Free Play: DC Universe Online

I've always been a fan of comics and I grew up reading the adventures of my favourite Marvel and DC heroes and I would be lying if I said I didn't make up my own superhero that could chum it up with Batman and Superman. I lost track of the stories at the time when I could not justify the spending on comic books, but I've never really lost love for the characters as I knew them. So when the superhero MMOs arrived, I, of all people, would have thought it would be easy to jump right in and start the adventures of my very own superhero. That didn't quite happen, but I realized it was the same reason I stopped buying comics - cost.

By the time I really heard of the superhero games, I was well into my adventures in World of Warcraft and quite satisfied. I could not justify the costs involved to try out another game, nor could I justify the time. But now a good number of games have gone free to play so half of that equation is no longer valid. While time is still tight, I would be able to try things out and thus the Free Play column is born.

For the record, I played DCUO primarily on the PS3 but I did get the PC version just to check out some of the differences. The game itself is not totally different across both platforms, but it is obvious that the game was made for the PS3 and ported over.

What's Free?

The base game is free to download and play and there are no level caps for free accounts. So you can theoretically play much of the game without paying a penny. Take note that this is a ~16GB game so watch your bandwidth if you have one of those limited cap internet plans.

With the free account, you also get only 2 character slots, which would not be a huge problem unless you are dedicated alt-aholic. DLCs are also paid for, typically around $10 each. I also did not find a way to respec for free, so if you are dead set in paying nothing for the game, you better be really sure about how you spend your skill points. You are also capped with how much money you can have, I'm not certain how much though.

The store purchases do not have any major impact to game play or balance, but things like respecs, name changes, etc., are things that you need to pay for. Again, nothing that will really make the scrooges feel they need to pay anything for.

Is it Fun?

In short, yes. My play sessions take around 30min to a couple of hours and I certainly did not feel I've been wasting time. With only 2 character slots, I did have to think really carefully about what I would like to have as a main character and use the other slot for experimenting.

Flying was also a lot of fun especially after hitting level 9 and getting a power that allows me to charge opponents from the air. I have yet to try the other movement modes (acrobatics/wallwalking and speed running).

While the game does appear to have some sandbox elements, there is not much variation from beating up a random thug. Then again, there is usually something every couple blocks - Metropolis appears to have an invasion at every corner - so you can just go around and do punchups when you feel like it.

You also don't die, well, not in the normal MMO sense. Once defeated, you can run away - meaning you spawn at certain spots. Friendlies can also revive you and it works well in groups. Yes, it is just a change of semantics, but it blends well with the genre. I mean, you don't see superheroes die all the time, and those that do stay dead...or wait a few years to be resurrected.

Anything Not So Good?

It does take a bit of getting used to for first time players. You can't click on anything and interactions are done through the generic "use" key. Context of they key will depend on what you are looking at so it ranges from picking up objects to talking to quest givers or random NPCs. No, you cannot pick up a random NPC and throw him.

The game is made for a console and it shows. Graphics appear outdated, but still blends nicely with the whole comic book feel. As mentioned earlier, the controls are clunky and ported over from the PS3 gamepad. You can remap keys on the PC, but being comfortable with the game specific keys will take time.

There is also the matter of the game making your background for you - particularly about how your character got powers. You can certainly fill in the backstory before then, but it takes away from the RP aspect of the game. Its not a major thing, but the part of my brain that likes roleplaying just died a little bit. There is that disconnect that the Exobytes giving Batman-like powers when Batman actually has no powers. Even for comic books, that little part just makes me scratch my head in confusion.

Overall....

Enjoyment of the game will be highly dependent on how much you like the genre. As a quick dash and play game, it certainly has a lot of fun elements. As far as free to play games are concerned, a mark of a good game is one where you feel it's actually worth spending money on it and DCUO fits very well there. I am actually considering getting the Green Lantern DLC, and that says a lot seeing that I planned to not spend any money at all when I first started playing.

Highlights

• Breakable objects! Yes, not everything is breakable, but fights actually having some effect on the environment just makes it feel more....super.
• No need to actually target something. Anything in the path of the attack gets hit. This means being able to hit more than one thing at a time if they are grouped up. Again, more comic book style gaming!
• Being knocked off the air. A weird thing to be a highlight, but some attacks can take you off your movement mode, and therefore, if flying, fall down several stories. Hitting the ground doesn't kill you and it does have a great effect.
• Actually beating Bane! My first "boss" encounter was with Grodd and he ran away after stunning myself and The Flash. I thought Bane would do the same thing, but I was glad to be able to capture him.