Customer Reviews

DC Universe Online

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I have to admit, I had a lot of fun. Playing in a group is fun, but so is playing solo. That, in and of itself, makes this game rather unique. It does become progressively harder to solo, but I would have gotten bored if it hadn't. The controls were fun as well, in that attacks were combos like triangle+square+triangle which lent an arcade feel, but there was lots of collecting and a progressive mission/storyline that was undeniably RPG.

If you want to play solo, buy the game and play away. If you want to group, get yourself a headset (the trick I learned is to have your bluetooth on before you log into the game). I also purchased a wireless keypad, but the game can sometimes be so quick, it shouldn't be your first choice for battles. It is almost required to have some kind of keyboard though, if you want to interact outside of the group/solo play.

Do I think this is the greatest game ever? No. But is it a great game? I feel it is.

I am a huge DC fan. I also really enjoy action RPGs as well as MMOs, but, very importantly, I also like to occasionally solo and not feel dependent on grouping. Finally, I like trying games that bring something new. While some may argue that each component of what DCUO brings isn't new, I would say back that its unique in the way its delivered.

Specifically, when I played the Beta I took one character to 20. I also sat with my son while he played to level 7. His mother used my account to play 2 characters: one good, one evil.

Just my two cents. Hope this helps a few.

I played in the beta which was fun except or the game crashing your PS3 for seemingly no reason. I bought the game on launch day and while I have had a lot of fun the game has a lot of problems. So if you are a MMO and Comic Book fan this game will be enjoyable but be advised:

a) voice chat rarely works
b) in game chat has an awful interface making it a pain to communicate
c) quest sharing is not present
d) game will crash your system once in a while
e) a lot of daily maintance by SOE do servers are down each morning
f) large 3gb download after u install 10+ gb from the disk (take me an hour others reported 2-5 hours)
g) game menus laggy, hard to use and sometime lock up

the good news is #e... SOE is trying to fix as much as they can as soon as they can. So in reality until March 2011 you are playing a paid beta.

After hearing so many people cry about launch day issues and having to "pay to play" the game I decided to write my first game review. I wont pretend that the process leading up to actually playing the game is not tedious and boring. I too rushed home in the middle of the day to install my copy during my lunch break from work. I knew that it would probably take a while to install (more a limitation of the PS3 than a problem with the game), so I decided to have some lunch and mess around on my Xbox 360. I after lunch I was pleasantly surprised to see that the installation of the game was nearly complete. Yay me! I would be able to at least create a character before returning to work! It was at this point that the patch began to download and would take at least 4o minutes to complete. I guess there were issues that needed to be addressed after the blurays had been pressed and i'd rather install a patch than have them push back the release date to repress blurays.

Saddened I left to return to work, I'd have to wait to crack heads in Gotham until after work.

When I returned from work I was greeted by the create a toon screen. Character creation is easy enough. The first choice is where to create your toon. I was torn between the PVP vs PVE worlds. I created toons for both PVP and PVE worlds. The PVP world seemed to be more populated however it was glitchy and I had problems seeing who was attacking me. Also I had chosen a villian and there were far more heroes. Figuring that I'd wait til they iron the kins out I then moved on to the PVE server.

Back to character creation. There are several options to choose from and some seem to have some effect on gameplay. After choosing your gender and morality you choose mentor. The mentor u choose determines the soucre of your power. Then you choose your powers. While there a limited number of powers, the ability to mix and match them with your weapon or combat focus gives a decent amount of creative choices. Next comes the fun part choosing your initial costume. The numbers of colors you get to use in your costume is limited to 3 however you can mix those 3 colors between the various pieces of your outfit and this isn't as limiting as it would seem. However, as you play the game u will find upgrades to your costume that will increase your character's power. These upgrades will change your charcters outfit, what I did not figure out until later is that you can lock your costume so that even though your power increases your costume looks the same. I found the tutorial to be pleasant and informative although it might have been shorter. I think that around my 15th character I will be tired of escaping that ship. Also it would have been helpful if I didn't have to figure out things (like how to zoom the camera in and out or how to lock my costume on my own).
The powers are all pretty cool and the combinations available make for some interesting combat.The movement powers are by far the best I've seen in any video game. Flying feels like flying, superspeed is very cool and the acrobat is a blast.All of them are upgradeable so i will have to experiment with them to see what else they can do.

