You know, for the last 10+ years it's been great to see things like comic characters and fantasy properties taken seriously, with dazzling results. From Dark Knight to Lord of the Rings, we've had a good run. I've seen similar recent improvements in games, with Arkham Asylum and War for Cybertron standing as two good examples of games done right.

With that said, why do I get such a feeling of foreboding with this game? Is it SOE's involvement? That is probably part of it. I think that the bigger component is that everything I've seen of the game seems like DC is pretty much just being bolted onto a generic MMO system, one that could be repurposed to The Matrix, or Transformers, or Everquest with just a few model changes and some ingame lore adjustments. It doesn't feel DC so much as it feels like a generic MMO that someone made a DC mod for. They didn't go 100% into making a DC game. They made a game with DC characters that has a core mechanic that can be reused for the next property they license.