DC Universe Online Review

DC Universe Online, by Sony Online Entertainment, launched on January 11 on PC and PS3 to mixed reviews. The game tends to cater towards playing a couple hours a day, instead of turning it into a job as a lot of MMOs do. The storylines are interesting, the combat is a lot of fun, and with a low level cap of 30, it’s not a months-long grind fest to get to the fun stuff.

I’ll be reviewing the PC version, though from my understanding the two versions are nearly identical, apart from quality of graphics. Also note that I play using a wired Xbox 360 controller, which I highly recommend over a keyboard and mouse. There are probably plenty of reviews out there that cover the basic mechanics of the game, so I’m just going to glaze over them quickly in the interest of highlighting the pros and cons of the game as a whole.

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F.3.A.R.

F.3.A.R. (F.E.A.R. 3) is an upcoming first person-shooter that has been developed via Day 1 Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive for our three favourite gaming systems (PS3, 360, and PC).  F.3.A.R. will be the third installment of the F.E.A.R. series and will be the sequel to the game F.E.A.R. 2: Project origin.  This game was announced a few months ago (April 8th, 2010) and was set to be released in 2010 but has been pushed back to March of 2011 and then delayed again to May 24th of 2011.

F.3.A.R. is rumoured to have John Carpenter helping with the cinematics and Steve Niles who will be doing the writing aspect.  First of all, let me ask who doesn’t want a game that involves John Carpenter?  Legendary mastermind.  It is also well known for its horrific themes and maps, so hopefully this one will scare us more than the first two.

According to Day 1 Studios’ founder and president Denny Thorley, F.3.A.R. is going to include various new features such as an evolved cover system, co-op missions and a ton of more scares for you to enjoy.  In this game you will be able to control both the protagonist and the antagonist (Point Man and Paxton Fettel).  When you are controlling Point Man you will be able to shoot enemies and slow time but as Fettel you will be assisting Point Man with your stun, possession, and telekinesis skills.

Nine months ago in the Northwestern US city of Fairport, an army of Replicas at the Armacham resaerch facility has been taken over by an unknown man and the F.E.A.R. Pointman and his squad were assigned to stop him.  As time progresses, the Point Man realizes that this mysterious man isn’t working alone but is in fact working alongside his telepathic and cannibalistic brother, Paxton Fettel, and his psychically powerful mother, Alma Wade.  Both of which who were products of Armacham Technology Corporation’s paranormal experiments.  Even though the Point Man had realized this, he continued on with his mission to stop the designated targets.  In order to stop them, the F.E.A.R. team went forward with a series of very intense events that seemingly accomplished their goal but it wasn’t for free.  It was at the cost of ravaging the city and its inhabitants and most of the Point Man’s squad.

After all of that, events in Fairport in the following months lead to believe that Alma was still alive and that her psychic power could still be felt.  Her supernatural agony is now repeatedly shocking the city as she attempts to protect the rest of her bloodline and reunite her family.  This is where 2 teams come into play, Armacham’s security force and the F.E.A.R. squad working together.  Armacham’s side is focussed on hiding any evidence of Alma’s presence in the city whereas the F.E.A.R. team carries out on their mission to find and stop Alma and her destructive behaviour.

The rest of the game is a struggle between good and evil.  The chain of command is broken and the Point Man is forced to call his own shots and determine where his allegiance lies.  He has a choice between siding with his brother Paxton Fettel (who is now back from the dead) or with his remaining F.E.A.R. squad ‘bros’ who are determined to destroy the only family that the first Origin prototype has ever had.


We have a plethora of trailers for you to watch so enjoy :)

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In an attempt to clear all of these demos off of my hard drive, today I'm going to talk a little bit about The UnderGarden.  I wasn't expecting much from this game but it's simplicity astounded me in various ways.

I started the demo and it enveloped me in beautiful landscapes with soothing music and vibrant colours, and then I paid attention to who I was playing as.  The first thought in my head was "What the Hell?"  The game itself is very well polished and I can certainly say that the characters are anything but generic.  The main character looks like...a cross between a Mudkip and a human baby.  Our sources say that many of the characters that you will encounter throughout the game all have the fairy tale look to them so it definitely does set up for a strange array of characters.

The UnderGarden, given to us by Atari and Vitamin G has the same skeleton as a game such as Little Big Planet but the insides are completely different.  The UnderGarden is basically a puzzle game where you navigate through different worlds attempting to pollinate fruit trees, plants, and "flora" and that's it.  You have to pollinate every tree and plant that you can find and get through the puzzles without frustration.  Prior to the plant pollination, the gardens/worlds are a dark place, very deep tones such as navy and dark blue though all of that changes once pollination occurs.

My only fear about the game is that if I were to journey deeper and deeper into the world that Vitamin G has created, I would forget that I was actually playing a puzzle game.  I'm afraid that I would get stuck and be unable to progress any further because I would be so entranced by the beauty that I would forget the objective.

For the little while that I played it, I enjoyed it thoroughly but I'm not sure if it's a game that I would be able to spend a copious amount of hours on.  Keeping in mind that I quit Little Big Planet half way through because I found it to be redundant.

Download it on the PSN/XBLA or even purchase it for the PC and experience it for yourself!

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DC Universe Online Review

Character Building

Your character is built off of one of six Power Sets. Ice and Fire are the Tanks, Nature and Sorcery are the Healers, and Mental and Gadgets are Controllers. Each of these can also perform as a damage-dealer (aka DPS) role. You then pick one of ten Weapon styles, and a movement power – Flight, Superspeed or Acrobatics.

