Even after giving my first impressions of DC Universe
Online, I continue to play it, indicating that it's either addicting or good. I think it's both.
When I finished my previous review, I said it had potential.
Now, I'm no longer on the fence, and I think it's lived up
to that potential. It just took a long
time to get there.
Since my last review was mostly a player's initial
reactions, I'd like to take another stab at the game, this time with a
designer's scalpel.
The Great
Basic Combat is very, very well done. They took the fluid controls of a console
(considering this is also a PS3 title, it makes sense) and adapted it to the
uber-restricting keyboard-and-mouse.
Well, the mouse.
Given that a mouse has at least two buttons, both were used,
and both do different things when tapped or held, effectively giving the mouse
four buttons, which opens the door to controller-style combos. These combos get unlocked as you level up,
and you usually have options to pick from.
After testing out a few of the combat styles, I found one
that suited me. This does not limit me
to the one style, however; after reaching a certain level, the other styles
become unlocked, and I can freely switch between weapons of various categories,
as long as I have used a skill point to purchase the combat set.
There seem to be fewer kinds of superpower sets, but there
is enough variety in them that I found two sets that I enjoyed. Your choice of superpowers determines your
general role (a class in other RPGs), such as tank or healer.
 |
| No matter what role you choose, goofy costumes are mandatory. |
Combine the mission ingenuity with the delightful combat,
and you've got a formula that every other MMORPG should be mercilessly trying to copy.
Customization is great, keeping an asterisk for the fact
that it's a superhero palette. However,
with enough creativity, a player can make a lot more than it appears at first
glance (and with what I see in game, players aren't taking advantage of the
variety there really is).
The Meh
While the following aspects aren't terrible, they could be
improved, and quite easily.
For instance: maybe it's just my keyboard, but whenever I
intend to press shift, I accidentally press Ctrl. Ctrl serves to collect floating icons such as
money and xp, while Shift is used to break out of effects such as stun.
In combat, breaking out of effects is a far more important
thing to do, and pressing the wrong button once or twice before
finding the right one can turn into a lot of extra damage.
Swapping the buttons or offering another option to break out
of effects, such as Q, would easily fix this problem. That, or I suppose I should get a new
keyboard.
The other Meh problem is that, to swap from Gotham to Metropolis, you have to run through the
Watchtower (or whatever the villain equivalent is, I assume), which is a bit of
a maze. A quick flip would be much
nicer.
I understand that you may have to be in a police station or
nightclub to do it, but beyond that, it should not require spending ten extra
minutes in the Watchtower to get there.
From the Watchtower, you can not only switch between Gotham and Metropolis, but also switch between any police
station anywhere, which is very nice, because the walk from the main part of
Metropolis to Little Bohemia is a doozy, especially since I have found the only
enjoyable method of travel is Acrobatics.
However, having the option to be able to teleport between
any police station from each police
station, without having to jump to the Watchtower first, would be much more
welcome option.
The Awful
The worst sin DC Universe Online commits is the double-crime
of having to wait when you die, and then flee the scene. One is bad enough, but two makes me think the
Joker designed this.
You always have to wait, but I've discovered fleeing doesn't
always happen--exactly once I have
been presented with a second option to get up where I stand, but I have no idea
what triggered it.
Making the option always available is the easiest fix in the
world, since the programming is already in place to have it; just take out the
if statement and you're golden.
There are times when you may want to flee, such as to repair
your stuff before jumping back into battle (a common feature of MMORPGs which
also should be completely reexamined), but to be forced to flee takes control
out of the players hands.
As for waiting, I have no idea why this exists. If I can't get up immediately, I should be
given the option to send a strongly worded email to the designers while I wait.
The only other major problem with the game is that you're
really led by the nose with the main mission line.
Now, every once in a while you can find a thug trying to
break into a door, and you can beat him up, and this is completely unrelated to
anything else happening in the game; you just stumbled upon a crime.
That is what more
of the game should be about. What I find
is that I'm doing a lot of the missions simply because they're on my list to
accomplish; and despite what I said earlier about how good the missions
themselves are, the structure of acquiring
the missions creates an addictive loop, and after a while I start to wonder
when I'll finish them all so I can wander the city freely.
The addictive loop takes what is great and makes it a
grind. Every major MMORPG has this same
problem, and it is a concept that I simply despise. I would continue to play this game even if it
weren't addictive because it's enjoyable to play, but the enjoyment disappears
as the addiction takes over, and then I'm playing the game for the wrong
reasons.
Really, a bit of mission restructuring would tremendously
help; just make it so you have to go out and explore the city to find missions,
rather than be handed missions in a police station.
So as long as you take a break from this game every mission
or two, and don't let the addiction take over, it's a great game. And don't die.
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