Depending on whom you choose as a mentor, your starting zone after the tutorial and premise setup varies. The begining missions are simple enough, go to X place and do X I like the fact that X is not always as simple as "defeat 'y' numbers of ???". I haven't grouped with anyone yet due to not having my bluetooth ready but i will be trying that tonight. I have a lot left to see in the game but so far I am really enjoying it.

I normally don't review games but i saw that this was was getting a raw deal from people that have played even less than me.

Introduction / TLDR:

I must be honest from the get go: I have been waiting on this game for years. I watched videos. I read interviews. I stalked forums. And in short, I am pleased to say that this game has not merely met my expectations -- it has exceeded them.

Now, let me tell you Why:

Character Creation: There is so much choice here! My boyfriend & I did a bit of math and when we tried to figure it out we could not complete how many options that there ultimately are. I think we stopped at 324 based purely on mentors (6) x power sets (12 -- we counted the fact that there are two for each main type) x movement sets (3) x weapon choice (we used 9 but it may be 10?) This is without considering how your character will look and just how amazingly versitile and continuous this is throughout the entirity of the game. You can change it a thousand times over or look the same as you did your very first day, all while keeping on whatever will make your character as strong as possible -- brilliant!

Story & World Building: This, for me, is where many games can go astray -- especially MMOs. This is something that has to be nailed from day one if I am going to stay with a game. And this, I am delighted to say, is somewhere that they have completely succeeded. Now, I am not a DCU expert by any stretch. But it is clear that the game was designed with loving attention to detail both in its art and writing that makes what you are doing and where you are going have meanng and signifigance. From word go the experience feels important and exciting. I can understand that some people are arguing that the quest structure itself is not remarkable. However, I would say that the quality of atmosphere is what makes it remarkable.

Gameplay: This plays quite differently then most MMOs that I have played, but I am enjoying the change, personally. I am playing with an Xbox 360 controller on the PC and I feel that the combat is exciting, challenging by design rather then by control problems, and that it creates a feel that suits the type of content that is being presented. The grace of my character as she fires her bow or the shimmering green light as she heals, the vines and flowes that surround her when she does an AoE (a very nice touch, I might add, considering that my bow skill looks like it has combined with my plant basede powers!!) ... everything just looks and feels right.

Sound / Voice Acting (!): I love the visual and auditory contrast between Gotham and Metropolis. It is, quite literally, a night and day difference. The sounds, ranging from the music that plays in the background, to the sound effects, to the full voice acting throughout -- a real treat both from an immersion perspective and as a massive convienence since my vision sucks -- are all top notch and suit what they are doing very well. The only sound I've come across that made me go "huh?" is actually the noise it makes to draw your attention to your communicator being turned on to speak with characters on the go -- it reminds me of Charlie Brown putting the nickel into the can when he is getting advice from Lucy during the "Peanuts Christmas Special". Sorry, but I could not help mentioning that -- it really cracked up a couple family members this week.

Interface and Mapping: There are a few shades of gray here, but I do not want to necessarily take credit away from the game for them as they are, in part, due to my own vision. The various menus are well organized and can be cycled on a controller or accessed with specific key strokes. Overall, finding out what needs to be known is not too bad and most of this can be done without much real trouble. The chat text is unreadable for me, unfortunately. Hopefully they will add some way to fix this, but since the game offers voice chat it should not become too much of a hinderance. The map is good and offers the ability to choose and mark a location if you are trying to go somewhere specific. There is also a separate arrow that you can use to find your current quest objective, which can be selected in your journal. Some people might find this kinda "wimpy" -- I'm just happy to be spending my time playing the game rather then wasting it being lost. Further, this actually encourages me to explore since I know I will be able to find my way back.

