As a member of PS+, I was able to get into the beta in December...and played for a good month, getting a hang of the combat system, style of play,maps, and overall story of the game. I was concerned however, as there didn't seem to be a good way of telling SOE about bugs or anything else that might break the game or cause a crash. It was still quite fun, and once the beta ended, I was positive about the overall aspect of the game and put it on my to buy list.
January 11th, 2001 was release day for DCUO. I went down to my local Gamestop, with a couple of old games to use towards the trade 2 get it for $9.99. I went home, and started the install process...which took about and hour...which was both installing from the disc...and downloading a patch. Once I got it installed and patched, I then set up my account via PSN. It was painless, and allows for you to either use a recurring subscription via a credit card, or pay from your PSN wallet. I picked the pay from wallet option, as it allows more control if you want to take a month or two off. You can pick between 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, or 1 year. There is also a lifetime subscription available for the PC version of DCUO, but is not available at this time on PSN due to limitations on how much funds can be in the wallet. It is my understanding that SOE and Sony are working on this. At the time of writing, the Playstation Store was still down, so I will update pricing once it comes back.
So, once you have it installed and loaded the first thing is to create your toon. You can pick to be mentored by Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman on the hero side; and Lex Luthor, The Joker, and Circe on the villain side. This will give you a preset toon, which you can then customize even more. You can also mix and match and build a toon from scratch, and customize everything from hairstyle, facial features, body size, and outfits. Once you have your toon finished, and have picked either a PVE or PVP server, it takes you into the game world. For reference, I am playing to Birthright, a PVE server.
Before I get into the starting area and first few levels, I want to give a brief on the story. There will be spoilers. The opening cinematic takes place in the future, with a war between the heroes led by Superman, and the villains led by Lex Luthor. It is a brutal fight, with Lex Luthor eventually stabbing Superman with a spear laced with kryptonite. It then flashes to the alien Brainiac taking over Earth. It then flashes back in time, when the future Lex counsels the heroes on Brainiac's intent of taking over worlds. Lex then opens a cannister containing exobytes, which can give ordinary humans super powers.
You start your adventures by fighting your way out of Brainac's ship...which serves as a tutorial on the combat system of DCUO. You are also introduced to Oracle( Barbara Gordon and batgirl from DC lore), she acts as your connection and the person who gives you missions as the game progresses You fight various bad guys, some bigger and stronger, as well as getting small amounts of money, loot and health potions (Soder Cola). Once you fight your way to the main section of the ship, you will be joined by your mentor, in my case Batman, who then helps you clear out a few waves of re-spawning bad guys until you finally beat them all. You are then directed to walk through a teleport, that takes you to a police station or night club, depending on your mentor or hero/villain side of the fight. You will either be in Gotham or Metropolis.
Leveling up in DCUO is pretty standard, you do missions, some exploring, and upon hitting the next level can spend points in your powers of your role, tank (fire & ice), controller (Gadgets and mental) and healer (sorcery & nature). You can also spend points in skills, which include movement, fighting moves, gadgets, and magic spells and abilities. Fighting moves are done with the face buttons, while special abilities( which are configurable on the on-screen spell bar) are used in conjunction with the L2 and R2 triggers. The special moves also consume power, which once depleted will render your special moves unavailable until replenished.
Missions tend to run in the familiar go here and fetch X number of that, as well as saving various citizens, helping police maintain order, breaking up schemes of the villains, and usually culminates in an instance against one of the main villains, or heroes if you are playing a villain, of DC lore. As you progress in levels, the missions and instances become tougher, Alerts ( DCUO's version of dungeons) 2 person duos, 4 man dungeons and raids, as well as PVP instances and vaults open up. PVP comes in 2 styles...legends, where you can play as a DC classic hero or villain, and standard PVP variants. You will also unlock feats and headlines, which track your carrer as you do missions and other quests within the world.
The world consists of Gotham and Metropolis, with each faction having a home base. The Watchtower for hero and Hall of Doom for villain. There you will find access to teleports between Gotham and Metropolis, vendors for high level weapons and armor, and pvp entrances, as well as your bank.
Well, I will update this review again in the near future with my game play and level progress. Being an MMO, I think DCUO is suited to a longer review process, as it is an ever evolving world and game.
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