DC Universe was a title I originally intended to miss, until my step-dad downloaded the Beta and I saw him playing. It looked like an action game so I gave it a go myself and "wow!".
The game doesn't feel like a standard MMO at all, I was expecting City of Heroes/Villains or World of Warcraft with tights... but unlike your standard MMO the combat is thick, fast and exciting.
I played as a similar character to Batman. Since I'm not a superhero fan he's pretty much the only character I can stomach. I then customised the character how I wanted and once happy with him I entered the game.
I woke up on a strange ship being talked to by a women called Oracle, she hacked into me somehow and is sat somewhere talking to me, guiding me through the ship as I smash robots to pieces.
As you fight your way across the ship it pops up little helpful messages to help you learn the controls and get used to combat.
The combat starts out pretty basic, Square is Melee, Triangle is Ranged. It gets very deep and interesting pretty quickly and starts to feel a lot less like an MMO and much more like an action beat-em-up.
As soon as you level up you, get your first skill. My first skill was a Grappling Hook that stuns enemies and drags them next to you. To do this all you have to do is hold L2 to access your skill bar, and press Square. It feels natural and you don't have to think about it in combat, you're not even scanning your keyboard for the F7 key. It's great. Then when you level up further you also get Combos similar to Hack & Slash games.
Between the skills, combos and the speed of combat, it creates an action packed experience that makes you feel like your playing a very deep brawler.
Outside of the combat system is the standard MMORPG stuff of grabbing loot and customising your characters appearance and stats... which is where it shines once again. The Stat system on the equipment is easy to understand and when you hover over a piece of gear in your inventory it shows you clearly how much you would gain or lose from equipping the item. No maths involved or having to dig through fan sites and forums to find out what a vaguely named stat actually does.
Once you find something that is better, you go to equip it and you get a pop up window asking if you want to allow the piece of equipment to change how your character looks... You can equip new gear without sacrificing your characters aesthetics? Why the hell don't all MMO games do this! The guys behind DCUO obviously understand it's important to some players to have their characters look good, as well as being hard.
I can't comment on the world or the characters, I don't know many of the DC characters or locations. But in reference to other comments about the voice acting being poor, they are speaking a load of rubbish... well it's an all-star cast and honestly, it really pays off.
You have Adam Baldwin playing Superman (Full Metal Jacket, Mass Effect 2, Halo 3). Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin returning to their roles of Batman, The Joker and Harley Quinn (respectively) from Batman: Arkham Asylum. Will Wheaton as Robin (Stand By Me, Star Trek: Next Generation, Fallout: New Vegas and Everquest 2). Michelle Forbes as Circe (Half-Life 2, True Blood, Kalifornia). James Marsters as Lex Luther (Smallville, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Superman/Doomsday). And a whole load more.
Overall the gameplay, controls, cast and features are great. Topped off with the fact that it's an MMO, as well as an MMO that actually suites a console... well that just makes it an astounding achievement.
Despite the fact I have no idea who the characters are, I was still able to enjoy this game and will certainly be enjoying it on release.