Content: I'm sure you wonder what people spend their time doing in this game. Well, first I can tell you that the leveling is primarily quest based as opposed to grinding based. IN addition, you can also get experience for doing races (which test your flying, etc.) and exploring. There are also feats that you can achieve that will fill a bar that will earn you extra points to spend on weapon or movement skills. There is also PVP (both as your character or as established DCU characters), alerts (instances that are balanced for a group), collections, world bosses (look for wanted posters) and raiding. There are also tons of areas to be explored complete with voiced tidbits of DCU history, trivia, easter eggs, etc. and (I Love This!) tons of clothes (ahem... styles and gear...) to be collected.

Overall: I love this. I said it at the beginning and I will say it again here and now. I hope that others will buy this and love it, too. But I am not going to say that you will. Instead, I am going to tell you to consider what is important to you in a game and use that to determine whether DCUO would be right for you or not. I *know* that my review has clearly expressed my love of this game. But I also *hope* that it can assist you in reaching a purchasing decission that will be right for you. Good luck!

Great Game!!! But, "DO NOT BUY"!!!!!!!!!!! It is NOW FREE to Download on PSN or PC Online.... Playing in a group is fun, but so is playing solo. That, in and of itself, makes this game rather unique. It does become progressively harder to solo, but I would have gotten bored if it wasn't.

These are my initial impressions after playing the PS3 version on the evening of launch. I did not participate in the beta.

Character creation allows slightly more options that City of Heroes, though characters are still limited to humanoid forms (animal tails, ears and fur are allowed). I had wanted to create a brain-in-a-jar character, a translucent ghost, or a tiny Kazoo-type character, and these are not possible. Body size is limited to large/medium/small. Hairstyles do not push the graphics envelope and look rather dated. A sane three-color limit is imposed yet there is significant freedom to customize where each color is placed on both body and gear. I am quite happy with the Joker protégé character I made, and impressed that even his comical out-of-combat stance was an option.

The control scheme is significantly different than anything I've used before, and I would have benefited from more hand-holding during the introductory tutorial. Being a fast-paced action MMORPG makes DCUO a rather different animal, and the use of a game controller adds even more unfamiliarity for the genre. HUD and menu items (for instance, where to find the settings control to invert the Y-axis) took me a while to figure out. I am still confused as to what the difference is between the various types of points to spend on powers and upgrades. Having said that, this is a complex game and one evening is hardly enough to learn all the intricacies of building and controlling a character. The gold standard for introductory tutorials for me is still the original Half Life, and I will always prefer the clarity of an in-game tutor providing instruction, a test, then moving on to the next instruction.

Gotham is remarkable. Upon exiting my character's safe house I flew around the city for a while just to soak up the atmosphere. The Bat Signal shown overhead for several moments, rain began to fall, and the city traffic ticked in clockwork precision below. I just loved it. The art direction of this project is top-notch.

Performance while zoning from outdoor to indoor locales was jarringly fast. I had one crash; just after finishing my character an introductory cinematic began. I heard "Earth, the center of the multiverse..." and then my PS3 froze. I had to do a hard-reboot of the system and everything was fine when I re-logged. Audio is quite good, with 5.1 surround sound having good seperation and high fidelity.

I am very excited to finally have an MMORPG to play on a console, and am looking forward to spending many hours in the DC Universe.

*** Update ***
After playing throughout the initial week of release, I want to update, primarily to mention several bugs and gameplay aspects that have a significant impact on the game, in particular playing the game with a group.

There is no way to share missions with others who do not have the same mission. Specifically, you cannot zone into an instance with your fellow group members if they don't have the same mission. (Edit: I've since discovered that you can share an instance if the person with the mission zones first. The rest of the group will then see the yellow entrance ring. I still don't believe you can share street missions with those who do not have the same mission.) Voice chat is unreliable with the official PS3 Bluetooth headset. You must have the headset turned on before entering the game for voice chat to work, but even then there are times when chat simply will not work. Using a keyboard is possible, but you must first pull up the chat box, select the text field, and then you can type. Typing does not automatically go to the chat box, as is common in most other MMORPGs. Taken together, these issues make grouping rather troublesome and unrewarding.

On the other side, playing solo is very do-able, as most of the content (up to at least level 17 where my main character is currently) is solo-friendly. I am still enjoying the game but will remain anxious about its longevity if these grouping/social aspects aren't addressed.

