DC Universe Online was developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by Sony Computer Entertainment and WB Games. DCUO was released on January 11, 2011 on both the Playstation 3 and PC. A year after its release and with two major expansions and a new free-to-play model, has DC Universe online solidified its place in the MMO market?
DC Universe Online begins in the future where an all out war has erupted between heroes and villains. As both sides take heavy casualties in this battle to end all battles, Lex Luthor strikes down Wonder Woman and in the process summons the drained and now incredibly angry Superman back to Earth. Despite his valiant attempt, Superman finally falls to the cunning plans of Lex Luthor. Just as Lex is claiming his victory, Brainiac’s invasion fleet arrives and decimates the remaining super powered population, thus securing Braniac’s dominion over the planet. It turned out that Lex was just a pawn in a larger game. Brainiac had been “downloading” the powers of Earth’s greatest warriors using his new Exobytes. He had transferred that power to his army of new metahumans that overran the planet.
Lex had managed to survive the initial invasion and with the help of Batman, travels to the present where he warns the Justice League or the impending invasion.
As Luthor was coming through the time portal into the present day, he released millions of Exobytes that he had stolen from Braniac. These Exobytes made their way to the planet’s surface where they began to turn ordinary civilians into new, super-powered beings. The player character is one of these converts, and it falls to the heroes and villains of the DC universe to train the new recruits so that Braniac may be thwarted.
The story of DCUO sets a grand stage. It creates a starting point that allows for those not familiar with the heroes and villains of the DCU to pick up and learn. Long time DC fans will be pleasantly surprised by the incredibly well-crafted story arcs and attention to detail that is ever present. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always been a bit of a Marvel fanboy, but DCUO began changing my allegiance. Suddenly, I was interested in characters that I originally did not care for in the least. I also learned more about my favorite characters and can’t think of one part of the story that I have not enjoyed.
Players must create their character before anything else and while it may appear simple at first, there’s a surprising amount of complexity. Players can choose the “Inspired By” option to work off of a template designed around a famous DC character or choose each option individually.
Players must choose a powerset which determines their role in a group. Each power has two ability trees that players can specialize in. One is always reserved for DPS and the other could be a tanking or healing role depending on the powerset chosen.
Players must also chose a weapon style which provides the non-super-powered attacks. All weapons have both melee and ranged capabilities, but some are clearly specialized in one area or the other.
Choosing the movement type of a character determines a number of factors. It primarily serves as a method of moving around the game. However, it also has ramifications in combat and can affect strategy. Players can pick Super Speed, Acrobatics, or Flight. My hero fills a ranged DPS/healer role, so I felt flight was the way to go as it allowed me to stay out of reach of those that would do me harm, but allows me to flit around and keep the life bars filled up. Plus, flight makes for some of the best screenshots.
Morality will determine which side of the line a character falls on. There’s no in-between in DC Universe Online. You’re either a hero or villain. After choosing a side, players must pick a mentor. Choosing a mentor is one of the most important choices players will make, if not the most important. Mentors will affect how players experience the world. This will be everything from starting area to the missions they receive and the weapons and armor they can use. There are three Mentors available for both the heroes and villains. Heroes can choose between Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. Villains must choose from Joker, Lex Luthor, or Circe.
Players can also select a personality for their character. This will determine how their character acts in-game. It will determine what style of emotes they use, their posture, and how they move throughout the game. Personalities are purely aesthetic and have no impact on stats or powers.
Players begin their heroic or villainous career on one of Braniac’s ships and through the helpful guidance of either Oracle (heroes) or the Calculator (villains) manage to escape. After escaping the ship, players will move to one of the two major cities, Gotham City or Metropolis. It is in these two cities that players will spend a majority of their time. From the start, players have full access to every area. There are no level restrictions barring entry except for Alert Zones and Raid Zones. Alert Zones function as instances where groups of four players band together to complete a set of objectives. Raid Zones are similar, but allow for eight players to band together in order to take down much greater challenges.
