DC Universe Online

 PlayStation 3
User Score
7.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 140 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 140
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 140
  3. Negative: 20 out of 140
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  1. Zilcell
    Nov 7, 2011
    7
    DC Universe Online is an addictive online game. It has repetitive missions but it is really cool because you can create you own superhero and make him/her a legend in an online universe.
  2. LawnCast
    Jan 26, 2011
    6
    DC Universe Online

    I'm not much of a loyal MMO player, I might pick up a prepaid WoW card and play it for 2 months when the console release schedule is a bit slim, but I'm not the kind of player who will play an MMO all day and let the rest of the world fade away. I did play a lot of Phantasy Star Online back in the Dreamcast era but the first version of that game was free to play. DC    DC Universe Online

    I'm not much of a loyal MMO player, I might pick up a prepaid WoW card and play it for 2 months when the console release schedule is a bit slim, but I'm not the kind of player who will play an MMO all day and let the rest of the world fade away. I did play a lot of Phantasy Star Online back in the Dreamcast era but the first version of that game was free to play. DC Universe is similar in the fact that its on a home console and it plays well with just a controller, but after your initial 30 days are up, you have to pay $15 a month after that. Console players are not used to subscription fees, even though Phantasy Star Universe and Final Fantasy XI did charge them, the server population is low, it they are still up , in the case of PSU. So the question is, "Is the game worth the $15 fee?" I hope to give you enough information to decide that for yourself.

    The game starts you off with an excellent character creation menu, where you can have the same powers of some of DC greatest heroes or villains, or you can pick them from a custom menu. after that, you get to pick a mentor: Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman for heroes or Lex Luthor, The Joke, or Circe for Villains I picked plant powers, flight for my movement, and dual swords as my weapon type. I call him "The Mulcher." After creating a character, you get sent to Brainiac's ship where you battle through easy enemies with the game explaining how to fight and use your powers. At the end you are assisted by either Superman or Lex depending if you picked hero or villain. the early missions and starting point are determined by your mentor. Then you start getting quests and it follows the route of a typical MMO, but combat is in real time. You perform combos on your controller to use special attacks once you unlock them from your skill tree as you level up, but the game just seems to end up being a button masher, also speaking of levels, the level cap is 30. You also also have to be level 30 to go on raids, which makes no sense to me. the only reason I play missions is to grind, not to be able to play more missions. After hitting 30, I decided to make another character, this time a villain with Fire powers and super speed, named "Hot Sam." the game is a little different when you are a villain, but you often end up in the same locales playing similar missions. The game also seems a big buggy for a game that I had to download several software updates for. How big of patches, well a 135MB title update, then a 16GB install off the Blu-Ray, then a 2GB download from within the game. It took hours just to play it. I still get some major bugs. I've gotten stuck in debris, quests were not being registered as complete even though I completed them and watched the cutscene afterward and worst of all, crash bugs. If Sony Online Entertainment can get these bugs fixed, raise the level cap, and expand the game for no additional cost, then it will be worth the $15 dollars a month. Score: 6 out of 10