I purchased DC Universe Online during the time period when the Playstation Network had just been hacked and was down. Needless to say, I was initially unable to play the game.

However, after redeeming my code online and after a lot of downloading and patching and updating, I was able to get into DC Universe Online.

DC Universe Online is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game), which is a bit of an outdated term because most multiplayer is "massive" and online now, but refers specifically in this case to a game like World of Warcraft.

You log on, you complete missions to earn exp and currency, you spend said currency on making your in-game characters more powerful. Most importantly, you join the rest of the world in doing this, thereby creating your only little digital niche. An MMO is unlike other video games in that its more of a location than an activity. Meeting my friends in Gotham, Metropolis, the Hall of Doom, or the Watchtower seems as natural as meeting them in McDonald's.

Inevitably, DC Universe must be compared to World of Warcraft. WoW is the most popular MMO that has ever existed and for good reason. Blizzard is an amazing video game publisher and their games are unique, engaging, and fun. I played World of Warcraft during it's first year or so and then stopped. I picked it up later, right before Cataclysm came out, to try it out again. Unfortunately, I had the same problem with WoW that I'd had before: no superhero class. (Really, I just got bored eventually with stale game play.)

In DC Universe Online you play as a superhero in the DC Universe, imbued with powers by a time-traveling Lex Luthor. You will play as your own customizable character, but can play as Batman, Robin, etc. for 20 minutes at a time matches in a mode called Legends PVP.

So how do they compare? DC Universe is obviously a game made in the wake of THE WORLD OF WARCRAFT. It was made in response to WoW and probably by people who have spent many hours playing Warcraft. As a result, they have addressed many issues that World of Warcraft has had since its release in 2004. For seven years, World of Warcraft has been a fun game and they've added all kinds of things to it. They made it much easier to level and you can fly around on mounts. All types of neat stuff. But at the core, the game is still the same as it always has been, little more than a point-and-click. DCUO seeks to rectify this:

- COMBAT: DC Universe Online has a dynamic combat system. Almost any object can be picked up and hurled around. Bad guys will throw you across the room. If you dodge a big fireball coming your way, it doesn't hit you anyways. All of the combat in WoW is just: click a button, wait, click it again. It doesn't matter where your character stands or how you move. There isn't really any physics. Just clicking and stats. The combat in the game stays fresh and is exciting. Strategy can actually play a difference. Gear and level matters, but not as much as just being good at the game and playing wisely.

- STYLE: Once you reach the level cap in any MMO, you generally switch to buying better pieces of armor and weapons instead of getting experience. This is a great way to continue high-level play, however due to the superiority of the best armors, generally upper-level players in games like Warcraft end up looking exactly the same. All the Warriors will be the same, all the Healers will be the same, etc. Not so in the DC Universe. Superheroes, however, are all about style. Any armor/clothes/hats you pick up, you can save the LOOK of, to wear on your character any time, even if you don't need the actual item. Say you want to wear Batman's cape because it looks cool, but the one you found isn't as good as the cape you already have, you can have the Batman cape look, but still retain the stats of the better equipment. My guy looks a beast. I just want you to know.

- Intellectual Property: Yeah, DC Universe superheroes are better than Warcraft or any other IP really. Even Star Wars. Think about it. Everyone knows Superman. Could your friend name a single character from Warcraft? Does your mom know who Admiral Ackbar is? I don't think so. Not enough can be said about the thrill of flying around Gotham and Metropolis, free to roam, and enjoying the scenery. The programmers have hidden all sorts of little secrets and characters to meet randomly and rewards for exploring all through the game. I can spend hours just wandering around aimlessly completing collection quests like the Springtime event with Poison Ivy vs. the Swamp Thing.

DCUO is scrupulous about being authentic to the source material. None of the players can wear official costumes, like say, Superman's S crest, or the Green Lantern symbol, but they are available in the form of Iconic Armor. These are specials sets of armor that are inspired by DC heroes or villains and are available to them depending on faction.