One thing that I noticed was how I constantly encountered missions and enemies above my level because of how quickly I progressed through the game. It almost seems as if the exp gained needs to be increased to balance out the higher level missions that get assigned to lower level players. On top of that, enemies respawn very quickly and on many occasions I found myself overwhelmed very quickly. Combine that with enemy players griefing or camping certain areas and it can get frustrating at times. Fortunately, there are usually a few friendly higher level players willing to clear out an area to ease the troubles of lower level players.
The first thing that really made an impression on me was the controls for DC Universe Online. Everything feels very natural and I would argue that it has the best controls of any MMORPG on the market. Players move with the WASD keys and the camera is controlled by the mouse. Instead of pressing a button to turn flying on or off, simply holding the jump button will send players soaring. Moving the mouse will guide the player and makes the entire experience the smoothest flying simulator I’ve played. Attacks are performed with right or left mouse buttons and combos and special attacks can be performed using special sequences of clicks. It gives the combat a very action-heavy feel and keeps things fresh and exciting when compared to most games where fingers do nothing but hover over the keybinds for spells and attacks.
One minor complaint in regards to combat is in regards to the action bar. There are only a handful of slots that powers can be assigned to. Granted players can customize toolbars for each role, but with so many powers available, it’s hard to select only a few to use at any given time. I can understand that this may be due to the limited number of options available to players with a controller, but I still wish there was a way to enable multiple toolbars so that I have a full selection of my powers at all times.
Speaking of full selections, I quickly became enamored by the costume system. Players can equip gear and weapons with stats and unique styles. After equipping an item, its style will be added to a player’s library and will always be available for selection, even after the item is sold. So, at any point in the game, players can customize their costumes, weapons, and colors. There’s no need to talk to a special NPC or head to a certain location to make the changes. Plus, as new pieces are added, I’ve noticed an evolution of my character’s costumes. There’s so much that players can do and so much inspiration in the form of other player’s costumes. It’s a virtual treasure trove of creativity.
Of course, having a fantastic costume is only made more important when the game contains such high quality graphics. Everything in DC Universe Online is a visual delight. I constantly stop when flying through skies and take in all of the many details found in the environment. Both Metropolis and Gotham City have their own unique feel and style and there are so many sections to both cities. Essentially, players will never run out of places to explore. There is some pop-up and delay when rendering buildings and characters at a distance or if there are large groups of players gathered.
The game is very PvE oriented with well-told story arcs propelling players through the game. Each arc will deal with a specific hero or villain and progresses in such a remarkably natural way. At the end of each arc, usually after defeating said hero or villain, gorgeous comic panels will take you into their mind and further explain the story.
All of this is aided by some of the absolute best voice-work I’ve had the pleasure of hearing in a game. Staples such as Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as the Joker, and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn…there’s a plethora of incredible talent backing each interaction the player has. Combine that with the inspiring soundtrack that hallmarks every moment spent playing and there’s virtually no audible wrong that DCUO can do.
When DC Universe Online launched, it was plagued with problems.
So many, that a free month of play was granted to initial subscribers. Shortly into the game’s life, subscribers began falling off and the game’s future was uncertain. In a radical move, the game went free-to-play on November 1, 2011. In that first week after going free-to-play, DCUO picked up 1,000,000 subscribers. That’s right, six zeros there. The surge in population was split nearly even across the PS3 and PC.
Despite going free-to-play, there are still three tiers of players. Free players can access the game for free and can only have two characters. There are caps on the amount of money a player can have, inventory slots, bank slots, and how frequently they can chat. Premium players have similar limits in place, but have a higher quantity available for them. To become a Premium player, at least $5 must be spent on the game. Legendary players are those that pay the monthly subscription fee. There are even fewer caps on the account and no restrictions. Also, Legendary players get DLC expansion packs at no additional cost.
I’ve loved everything about super heroes since I was little. I first cut my MMO teeth on City of Heroes. I then tried Champions Online, but quickly found myself going back to CoH. I’ve been playing DC Universe Online for a few months now and I consider it, by far, the absolute best super hero themed MMO on the market. From the incredible story, graphics, controls, and voice work, there isn’t a whole lot about DCUO that I don’t like. If you’re even the smallest fan of the DC universe or are just looking for a great, new MMO to try, you can’t do much better than DC Universe Online.
GamingClimax.com Writer and Author of ZeroAnd09 Blog
