DC Universe Online finally launched after a delay from the expected Nov. 2010 release date. Going live on January 11, 2011, they only have approximately two weeks notice before the game would hit store shelves. This move was rather unusual and unexpected, to tell everyone your game would be launching a mere two weeks before it was going to happen. That anomaly aside, I was excited to finally get a chance to dive into the finished product after a several year wait (much like most MMORPG's). Unfortunately, what was encountered was less of a “finished” game than what began to reveal itself as a clear “work in progress”.

As most of the MMORPG community knows, there are already two major “super hero” games in the genre; those being City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online. So, for reference and comparison, I will be using these two games as examples when explaining the launch state of DC Universe Online. Of course, you can never expect one game to be like another (and you usually would not want that either), but there are certain aspects and qualities of an MMO and even a super hero game that we are likely to expect. I just want to be clear that I am only using these other members of the genre as a mostly technical comparison.

As I am sure was the case with many who first started up DCUO, I was immediately excited to see the logo come up, check out the intro cinematics, and get ready to create my first character. Fittingly, this is where I will start off in my explanation of what has taken an IP like DC Comics and made it into a completely sub-par MMO experience. First, there are several servers to choose from; most are PvE (Player vs. Environment) and a few PvP (Player vs. Player). In the PvP servers, players are able to openly attack members of the opposing faction (in a clear good vs. evil battle). Not wanting to complicate my initial experience, I chose a PvE server to get started on.

Naturally, all the players are “human” or meta-humans as the game describes. You can jump right into the game quickly by choosing a hero or villain to base yourself off in the case you don't want to customize your character (how boring), or as I chose you can completely customize each aspect. You can choose to side with either the heroes or the villains. This has no affect on available powers or weapons. It only affects your adventuring experience in the game. You can also choose between male and female, and either small, medium or large body build. There are no sliders or other forms of physical customization. There are a few different skin types (several animal appearances like fox, cat, etc.), and a few unusual types like rock or crystalline. Then you have the ability to set your starting gear (though you can collect more during gameplay) out of about a dozen or so different set combinations.

Once your physical characteristics are set you can choose your power and your beginning weapon style. You do gain a second weapon choice later on in the game as well. Here you will see one of the first major limitations in the game, as there are only six available powers to choose from: Fire, Ice, Gadgets, Nature, Sorcery, and Mental. Each power has 2 available skill trees within it. Then you can choose a weapon type from 10 options. You have Brawling, Bow, 1-Handed, 2-Handed, Dual Pistols, Dual Wield, Martial Arts, Hand Blast, Rifle, and Staff. Each of these weapons has one tree with a few different paths to follow. After this selection you pick your final characteristic, a travel power. Here you get a choice between only three options: Flight, Super Speed, and Acrobatics. What I found was that there seemed to be very little difference between Super Speed and Acrobatics aside from the animations. Speed was a little faster at running, and you could “glide” with acrobatics off a high surface. Choose a name and you're ready to enter the game.

Your choice of mentor in the character creation will dictate where you start, whether in Gotham City (with Batman or The Joker) or Metropolis (with all others). The missions in these beginning areas are rather similar for both sides of the coin, only while the good guys will be trying to save the innocent the bad guys will be trying to harm them. Let me interject on this point quickly for any parents reading this article. When I say harm them, I really mean it. During some of these missions you will infect college students with viruses, set people on fire, and kill medical personnel and law enforcement officers. Not only that, but the “victims” often cry out with statements like, “Why are you doing this to me?!?” and “Oh, it burns, it burns!!!” It was disturbingly realistic with the screams of the innocent.

Of course, as it is my duty to examine as many aspects of the game as possible, I created a number of characters on both hero and villain sides. I also chose a variety of power and weapon combinations for my characters to try out. After many hours of playing these different characters, it started to become clear to me that they were not as “different” as they appeared. What I mean by this is that the powers very often mimicked each other. Most weapon trees had 2 lines, one of which often focused on close quarters combat and the other on ranged. Not only did they have that basic structure in common, the actual attacks were nearly identical with the exception of the animation.

