Darkspore Previews

Both IGN and G4 have whipped up a new PvP-focused previews for Darkspore, the bizarre yet somehow intriguing sci-fi action RPG from EA and Maxis. A snip from IGN's article:
Darkspore's PVP is a delicate dance of timing and tactics, and looks like it'll please PvP MMO players especially. Because the heroes are made to balance against one another, players have to constantly adapt their strategy based on what set of three heroes their opponent brings to the round,. Each hero has a series of offensive and defensive abilities on a cooldown (much like an MMO), as well as one power they can share between all the heroes. This means that you might make a set of heroes where all three gain the ability to heal or teleport, changing the way that the entire group is used.

On top of managing and perfectly timing the use of offensive and defensive abilities, players also have to consider when to switch around their active character. Switching characters pushes back nearby enemy players, as well as grants temporary invulnerability to the user. Thus on top of being a strategic tool because it allows players to bring additional abilities into combat, it can also serve as a stun or interrupt for opposing players, or even push enemies into level hazards.

And a snip from G4's article:
Any loot you gather can be applied to your individual characters in one of six categories -- offense, defense, utility, feet, hands and weapons unless you're playing as an arachnid-style creature which receives two slots for its legs. Individual characters won't level throughout the game so much as the player progresses, earning better loot and access to more complex and powerful characters. The loot itself is categorized. For example, (Science) loot consists of Bio, Cyber, Plasma, Quantum and Necro items.

Battles are best-of-three with each player going head-to-head, one-for-one, and swapping out any of their three chosen squad mates at key points throughout the battle. You can switch mid-effect to spread out the damage you're currently taking or whenever you're waiting for a given ability to come back online. Every member of your team has an individual squad ability that can only be activated when all three players are alive. If you lose a man, you lose the ability for all three players.