- Story: And IP leads to Story. Which is done by Geoff Johns with Jim Lee's art. If you don't know, then find out. Wikipedia. These guys are DC comics. The stories are entertaining, correctly themed, and have a lot of variety. There are cool 3d render cut scenes for the big stuff, but the DUOs (2-man dungeons), Alerts (4-man) and Raids (8-man) all have a cool little cartoon/animation that tells the story of your mission and of the boss you just defeated usually. They harken back to their comic book origins and are delightful.

- Voice Work: Speaking of delightful. Mark Hamill is the Joker. 'Nuff Said. Even Stan Lee would be excited. The voice work is, in general, all excellent. A lot of the people from the Bruce Timm cartoons have come to reprise their rolls and really bring their characters to life. The game is filled with funny quotes.

- And again I can't stress enough the combat system. 99% of my time in this game will be spent in combat and this game makes it fun and interesting. It is interactive and dynamic in ways I didn't think possible for an MMO, much less a console-based MMO.

A quick glance at any other review here will tell you that DC Universe has had some stability issues since launch. I think I got the worst of it. I bought the game and was IMMEDIATELY unable to play it and have been sitting through a month of patches and updates and down times and crash after crash after crash.

But you know what? It's getting better. Each time a patch or update comes out, there is a bunch of things fix. The developers regularly communicate with the fans via their official forums over at Sony Online Entertainment and have addressed SPECIFIC concerns with players.

I am blown away that the developers would actually communicate and listen to their fan base, creating a game environment that is continuously redefined as much by the player as by the developer. If something is really bothering folks, then the developers read the forums and see what they can do ASAP.

Too many times have I bought a product, games or movies or whatever, and felt cut off from its source. Our transaction finished, I am left to judge whether I've just wasted my money or whatever by myself. The product will be good or bad and exactly the same 5 years from now.

DC Universe has only been out a few months and its already much different than it was. This game updates regularly and they add news things all the time.

Some people are upset, and rightfully so, that the game has some issues to contend with. No one likes their game crashing right before the boss. However, this is a very technologically advanced game, with a ton of stuff going on, and only so many people available to work on it. I myself, have crashed several times during missions and had to redo them...

But I did. And I enjoyed it. Because it's a fun game. That's why everyone is mad when they can't play it.

The game is becoming more and more stable and they are fixing issues left and right (some of which were caused by the introduction of a bunch of new, awesome content). If you're reading this post more than a week after I wrote it, then it's already outdated. The game has become even better than it is right now.

In summary, DC Universe is a game with a lot of fun and a lot of potential for more fun. It is an evolution of the whole genre of MMORPGs. In the future, World of Warcraft 2 and any successor will play more like DC Universe Online.

My main complaint, my only one, what I want, is MORE. Just more of everything.

I want more open-world encounters with heroes/villains or Ambush Bug.
I want more power and weapons and Iconic Armors.
Green Lantern trinket! You know you have one already, SOE.
More raids! More costumes! More Exobyte data! More More More!

And SOE has promised more. They've teased new armor and powers. There is a big Fortress of Solitude Raid coming out soon with new armors and featuring Krypto the Superdog... I'm hyped.

So as a new player, having experienced what is sure to be the worst circumstances during which to play this game, I've been having a ton of fun. I convinced my friends to buy PS3s and the game. They're having fun. You could have fun too. This game is already far more engaging than WoW ever was for me.

Alright. I had to unhook internet from my PS3 to my PC to do this. I need to get on some duos. I'll be taking the fight to Brainiac. Enjoy the game.

Well, i haven't played a ton, but so far, i have enjoyed myself immensely. The load time is somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour and a half to two hours, so have something else going on when you first instal the game to your system (mine is a PS3). Afterwards though, it's pretty awesome. The opening story is pretty gripping. You then create a superhero (actually, you can have several, but i have only made one so far). You choose good or evil and then one of three mentors (mine was Batman). You choose any number of variations, from technology based power to magic based power, a main fighting style, and many other things. The customization of your character is pretty detailed. Then, you play through an intro, essentially your in game training manual. After that, you run around, fly around, climb around, etc....finding and completing quests, meeting other superheros, or sometimes simply wander around striking superhero poses (something i have found to be quite humorous when done at just the right time). Some of your fellow superheros are really cool, some are pretty much inspired by existing superhero molds, and some are fun to laugh at. Names such as "Flame Dude" and "Yellow Guy" in the same area as "Voltor the Destructive" and "Cuny Linger" pretty much tell you that it is a mixed crowd (old and young)....anyway....amusing and enjoyable. I think you'll enjoy it.

