Okay Geek Farm
PS3 Review - DC Universe Online
Jamie Donnelly
Playing an MMO can seem very intimidating due to the huge amount of dedication that is required to get anything out of them. DC Universe Online (DCUO) is relatively forgiving in terms of how many hours it will sap from your life. It’s not the first game to take the MMO formula and apply it to a super-hero world, but it is the first to do it with an official comic book license.
What’s DC Universe Online about?
The story is one of a typical comic book; good guys versus bad guys. Or to be specific, the good and the bad guys versus the really bad guys, while also fighting each other. Braniac has invaded and so Lex Luther unleashes exobytes into the world in order to turn normal civilians into super-beings so they can help fight this deadly invasion.
And as the game progresses will also see you fighting against various heroes and villains from the DC Universe. It feels a little weak at times and it sometimes seems characters are just making cameo appearances in order to remind you that this is a licensed product, but it’s entertaining to say the least.
How’s the gameplay work?
You play as one of the civilian turned super-beings, and start the game by choosing your power and weapons, as well as creating your character’s look. As with most MMOs, this customised appearance soon goes out the window, and you end up looking like a crack addicted Gok Wan chose your wardrobe. You are also given a choice as to how you will navigate around the universe, be it via flying, acrobatics, or super speed. The combination of having unique talents related not only to your powers, but to your weapons and movement as well means that every character really feels like they play differently.
The Environment
DC Universe Online brings to life two of the most iconic cities in comic books; Gotham City and Metropolis. The cities are huge, but the various travel abilities means they are at no point intimidating. Unfortunately, the vast size is let down by the similarities between the cities. While they each differ greatly in appearance; Gotham being the dark, shadowy place which stands in direct contrast to the bright lights of Metropolis, other than that, those one line descriptions pretty much sum up the entirety of each city, and are barely discernible from the each other.
The other problem with the locations are their size as the textures are very slow to load. If these textures were loading to make the game look amazing I could understand, but the slow loading for just good to average results is a bit of a letdown. On top of that, I also encountered far more bugs than I would have liked. None of these were game breaking, but most caused some sort of menu to freeze or bug out, and I had to quit the game and rejoin in order to solve it. While this was only a minor annoyance it made the game feel rather unpolished.
Leveling
MMO’s have a reputation for being gruelling grind fests in which progression moves at the same pace as a marathon runner with no legs. If traditional MMO’s are marathons, then DCUO is the 100m sprint. On estimation, it took me 40 - 50hours to get to the maximum level of 30, and that is a generous estimate. It is almost as if the developers saw the criticism that MMO’s receive for being a bit of a slog and went completely in the opposite direction.
The quests are your standard setup of kill a set number of mobs and collect these items. The quick leveling may have been a blessing as it meant these repetitive quests did not get tiresome at any point, and remained fun in the long run. I have been quite nitpicky with DCUO so far, and this review may make me seem like somewhat of a negative nancy, however, leveling was in no way a bad experience. It did what all good MMO’s do — it got me hooked. Would I stop playing and go to sleep? Nah, I was only a few quests away from leveling up so I had to keep on fighting! It’s this addictive formula that kept me glued to DCUO well past a logical bedtime.
Combat
The key to any good superhero game is simple; you need to make sure that the player actually feels like a super hero. The combat in DC Universe Online pulls this off expertly. At first I thought it strange that I could take down a single enemy with such ease, until I remembered something; since when does Batman ever take on a single petty henchman one on one? The solo combat isn’t challenging at all, unless you’re taking on five or six enemies at a time! While this may sound like easy mode to some, it is how a superhero game should feel; triumphing against the odds and making intergalactic war seem like a lazy Sunday afternoon game of checkers.
The combat revolves around a combo system, and in order to charge up your power bar you must link together larger combos. The higher your hit counter, the faster your power recharges. You have a selection of super powers available to you, but there is a limited action bar. This was quite disappointing for me — Unlocking a whole host of abilities and then only being able to use six of them in one combat session feels like you’re missing out. It could be argued that this adds a tactical element as you need to prepare the correct set of abilities for each specific fight, but to me it was just an annoyance.
Socialising
If you are going to make a game massively multiplayer, you need to make sure that the multiplayer part works flawlessly. Unfortunately, in DCUO, it doesn’t. My criticisms of the social aspect of DCUO really revolve around the issues of the PS3 more than the game itself.