    Notes: The version reviewed is for the PlayStation 3. Wally bought the game with his own hard earned money.    … Expand
  3. Arrowsun
    Jan 27, 2011
    7
    I like the game in the early levels. However, I do think it gets repetitive over time. I am mostly frustrated by the lack of space to fight mobs and the fast respawn rate. In some respects, I find the game hard to play with any strategy. I do like the fact that the game is faster combat than other mmos. The problems begin to occur when you are unable to crowd control and target unitsI like the game in the early levels. However, I do think it gets repetitive over time. I am mostly frustrated by the lack of space to fight mobs and the fast respawn rate. In some respects, I find the game hard to play with any strategy. I do like the fact that the game is faster combat than other mmos. The problems begin to occur when you are unable to crowd control and target units effectively. Some of the city really is empty of other people. I think of GTA without the pedestrians and other people walking around. While each of the cities are really fun to travel through, I fund that you basically only travel to where you next mission is located. I don't think I will be paying $15 a month for this game. The content is to shallow and its is gimmicky in a lot of ways. I want a deeper experience in an mmo that I pay for. Pros: neat combat system, cities, superheroes, travel
    Cons: targeting, emptiness, broken rendering, shallow questing, short term play through    … Expand
  4. fongy
    Jan 31, 2011
    7
    I think it's getting a bit of unnecessary bad press...
    Yes the install takes a while, yes there a lots of bugs (LOTS), but when it works, it works very well...
    I've just reached the level cap as a villain - it's taken me about 3 weeks of on/off to get there - not finished all the missions and LOADS of things unlock when you do reach it (more than enough to keep you going) Will I renew? Not    I think it's getting a bit of unnecessary bad press...
    Yes the install takes a while, yes there a lots of bugs (LOTS), but when it works, it works very well...
    I've just reached the level cap as a villain - it's taken me about 3 weeks of on/off to get there - not finished all the missions and LOADS of things unlock when you do reach it (more than enough to keep you going)
    Will I renew? Not immediately - I'm going to wait a month to see if they fix the bugs / add more content...
    A blast for a month though, but you'll have seen pretty much all there is to see in that time...    … Expand
  5. bmt11
    Nov 13, 2011
    5
    As someone who has played several of SoE's past MMOs this game is a massive disappointment, there are so many technical problems with the game from frequent server crashes to constant freezing. As for the game play I have played worse MMOs but none as tedious as the quests(and missions as well) in this one. The variety of character paths you can go down make it interesting at first butAs someone who has played several of SoE's past MMOs this game is a massive disappointment, there are so many technical problems with the game from frequent server crashes to constant freezing. As for the game play I have played worse MMOs but none as tedious as the quests(and missions as well) in this one. The variety of character paths you can go down make it interesting at first but after you realize how many of those tedious quests you will to go through just to advance down them quickly negates that. One of my favorite MMOs is one that is nearly pure grind based and I would rather sit in a group killing the same thing over and over than have to run around doing the quests here all day.… Expand
  6. Tardisblue49
    Mar 7, 2012
    6
    This was my first time actually playing an MMO. Needless to say I didn't quite enjoy DC Universe Online despite absolutely wanting to. I didn't like the structure of missions, nor did I like the fact I have to wait to get on a server because of so many people. What I did like was the character customization and designated abilities based around hero/villain characters.

    I know there are    This was my first time actually playing an MMO. Needless to say I didn't quite enjoy DC Universe Online despite absolutely wanting to. I didn't like the structure of missions, nor did I like the fact I have to wait to get on a server because of so many people. What I did like was the character customization and designated abilities based around hero/villain characters.

    I know there are better MMOs out there, but this one didn't convince me I need to play more of this type of genre.    … Expand
  7. Thebassettman
    Oct 15, 2013
    7
    For this review I'm going to go through all the things that happened during my playtime in dc universe online.
    1) Download
    The initional download was nothing extreme, about the same for most downloads. However the first time ou load up the game it does another download that took me 8 hours. Then I had to go through another 3hour update the next month. 2) Screen Size I first played the    For this review I'm going to go through all the things that happened during my playtime in dc universe online.
    1) Download
    The initional download was nothing extreme, about the same for most downloads. However the first time ou load up the game it does another download that took me 8 hours. Then I had to go through another 3hour update the next month.
    2) Screen Size
    I first played the game on a small tv screen. This meant I couldn't see the text properly and had to either stand too close to the screen or refer to the wiki. I now have a much larger screen and no longer have this problem.
    3) Combat
    The game is not like your standard RPG combat system as it revolves around combos and quick reflexes. This is perfect in a game trying to make you feel like a badass. To give yu an idea of this, one of the first powers you get on the gadget class Is the ability to throw a sticky grenade at enemies.
    4) Charachter Customisation
    This is where the game really shines. So far my characters have been iron man, insane rich man in a neon green suit, guy from watch dogs and (my favourite) pink fat man with eyepatch and ginger Afro wearing a bongadge suit. Sadly most female Charachter look like they are auditioning for a wet shirt contest.
    5) Mission Variety
    Sadly missions are just limited to kill *instert enemy*, collect *instert item obtained from enemy/ground*, interact with *insert some thing that goes away when you hold O* and fight *insert DC Charachter It gets boring after a while.
    6) Teams
    NEVER JOIN A TEAM UNLES YOUR WITH A FRIEND. I teamed up with someone and we both ended up with each others weapons that were supposed to help us. Now we both have a useless weapon and one that is too weak for the enemies we are fighting.    … Expand
  8. The_Ommadawn
    May 18, 2011
    6
    My first impression review was ...