DC Universe Online 1st Impressions

So, finally after a delay, DC Universe Online is out and not with a few hiccups but it's common with MMOs to have a few at launch so just be prepared. The biggest issue is, depending on your internet connection, you may want to find other things to do while it installs. For the PS3 using FiOS, it took almost an hour and a half start to finish for the downloads to install. One of my other friends using DSL took almost 3 hours to complete.

Before I really get into this I want to make clear that most of the comparisons I make of this game will be with City of Heroes and please understand too, that I haven't played it in almost 5 years but that's where I can base my closest experiences to. Also, I put about a good 7 hours into this game so please don't take this as a final review but I just want to give an impression for those that are on the fence about getting this game.

It's been a really long while since I have played any MMOs with the last one being Guild Wars and I even gave a shot at WoW but it just couldn't keep me interested long enough to stay in it. But DCUO seems like the game I could get into and maybe stay in until Marvel comes up with something.

Once the install completes you are ready to begin. In most ways, the DCUO character creation seems to be a bit more robust that CoH was when I played it. Some will find themselves either spending a lot of time trying to get their one character just right or creating multiple characters. I believe you are allowed up to 8 characters per server and if you really try hard enough for those of you Marvel fanboys you can create some good analogues of your favorites. I did one based on the Black Panther which was easy and I saw someone do something that looked like Iron Man. With a little know how you can do some basic X men characters and the like BUT since this is a DC game, why do that? Another good thing is that there are random templates you can use to generate ready made characters based off of the main heroes and villains even with similar costumes.

Once you have finished your characters, you are ready to go. One thing I did like is that if you want to get thru cut scenes, you can but if it's your first time seeing them, they are a joy to watch as it really sets the stage for the game that you are playing. Jim lee as always has amazing panels that you see throughout and it really gets you in the mood to play.

As your game starts, you play through in a soloed instance where you are guaranteed your first 3 levels and you try to escape Brainiac's ship. In this you find out how you got these powers and why he is invading. This level is also used to let you get a feel for your character and their abilities as well as the controls which I must say for a console game are pretty ok but more on that later. The one main thing to keep in mind as with most MMOs , once you build your character, it's really difficult to go back in and respect them and by using the introductory levels you get to see if what you built is what you want to use and if you do finish and are unsatisfied with your build, at least all you have wasted is about 20 minutes of playtime without being thrust into the larger game world with everyone else...so yes CHARACTER BUILD MEANS EVERYTHING.

Once you get into the larger world, you have access to missions, vendors, even the Watchtower. You can spend time just wandering around seeing all of these things before you head out to start doing missions.

Now since my hero's mentor is Batman, my starting world is Gotham so once I step out of the police station, you get to see Gotham in all of its gritty glory. You will see some pieces that looks like it was taken from the Dark Knight and even some iconic points from the comics, like Crime Alley.

So now that you are out in the main world itself, how does it handle? Again, this comes down into how you built your character. Now that you have all this open space, what can you do? Well, let me start with making one of my biggest CoH comparisons: The powers that you start off with. I remember when I played CoH, I believe that you had to get at least 10 levels under your belt before you got the ability to fly, sprint, jump, etc. It made you work even harder to get it because it could piss you off seeing other fly overhead and you are stuck on the ground trying to walk to your checkpoint. Well in DCUO, you have the ability to choose from the start how you want to get around and not only that, you can "adhere" to any surface, climb up anything imaginable and go anywhere in your realm at the start which to me adds to the fun of the game...your initial powers do not limit you.

Another aspect that DCUO has done is that from the start you can CHOOSE to be a hero or a villain. It doesn't take another game to do this! And each faction has its own missions! For instance, in Gotham, the heroes are trying to stop the Scarecrow, so what do you think the villains are doing? However the thing to keep in mind is that most of this is PVE and everyone has their own set of missions. That brings up another good point is that you will always have tons of missions to do from the start and in some that are instanced only to you and your guild (or whatever they will be called in this game) you can expect appearances in some areas by DCU characters. Even early on in your start stage, you get a Superman sighting.

