DC Universe Online - Review

 

Quick note before I start. I actually started this weeks ago, sometime around 23-25 of January and just got caught up in other things and forgot to finish this.  If you don't feel like reading this, just watch the videos (again if you like DC Comics).

First of all is the monthly fee. $15 a month (or slightly cheaper if you pay in full for 3, 6 or 12 months ahead of time) is not something easily to deal with and its a reason I won't play it for very long.  

I enjoy this game, its fun, has a lot of options to build your character, but I can't fully recommend this game to someone.  If you like the DCU (DC Comics Universe), this game is so much fun.  You get to run missions and talk to some of the classic heroes and villains of the DCU. 

You have movie clips here and there, especially when finishing a story arc, or starting massive missions.  What really does it for this game is the voice acting to go along with all of these scenes and mission text (which are almost all spoken to you).  

Lets start with the big names.  It brings back Kevin Conroy as Batman (the voice of Batman from Batman TAS), and also Mark Hamill as the Joker.  Two big names from the DCU cartoon franchise.  Then you have Adam Baldwin and Gina Torres playing Superman and Wonder Woman respectively. Both are from the great show Firefly by Joss Whedon, but also neither are new two the DCU either as both voiced character on the Justice League cartoon as Hal Jordan and Vixen.  As not to keep going, there is James Marsters (of Buffy fame) playing Lex Luthor, and Wil Wheaton as Robin.  They went all out on the voices for this game, and they do make the game very enjoyable for someone who loves the DC Universe.

 Jim Lee and Geoff Johns from DC Comics helped with most of the stories for the missions. So you know that they are well done.  I have enjoyed most of the mission stories the first time around, but I started playing a Hero and a Villain, and each one had "reverse" missions of the other.  At one point Batman tells you to go help Robin take down Harley Quinn, and when you get to the end, Harley has Robin handcuffed and you have to fight her, and as a Villain its the reverse, the Joker sends you in and Robin is handcuffing Harley at the end.  So if you are playing both sides concurrently it can get a bit repetitive.

Now for the gameplay. This is where I think this game hurts.  Its fun, but its simple, it is based on simple left and right clicks of the mouse and a few hits of the row keys to activate some powers.  It acts more like an action game than a RPG which is kind of disappointing to me.  Left Mouse Button is more a close attack and Right Mouse Button a range attack, and this game uses the clicks between left and right and clicks and holds of the button to preform combos.

Another flaw to me is the communication in the game and trying to find teammates. For one a team can only consist of 5 remembers which seems a little small, but that really doesn't matter.  Its is the typing communication that suffers. As the mouse has become and integral part of the game and added that the game feels like a port from the PS3, the communication is more encourage to be through a microphone with a headset.  You don't always want to listen to other people (at least I don't) and sometimes I just prefer to type. Where you can in this game, its just made as easily as it could be, as easy as it is in other games.

The end game stuff seems like a lot of fun as well. The max level is only 30, and if just a few weeks if you played enough you could get there easily.  Lots of battles against duos and groups that you really just can't handle solo.  Most of the bosses are so difficult that beating them solo is rough.

Overall I like the game, but as I said before, right now there are too many weird things in the game that I'm not sure will keep me playing, so I can't recommend it for others.


Finally on to the movies posted.  The top is the opening to the game and the that was released.  The second is come out last week (so it is good I slacked on this a bit), and it kind of a follow up to that one and in that movies timeline as well.