When my friend mentioned that one of the games she's addicted to on the PS4 was DC Universe Online, my interest was piqued a bit. I had played it very little once before on my friend's PC and wanted to give it more attention but was confused on how to acquire it. Even though the game is free-to-play (with some exceptions), I thought you needed to like buy the base version for like $40. Then the game becomes free with no subscription required. Having then looked up the game on the PSN, I was delightfully surprised that the game itself was free through and through. DC Universe Online is WB Games' attempt to get in on the MMO craze that was popularized by the still undisputed king World of Warcraft. Around this time, Star Wars came out with their game Knights of the Old Republic. However, like Star Wars, DCUO didn't stick with its subscription format for long. Having entered the F2P format with limitations in November of 2011, which was 10 months after the game's launch.
The premise of this game involves a deadly battle waged between villains and heroes of the DC world. With the battle culminating in Lex Luthor's victory over Superman, he ends being betrayed by Brainiac who then enslaves the planet. This version travels back in time to warn our heroes and distributes exobyte technology unto the world. This creates new heroes (i.e. you) and villains to help join the upcoming fight with Brainiac. With the latest patches and updates, the game exists on the PS3, PS4 and PC with 2 mega Playstation servers for the US and EU. Playstation owners can enjoy playing with each other regardless of the system they're on. First time players are thrusted into the character creation and thus engage in the possibly hours long process that they are familiar with from previous games with this feature.
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| Selecting a build for your charater! |
It should be noted that since I'm sticking with the free to play version/model, some of my choices were limited. Mainly in the types of powers I was allowed to select. You're given the option to go Hero or Villain including a mentor from 3 characters, type of power and movement. Powers range from Nature, Sorcery, Fire and more. These have your typical MMO classification/roles like DPS and Healer for example. Movement is separated and basically details you how you can get around the cities. Acrobatics involves climbing buildings and leaping off like Batman, whereas Super Speed has you run at an incredible pace and up buildings. Oh and then there's flight but I mean that's boring right? Kidding!
Depending on who you select as a Mentor, you start off in either Metropolis or Gotham. I was a bit disappointed to see that these are the only 2 cities you travel between for quests. Oh and the Watchtower is included as well a little while after leveling a bit. Just take what you know from other MMO's and apply the basic mechanics here! Quests are given out but they act like little arcs of stories. You complete missions and side missions in the areas until you eventually enter a small instance/dungeon that can be done solo and end in a villain/hero match up against an iconic character responsible for the quests you were doing earlier. Teaming up with NPC characters like Supergirl, Nightwing, and even Superman are present in these fights.
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| How a normal screen looks |
You activate your abilities (console wise) by holding down the R2/L2 triggers along with corresponding button. Cooldowns are involved but the combat is a bit more action oriented somewhat like how Elder Scrolls Online was. Your combo meter rises up and you memorize moves you unlock with your primary weapon. As you level up, you unlock Power Points which develop your main powers through talent trees and Skill Points for your weapon and movement. It should be also noted that after a certain level, you can unlock the option to use more than one weapon type, though I've been fine with the one I selected at creation. Armor and equipment exists along with the option to modify them through what's called Research and Development (I have not done this yet).
In addition to your regular quests, you have ones automatically assigned for dungeons and ones for PVP. I love how even though when you equip better items to your hero, the "style" of previous items never go away. For one of my characters, I still have his look for the chest armor from the character creation because IT LOOKS SO COOL! Despite DCUO having 2 main cities, I really loved the amount of work and detail that went into creating them, large to have multiple areas and it looks really beautiful when you look up from a higher height. Acrobatic movement however is very bland when traveling and I much prefer super speed.
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| A look at your character's screen with stats |
As of this writing, I have 2 characters on both servers (one of which to play with some friends over in the EU area) that are close to reaching the level 30 cap which I think is what it is for F2P players? There's also multiple DLC packs that have been released such as the War of Light expansion which allows players to become a Green, Yellow or Red Lantern! My experience with dungeons is very limited as the ones I've done were alongside a friend who was incredibly maxed out and handled everything XD.
Should you Play this Game?
I'd definitely give this a shot. With the option of Free to Play you really have nothing to lose. Limitations include small inventory, 2 character slots, max currency value to hold at $1, 500 and no Episode Content. The voice acting, music and design is pretty awesome and some of the quests can be a blast. Plus just moving around in the game can be fun! You can find me either on the USPS server as Arcanum128, the dual wielding sorcerer or on EUPS as SilverThorn128, a Nature healer that knows how to work a bow!
