DC Universe Online – Good, Evil, and the Politics of Ass Kicking

It’s time for my bi-fortnightly contribution to the site.   I just recently learned that bi-fortnightly actually means “every four weeks”, not “bisexual night in Rob’s blanket fort” as I was originally told.  Rob and I will be speaking further about this discovery and its implications. – Lance

So DC Comics’ MMORPG, DC Universe Online went free to play earlier in the month.  Thinking, “the price is right!” I grabbed my mouse, put on my Batman Underoos and dove right in.  And waited.  After about five days, DC got their hardware issues unscrewed and I was off to the races with PunchKicker, a Community-inspired hero.  I have to say, in terms of atmospherics DC really gets it right.  Metropolis feels like Metropolis.  It’s sunny, optimistic and full of life.  Gotham City, in turn, feels like the last gasping breath of a dying wino.  Seriously, it’s eerie how close they got on that one.  Come to Rob and Amanda’s house on Club-a-Wino-to-Death night and you’ll see.

You meet the big guns right way.  In the opening missions you meet Superman if you’re good, Lex Luthor if you’re bad.  Recognizable heroes frequently drop in mid-mission to lend a hand or give you vital info.  While it’s fun to see them, they’re oddly useless.  I get that it would be silly if Nightwing dropped in and beat up Bane for you, but by the same token, to see him hopping around and not even scratching Bane’s paint makes him seem like he has the ass kicking capability of a drugged cub scout.

The special attacks are a little hard to activate.  When Star Labs security is attempting to stop you from stealing valuable metahuman data, you want to be firing off attacks as quickly as possible.  Keeping track of how many times you left clicked and then holding the right click is a little tricky.  Did I click too many times?  Too few?  Is the attack still warming up?  Do I need to hold the button longer?  Meanwhile, security is attempting to fit every taser in the world in your body cavities, giving you a real incentive to give up and start hammering the default attack again.

When they work right, the attacks are appropriately superpowered and impressive to see.  They’re also varied enough to give you a good array of tricks to support your play style.  Bad guy too far away? Grab him
with a vine and yell “Get over here!”  Being swarmed by good guys?  Set off an explosion that sends them flying. Now that the game is free to play, it’s well worth checking out.  In the free version there are some minor restrictions on character, inventory slots, and in-game money balances (which you can overcome by giving out-of-game money to Sony).  I also look forward to new content to come.

Sadly, Huntress continues to reject my advances, but I think she’s starting to warm to me.  Now back to the fight! Justice and reheated, meaty treats for all!