes show how the scientists met crushing deadlines, near fatal accidents with high explosives, radioactive materials, and whether or not the $2 billion project was ethical in the hands of military men like Groves, and what the fate of the world would be with such an awesome new weapon?

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