DC Universe Online Reviews

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Written by Brother None on January 29th, 2011

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Duos, like the rest of the game, suffer from bugs. The bugs in DC Universe Online are plentiful and range from weird graphical issues like characters animating as though they were sliding up a building instead of climbing to sections of the map not loading properly. More crippling bugs include all sound dying, broken powers, glitched NPCs, enemies becoming invincible for no reason, players falling through terrain, being able to move only in one direction, and collectibles placed in entirely inaccessible areas. I've experienced all of the above -- many of these very recently -- so I know that a lot haven't been fixed yet. A lot of bugs are tied to the travel system; super-speeders and acrobats often have to contend with twitchy terrain and a camera that means that you often move in entirely the wrong direction

The movement modes -- flight, super speed and acrobatics -- sound good in theory but are broken in practice. With any distance, flying characters are far and away faster simply because they can avoid terrain altogether, while acrobats and super-speeders need to work around or over every building and enemy until they learn some extra skills (and even then they still have to contend with a lot of terrain).

Structurally, DCUO is standard MMO fare, but it's ahead of the pack in terms of combat. The Square and Triangle buttons (on the PS3 gamepad) are mapped to a melee and ranged attack (which can be leveled up for more damage and variety), and pulling the left or right triggers toggles abilities like stuns or heals. Since quests basically only have two goals -- either kill something, or interact with it in some way -- they risk getting repetitive, but move briskly enough to avoid it. You're a superhero -- why shouldn't it just take you a few punches to knock out a Sinestro Corps Sentinel and move on? Plus, quest credit is given out generously: A fallen enemy gives all of its rewards to everyone who did any damage to it, so you never feel cheated out of work.

DC Universe Online may not always escape the tedium that comes with its button-mashing combat, but it does a good job of masking monotony in a number of different ways. One such way is the tactical use of the powers you earn. These powers come from a few different trees, including one that focuses on so-called "iconic powers," inspired by the famous abilities of various heroes and villains, such as Batman's batarangs. You can only equip up to six of these powers at a time, though you can set up a couple of different loadouts and switch between them. For example, if you look to Circe for magical guidance, you might be able to switch between damage and healing roles, and have a separate set of powers for each loadout that complements those roles. This setup recalls similar limitations in Guild Wars, where individuals and groups could exploit their tactical potential with interesting, varied skill sets. And in the same way, playing with your loadouts in DCUO might reveal effective combinations that make you a more helpful teammate. It's too bad that the result summaries that appear at the end of certain player-versus-player matches and group dungeons don't recognize the hard work of those playing a controller role or supporting their team in other ways. (Only healing and damage stats are revealed.)

The character creator is creatively stifling next to the superhero MMO competition, Champions Online and City of Heroes. DCUO offers fewer options at the start, and instead makes you earn the more distinctive costume pieces as you play. I felt thwarted at first, but it's actually a well thought-out delayed gratification system that gives your character a rewarding sense of progression. Collectors could easily spend months scrounging for the hundreds of iconic and rare costume pieces scattered throughout the game, and explorers will absolutely love Gotham and Metropolis (the two massive cities house all the game's open-world content), which are full of activity, collectibles and Easter eggs to find.

There's no reward big enough to make up for the game's warped interface, however. Illogically nested menus, a tiny, unresponsive chat interface and lack of tooltips are all symptomatic of an interface designed to be PlayStation 3-friendly. It isn't enough to throw me into a Hulk-like rage (oops, wrong license) but the extra clicks for simple tasks and borderline broken chat interface are a constant exasperation.

Since everyone's a superhero now, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and pals largely kick back and let us peons do their bidding. You can choose one hero from your faction to serve as your mentor, which essentially means they pop up from time to time in the upper right hand corner to order you around while they take all the credit. The text for almost every quest is spoken aloud by talented voice actors, which gives DCUO a coveted level of immersion that many other MMOs could learn from. But do yourself a favor and level a villain. The heroes' lines are about as bland as last month's bread; you'll far more enjoy cackling along with Circe and supporting Mark Hamill's career in yet another outing as the Joker.

If only this immersion fully carried over into the surrounding world. Metropolis and Gotham City are both sprawling, breathtaking arenas that invite climbing to the tops of skyscrapers and plunging down to the sidewalk below. Gotham bleeds with the sooty ambiance of Prohibition-era Chicago, and Metropolis shines like a futuristic Manhattan on a radiant spring morning. Every location loads quickly on the PC with only a few latency issues, and the transitions between zones are seamless. The problem is that both cities seem abandoned once you leave the quest hubs. Here you'll find no throngs of innocent bystanders, and the traffic you encounter seems more appropriate for lunch time in Nunavut than rush hour in New York.

Bizarrely, the game's combat actually works a lot better on the PS3 than it does on the PC.

Past attempts to make joypads work on PC MMORPGs have mostly failed - indeed, I've heard reports of trouble when trying to use a joypad with the PC version of DCUO. The PS3 version excels when you're in the middle of dishing out beatings to a gang of thugs.

Unlike many traditional MMORPGS, there is no click target option, thus creating a fluid targeting system, it also means many heals either target the ally with the lowest health or are AOE spells. It also means you can tackle a mob quite easily as you can switch between the enemies without having to worry about targeting them. In the middle of a quest there is nothing more satisfying than controlling a mob of 4/5 characters at once just by switching your attention between all the targets.

Unlike most MMOs, DCUO's interface is fairly clutter free, requiring minimal effort to manage. An ability tray is displayed along the bottom of the screen and carry up to six powers at a time as well as one consumable (similar to potions) and one trinket (an item capable of granting a temporary buff.) Opposite the mini map is a health and power display as well as a (Supercharge) gauge. By landing attacks successfully and being damaged, this meter will rise and once full, players can access some of the game's most devastating powers, which can easily turn the table in a fight. When the health bar reaches zero in DC Universe Online, you are knocked to the group, and if an ally isn't able to revive you (healing powers aren't required) then you are teleported to the nearest rally zone. Menus can be a pain to navigate at first, though they are sufficient in breaking down the key manageable aspects of the game, and thanks to recent updates, they run a quicker too.

One of the game's stand out features is the appearance tab. A common problem encountered in MMOs is picking up gear which looks awesome, but if its stats are poor, players tend to get rid of it. In DCUO, when you equip armour and weaponry, the appearance options are then stored in a menu, and can be accessed at your leisure. For example, you can go from level 1 to 30, wearing the exact same outfit you made during the character creation process, no matter how many new items you equip.

The is a necessary step for a PS3-based version of a MMORPG and one which breathes life into a game which needs action at a fundamental, comic-book level. While not on the level of a God of War 3 or Uncharted, the action style definitely sets DC Universe apart and makes it more of an interactive experience even than something like Final Fantasy XIII.

The negative aspect to having a combat style like this is the repetitive nature that it can produce in even the best action title. DC Universe is no exception, and in typical MMORPG fashion, players will be required to battle through the world constantly as they strive to move further on in the game. While new animations and (spells) are added as your character grows, the combat can be a little samey, especially for those playing solo

PvP combat is a big part of DC Universe Online. Even on PvE servers there are a number of instanced PvP arenas to choose from, and they play a big part in the end-game content. The only difference between the PvE and PvP servers is that the latter has open-world combat.

The combat of DCUO actually lends itself better to player-on-player combat than it does to PvE. The different combos and abilities players have access to consist of strengths and weaknesses, and this provides depth to the combat. Is your opponent blocking? Use a powerful block-breaker combo. Is your opponent charging up a big attack? Interrupt him with a leap attack. And so on.

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