With all this variety that you get you will never lack for action. There have been some MMOs I have played over the years where it seemed like you had to wander around and look for trouble but not here. Almost every inch of Gotham is a hotspot and even as you pass through or fly over a section you are almost always tempted to drop in on the action. Initially I was dismayed at the fact that it seemed like it was a free for all as everyone was making a mad dash to fight an enemy and scrambling to the next but the respawns for the enemies seem plentiful early on so you will always have something to fight even if someone else steals your kill, This game feels and plays a bit more like Marvel Ultimate Alliance and less like WoW. Which also reminds me, and you can take this in a few ways, the penalty on death is not as severe as I have seen in many MMOs, as a matter of fact thus far, it's not really severe at all. I will say that if you have seen differently, please correct me, but in CoH what made that game hard sometimes is when you died, you had to pay a `death tax' on the leveling that you had which at times made your grind much, much longer, meaning there were times that you were gaining ½ as much EXP to play back for a death that you had which could really slow down your game and this was part of why I stopped playing.

And with all of the fighting and saving that day that you will have going on, so far it's pretty quick to level up. With no effort at all I have already seen some who have reached level 15 and higher and I know just for the short time that I have played, I have reached level 7 and still have a few more characters I want to try out.

This brings me to my concerns that I have with the game. The level cap is 30. What does Sony plan to do to keep this game fresh after you have hit the cap because what I have heard from the beta testing you can hit that cap pretty fast. How long will it be before the cap is lifted higher so that you don't lose a lot of the crowd that Sony hopes to take away from WoW and CoH? Another issue that I have is some of the gameplay graphical glitches. While that game does indeed look very nice, I notice that as I am supposed to have a character that climbs, in many cases when he hits a wall, instead of him climbing the wall, he actually WALKS up the wall and that sometimes takes away from the immersive-ness of the game. For a console game, the controls handle themselves pretty well although I think the flying aspect could be handled a bit better. It takes a while to get used to it but it works. Your hotkeys are pretty much set and I have yet to find a way to change this if any and this may also discourage some vet MMO players but to me after awhile it becomes 2nd nature. Also, so far, I have not had a problem with lag. A lot of people will be discouraged with the price. I will agree 60 bucks and 15 dollar a month subscription is a lot to pay for an MMO that so far seemingly doesn't have the depth of say, your WoW or Guild Wars but I think in part, Sony hopes to get that crowd who doesn't want to be bogged down with all the minutiae of all of the 2ndary and tertiary character play of your WoW games and so forth. It's a straight forward button masher and if this is what you like, then this is for you. This may turn a lot of people off. One other thing that so far, my friends and I have had difficulty with is trying to find each other in the game. Something we plan on taking care of once we all make the time to do so and in game chat? Without a dedicated keyboard, you can forget about it! I really would like to see if there is a way to do voice chat so we won't have to worry about typing as you play because there really isn't a lot of downtime that you have to type to each other.

To conclude, DCU Online is going to be a game that if you are a fan of comics and have a little extra to invest in, you will jump right in. I think because now that one of the Big Two has an MMO out, this may start pulling that CoH crowd away to play a game to play in a Universe that many have waited for. Anyone sitting on the fence, I would strongly advise waiting for more reviews before getting this game because this can easily be $60 bucks gone and no way to take it back to your retailer. You do get 30 days of free play before you get on a monthly fee schedule. So far, my friends and I are enjoying this game on the PS3 and I do like that even from the start you do feel that you are doing your part to shape the DC Universe so if you can get past the huge download time and have no problems with some button mashing, you may just enjoy this game.

A Big Fan of DC. I always wanted this game so bad. but didnt want to pay to play. So i was going to wait for this game to be like $20 then i wouldnt mind paying for it. Now that its FREE GAME AND ONLINE PLAY on PSN. I been playing this game for hours. Loving it. The only bad part being FREE cost 19GB in total for your PS3 Hard Drive. I deleted a lot of things off my PS3. This was all worth the WAIT and for FREE.