Massively Multiplayer Gotham City

Back in grade school my friends tried to convince me that Batman was cooler than Superman. While they were probably right, Gotham City is no Metropolis.

Here’s a flythrough trailer for Batman’s Gotham City as it is featured in the early 2011 massively multiplayer PC and PlayStation 3 game DC Universe Online. Arkham Asylum is here, as is the police headquarters with the Bat Signal on its roof. Oddly, we get no Wayne Manor and no Batcave. That’s too bad.

I don’t know much about the game’s version of Metropolis, but Superman’s town in DC’s comics has that great Daily Planet building with the planet sculpture on top. That big orb is always getting knocked off the roof, but Superman always pins it back up like he’s topping a Christmas Tree. Metropolis has a gleaming Lex Luthor skyscraper to remind us how great Lex Luthor is and S.T.A.R. labs, where mad experiments go awry. It always seems sunny in Metropolis. I’d want to live there.

Gotham’s more of a bummer. Look at the landmarks highlighted in the trailer. Arkham: where the crazy people are locked up. Ace Chemicals: where a man becomes the Joker. Crime Alley: where Batman sees his parents get killed. I don’t want to live there.

Because DCU Online is an MMO, I assume Gotham will be more of a potential battleground than a place to work an honest day job. Is it a decent place to fight crime? Virtually? We’ll see. The game’s out early next year on the PC and PlayStation 3.