Do you like superheroes? Well I do, and when Sony started advertising late last year for DC Universe Online, I hopped on board instantly. Everyone loves superheroes and when I had a chance to play one, it was a dream come true. Unfortunately Sony made the game, they have a history of messing up MMOs and to make matters worse, a few months after the game was released, the PSN and basically all of Sony was taken down due to hackers for a couple weeks. It left DCUO struggling to recover from an already small player base.The game itself is solid, the max level is 30 and the developers have stated numerous times that they don’t want to leave players leveling for 5 months, they want players to hit the cap and really start enjoying the game. The problem with that is that the game lacks end game content to a certain extent. There are end game instances and raids, there is the pvp and world pvp, but it gets a little old a little bit to fast.
The best part of DCUO is being a superhero, I mean, why else would you be playing it? Its predecessors like City of Heroes (which I enjoyed) and Champions Online (didn’t like this one) didn’t have the big names like Superman, Flash Gordon, Booster Gold, Batman, Joker, Lex Luthor, Bane, et cetera. The list goes on, it is long. It is a fan boy’s dream come true. But then you get to make your own superhero! Big, fat, small, male, female, the physical characteristics mean little, there is a decent amount of customization but the fun really starts when you pick your powers! You can control everything from the mind, to nature, fire, and ice, to being a specialist in gadgets and soon to be released (the purpose of this review) green lantern light like powers! After you pick your primary power, the obviously next important thing is the way you move! Superman flies, Flash runs fast as hell, you? Well, you can fly, run, or jump around like an acrobat (coincidentally, the name of the power).
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| A character with the fire powerset |
All of the powers are great, certain ones like nature play to healing, while fire and ice can be used for tanking and gadgets for dps or support (mana regen). There have been times where one power was simply just better than another but balance has never been a super huge issue and every class (except one at the beginning) is viable for use. The movement powers are a lot of fun, flying around is awesome, running up buildings or across the city with your super speed is feeling everyone should experience, and climbing up buildings and jumping off them as an acrobat is something few other games offer. However the don’t come without issues. In combat my personal favorite to use is the acrobat, flying can result in being knocked out of the sky and super speed has an issue of getting stuck on things, you’ve never laughed until you watched a character designed to look like flash run at full speed around a traffic signal. I literally mean, his feet are attached to it, he is on top of it, and he is defying gravity by sticking to it (even when upside down) running around it. All of the movement powers have special abilities which make them viable even if the movement isn’t so useful in combat, but the simplest and easiest to use is certainly the acrobat power.
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| One of the abilities from the upcoming Green Lantern DLC |
The real reason for this review, 8 months late, isn’t for the regular game. It is for the DLC Sony originally said was to be released on August 9th. It didn’t come out then and I can’t find a date when it is supposed to be released, the rumor mill is saying August 30th but I can’t be certain. This DLC is a big deal, to the game, to Sony, and to fan boys everywhere. It is a big deal because it is the introduction of a new power, light, or in other words, Green Lantern like powers. I’ve only seen trailers and videos of it but it looks awesome, creating a jet or helicopter to gun down your opponents with a Green Lantern ring is just about all anyone should ever want in life. Not to mention they are adding story to the game in the DLC with Sinestro and Hal Jordan. If you picked up the game back when it was released and dropped it since then, this might be a reason to come back to the DC universe.
Look for promotional offerings like 2 weeks free play time with dlc and maybe you can get back into the game without having to subscribe again. The dlc is going to be 10 bucks (9.99) whenever it is released which is a good price for what is being offered. When WoW released WoTLK and introduced new content + 1 character (basically what Sony has done here) they charged you 50 dollars. So give it a shot if you love your superheroes. Lets all be honest here, the game offers you the ability to become a member of the justice league, being inducted by superman or batman, and it doesn’t get much better than that. Also, you get to be in the justice league space station (if you’re a good guy).
DC Universe Online Rating: 75/100
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