As you level up, you earn Power Points that can be spent in your two trees (which are unique per Power Set) to gain new superpowers. You can slot up to six powers at a time, and you have a different Loadout for each of your Roles (ie: Tank and Damage) as well as any shapeshift or sneaking forms you may have.

Skill Points are spent in your weapon and movement trees. By earning new Feats (think of them as small achievements or trophies) you earn new Skill Points. So even after you hit level 30, your character continues to grow as you earn new Skill Points. Invest them in new weapon trees, and/or use them to increase your stats.

Combat

DCUO’s combat feels like a mix of God of War/Devil May Cry button-mashing combos with a touch of classic MMO spell-slinging. The combos boil down to taps or holds of your two main attack keys, melee and ranged. These attacks are also how you refill the power you use up casting your powers. A higher combo string leads to faster power gains.

Coupled with the combo system is the superpower system. These are your “spells,” as it were. Different powers will Interact with buffs or debuffs in certain ways. Doing extra damage to enemies on fire, or extra healing to friendlies under the effect of Pheremones are just two quick examples.

There’s a lot of strategy to the combat in DCUO, and it’s hard to summarize without writing an essay. Suffice it to say that a button-masher will likely struggle with the game a lot more than someone who takes the time to learn how their combos and powers interact with each other.

Content

As you level, you will be performing some of your typical RPG-staple quests. Kill X bad guys, loot X items, destroy X objects, guard X NPCs for Y seconds, etc. But it’s all fast-paced. There is very little running around finding quests then running back to turn them in, yada yada. Most quests follow an “Arc,” where you will be finishing 5-6 quests in a row and the only time you have to talk to an NPC is to start or finish one, or to pick up the side quests that are normally in the same area as the main quest you’re working on.

There are a handful of Alerts that you can fight in before 30. Think of them as four-person dungeons. There are PvP Arenas where two teams fight in various modes (Capture the Flag, Control Points, etc) and Legends, where you fight in similar PvP games as iconic DC characters such as The Joker and Batman.

Once you hit level 30, a bunch of new content opens up for you. Duos, Hard Alerts, solo Challenge missions, new PvP stuff and Raids all open up. The 5 different Duos and 6 Alerts (at the time of this review; they add new content every month or so) can be completed once per day for Marks, which are used to buy Iconic armour with awesome stats. Each of the 3 Raids can be done once per week for gear and Marks that exceeds the Duo/Alert stuff. 

Also worth noting; SOE has said there will be free monthly content additions as well as paid expansions every year or so. We’ve already seen the first content add-on hit a few weeks ago, adding a new Duo, some Valentine’s day content, a new Raid and a new Challenge.

Summary

DC Universe Online is a new breed of MMO that tries to reduce the heavy grind a lot of MMOs force on us and focus on making things fun. This won’t appeal to all audiences; the hardcore gamers may get bored of repeating the same content to earn their Iconic armour. 

All in all, there’s plenty to do as long as you broaden your horizons. Players that refuse to PvP or group up will find themselves getting bored doing the same daily solo missions.

Pros:

• Doesn’t take long to hit max level, meaning you can get to the fun stuff faster.
• The combat is fast-paced and fresh after years of turning on auto-attack then spamming 123 in other MMOs.
• The stories, characters and voice acting are generally top-notch.
• Wide variety of end-game content to perform.
• Earning new costume pieces and customizing your character’s style and colours however you want instead of just showing what you’re wearing.
• Strategy and skill win out over level, gear and button-mashing in both PvE and PvP.
• Healing and buffing are made easier. There is no need to target someone to cast beneficial powers on them. It auto-targets the group/raid members that need it the most, or just casts it on everyone.
• Everyone is fighting. Too many MMOs discourage healers from fighting during group or raid content. In this game, you need to in order to regain your Power.
• Death has no inherent penalty associated with it besides the wait for someone to Rally (resurrect) you or the time it takes to run/fly back to where you were. And a minor cost to repair your equipment.
• It’s fun. I haven’t had this much fun in an MMO in many years.

Cons:

• The end-game can be a bit repetitive if you only focus on one or two aspects.
• The early game was plagued with exploits and cheats, making PvP victories boil down to which team was exploiting more. This made a lot of early adopters give up on the game.
• Bugs. It seems every time they squash one bug, two more crop up. Overall, though, the game has improved steadily since Beta.
• Gankers. But what game doesn’t have this? Level 30s camping out the newbie areas and eating them up. Luckily, the community seems to be protective of their young, and a quick shout out for help often ends with them being chased away.
• Questionable difficulty. Some of the Raid content seems to boil down to luck over tactics at times. One boss battle involves sweeping insta-kill laser beams coupled with enemies that will throw you across the room. Did you land in a beam? Oh, sorry. You’re dead.
• Death during boss fights requires someone to Rally you, which is easily interrupted and on a very short timer. Failing that, you revive at a spawn point outside the boss room, which is locked until the boss or the remainder of the players die. I suppose they do this to discourage zerg tactics, but it still could use some tweaking.
• Long waits between patches. Presumably this is due to the PS3, having to pass heavy QA before they allow a patch to be pushed through. Conjecture at this point, but I don’t see why the PC wouldn’t be getting patched more often if not for the above reason.