At first, I did not have a keyboard for my PS3, and so typing out long messages with my pad was painfully slow to the point that I often would avoid talking to people if I could help it. Even when I was instancing with people, or doing PvP arenas, there was very little communication (voice chat is supported but is rarely, if ever, used by anyone) and this really puts a damper on one of the most crucial aspects of an MMO. I mean, what is the point in playing a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG if everybody is just behaving like NPC’s anyway? I even bought a USB keyboard such was my dismay at the lack of communication, but even with my typing speed improved the chat interface still felt slow and clunky.
PVP
The combat in DCUO can get a bit button mashy at times, and this is showcased at its very worst in the PvP Arena matches. It seemed to be a case of run in and spam as many attacks and abilities as you can before you died. The modes revolve around capturing or controlling various objects or areas, and there is certainly nothing groundbreaking about them, but they did provide enough variation and fun to keep the PVP interesting for a while.
“Legends PvP” allows you to take control of a selection of eight legendary heroes or villains and fight against the opposing force in various areas. The mode really came into its own when I got to the end of the game; Being able to play as a variety of characters gives you a taste of different combat without having to level up a whole new character, and it really made me enjoy this type of PvP far more than the Arena matches.
Instances
The instances (definition from Wiki here) in DCUO felt a little weak due to the fact that you were only tasked with defeating B-list characters. The A-list characters are all part of the main single-player story and so the instances felt just a little tacked on. None of the fights required much tactical know-how beyond simply attacking the first thing that comes into sight and not dying. This led to battles which seemed more like an alcohol fueled barn dance than a clash between good and evil.
One thing that DCUO cannot fix is bad groups. No matter what an MMO does right this will always be a problem. DCUO attempts to match up groups with an even balance of classes, but in my experience nobody stuck to their assigned role. This is the one flaw of the hybrid approach to classes that DC Universe Online takes; players can get into instance groups as a healer and then proceed to not bother healing in the slightest. It may seem harsh judging a game based on other gamers, but for an MMO, other gamers are an integral part of the experience.
Raiding and Duos
I have not actually attempted any of the raiding instances yet, and to be honest with you I’m not sure I actually want to. They are only built for eight players, which seems more like a large party than a raid to me. When you also consider the lack of any tactical element in DCUO it makes it difficult to see what raids could really add to the game.
I have already bemoaned the ability of other players in DCUO, and Duos serves to showcase them at their very worst. As you have probably gauged from the name, Duos challenge you to defeat various mini-instances with one other person. I would only advise doing these with somebody you know and trust. With a competent player they are not challenging at all, but with somebody completely useless at your side they are an exercise in frustration. Duos are some of the most enjoyable end game content if approached correctly.
Overall
I haven’t played DC Universe Online for that long of a time (only 5 days) and I have enjoyed the majority it, but I am unsure if it can really give me the sustainability that an MMO’s need to be successful. The fact I am already at the highest level means that the end level content needs to provide at least another 25 days of gaming in order for me to consider paying a subscription. I cannot see this happening and think my interest will fade within a week or two, especially with so many other titles coming out. This may seem like a harsh way to judge a game, but a subscription based MMO needs to 
warrant its continuing fee with constant gameplay.
Pro’s
- Intuitive combo-based combat system
- Addictive leveling
- Do not have to dedicate days of your life to get to the end
Con’s
- Textures are often slow to load
- Talking to other players is a chore
- Limited playtime compared to most MMOs
If you are into MMO’s, and like DC Comics, you probably already own this game. If you have never played an MMO, and like DC Comics, then DCUO is an excellent place to try the MMO formula out. If you do not like MMO’s or DC Comics, then you are probably not even reading this. In any case, DC Universe Online is a great concept but could’ve been executed better.
DC Universe Online brings to life two of the most iconic cities in comic books; Gotham City and Metropolis. The cities are huge, but the various travel abilities means they are at no point intimidating. Unfortunately, the vast size is let down by the similarity within the cities. The two cities differ greatly from each other; Gotham being the dark, shadowy place which stands in direct contrast to the bright lights of Metropolis. However, those one line descriptions pretty much sum up the entirety of each city and each area is barely discernable from the next.
The other problem with the scale of the cities is that the textures were very slow to load. If these textures were loading to make the game look amazing I could understand it, but the slow loading for just good results is a bit of a letdown. As well as slow loading of textures, I also encountered far more bugs than I would have liked. None of these were game breaking, but most caused some sort of menu to freeze or bug out and meant I had to quit the game and rejoin in order to solve it. While this was only a minor annoyance it made the game feel rather unpolished.