Most weapons had a combo that gave a lunge attack at the same spot on the tree. Nearly all followed a line with a stun, knockdown, and knock-up/knock-back. There seemed to be little difference in the weapon you chose aside from the obvious ranged or melee focus and the overall weapon speed. While a 2-handed weapon was slower and hit harder, you would get the same effects out of a medium-speed weapon with similarly scaled damage. The only noticeable difference would come later in level when you gained a statistic bonus skill to choose from. Some gave you might, others health, but even these would sometimes overlap.

Even though the weapon types are rather similar in their utilization, there are still some things to consider when making your choice. For example, there are certain weapons that are clearly not meant to be paired well with close-combat oriented powers. Grouping something like the Bow with the Nature power set could really cause some headaches. This is because a majority of the strength of the Nature powers are in transformation into beasts and other various up-close nature attacks and powers. The bow's obvious strength is in ranged combat, so these did not create a very successful mix. Since this ultimately lessens your customization options, those 6 powers really start to look weak in comparison to the plethora of choices in City of Heroes or Champions Online.

Now I'll move into the visuals of the game, as I'm sure many have seen the various trailers and screenshots released throughout the beta testing phases. One thing you will immediately notice is the quite stunning appearance of the surrounding environment. The streets have reflections from the nearby buildings and lights. You can see rather far into the distance of the city-scape. And much of the environment is highly detailed and textured. But there was a certain something that really started to stand out to me. The characters themselves had comparatively lower resolution textures.  In fact, there was little "texture" to any characters.  It was more a combination of solid color patterns.

My character appeared to be on a lower level than the surrounding environment. Even though the road I was running on showed a rather nice reflection, I don't think my character had a reflection at all. This was even evident in the video settings (which I will discuss in more detail next), when the only available options were “normal” and “low”. I don't know whether this was intentional to save on performance (doubtful) or more likely that they either didn't develop or enable a higher resolution option.

Looking further into the various settings and options, I was quite taken aback by the complete lack of very common options. It seemed you could set a few texture and shadow options to low, normal and occasionally high. But when it came to other performance or quality tweaks they were nowhere to be found! Here is a short list I composed of some notably absent options:

• No anti-aliasing control.

• No HDR.

• No texture filtering.

• Bloom/Reflection control.

• Few texture options.

• UI Control (can't re-size the chat window!)

• Can't free up the mouse during gameplay.

• No audio in (or out) selection. Works with default only.

• No reporting/user block.

• Using the chat stops your character from moving.

Of course, none of these qualities are “game breaking”, but they are rather frustrating and an unexpected failure in the current gaming market. One thing that I did find to be a possible game-breaker for many MMO gamers was the complete lack of an crafting system whatsoever. There is no gathering, building, creating, or any other such player-made content. If you need crafting or economy in your games, you will need to look elsewhere.

Even after looking at these technical under-achievements, there were other feature-centric problems I couldn't help but become aware of. One thing that immediately took me back (and while this was mentioned a little during the game's development, I honestly expected it to change) was the fact that the max level in DCUO is only 30! A meager 30 levels is all that is offered for players to experience before being left to either create a new character or seek entertainment through the limited PvP arenas or just open PvP on those servers. It isn't as if the levelling is exceptionally slow in the game either. It advances at a rather typical rate, which will likely leave all but the most casual players having made their way to end game within the first month with no problem.

Now, as I am always one to point out, it is not the race to “end game”, but the journey that matters. I have always believed that you should have fun with the game or there is no point to playing it in the first place. I can honestly say that there IS some fun to be had in DC Universe Online. But whether it is worth the technical faults, frustrating lack of options and control, questionable “replayability”, and of course the initial box price, is an entirely separate question. The gameplay itself does not offer anything we haven't seen before. What will you do in your missions? Here you get the standard run-down:

• Collect X number of item Y.

• Defeat X enemies.

• Protect X allies.

• Deliver X to Y NPC.

Add in your instanced boss dungeon, and you have a rinse and repeat recipe for pure mediocrity.

Whether the game was released for monetary reasons, deadlines, fiscal earnings reports, or whatever other cause, one thing is certain. It was released too early, it is too incomplete, and it just can't compete with the current standards of today's MMO market. They need to get back to work, tune up the game, continue building on the foundation that should have been there at launch, and maybe THEN they can deliver something that is deserving of the DC Comics name and gameplay its fans and the MMO community expect from industry-leading companies like Sony Online Entertainment.

Until then, I could not in all honesty recommend this game as a serious consideration to online gamers.

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