    Having a history of online games on the PC I've been counting the days for this PS3 release. Everything you'd expect in an MMO is here and it works extremely well. if you're new to MMO's be warned, there is a lot to learn with this game and it isn't pick up and play like other console games. I've heard many people moaning about this aspect. This game is    My first impression review was ...

    Having a history of online games on the PC I've been counting the days for this PS3 release. Everything you'd expect in an MMO is here and it works extremely well. if you're new to MMO's be warned, there is a lot to learn with this game and it isn't pick up and play like other console games. I've heard many people moaning about this aspect. This game is very rewarding after a few hours play so take this slow. FYI the game takes about two hours to install/update the first time you play Yes it's £9.99 a month, but the best MMO's cost money.

    My updated review today (18/05/11) is that this game is a fantastic opening month. With no other MMO on the PS3 I got carried away. To be honest, I've not played it once my subscription run out and the initial 'buzz' I had for it quickly faded. I've since started playing RIFT (on release date) and the candle burns very brightly for it still. Rift is how an MMO should be made.    … Expand
  9. JustAThouhgt
    Jan 20, 2011
    6
    This isn't the greatest game ever but it certainly keeps me entertained so far. The missions are fairly repetitive, usually go to a certain location and defeat x amount of enemies and deactivate/activate x amount of items but I'm finding it fun so far. The world is generally deserted - don't expect to find much life on these streets. On the other hand adding extra NPC's to the mix forThis isn't the greatest game ever but it certainly keeps me entertained so far. The missions are fairly repetitive, usually go to a certain location and defeat x amount of enemies and deactivate/activate x amount of items but I'm finding it fun so far. The world is generally deserted - don't expect to find much life on these streets. On the other hand adding extra NPC's to the mix for ambiance would only slow the game down. It took me about 4 hours to load the game using DSL but I haven't had any freezing or slowdown to speak of since purchasing about a week ago. The combat basically boils down to button mashing if you want to keep things simple. However, each character has special abilities that are accessed through a tree that you can alter each time your character levels up. Using the abilities (by pressing L2 or R2 and a face button) makes battle a lot easier. The worst thing about this game, for me, is the text. I play on a 50" 1080p television and the text is very hard to read. I haven't used any of the chat capabilities or joined a league because of this issue. The text box is also located at the far left bottom corner of the screen and no matter what I do the left side of the text box is cut off. I adjusted the sliders in the option menu as far as they can go (which makes the text even smaller) but still no luck. I'm not %100 sure how much fun this game will be in the long run though because, as I said, it is repetitive.… Expand
  10. Dukay66
    Jul 17, 2011
    7
    As an Action MMO, it plays pretty decent. The graphics arent that bad, good customization, gameplay gets a little repetitive though. A good D.C. Universe product none the less.
  11. gromit
    Jan 19, 2011
    5
    Kinda fun for a while as a console game, but that runs out pretty quick as it just doesn't have the depth. As an MMO it really trails behind what has come before it, the console version may last a while due to its uniqueness but this thing is DOA for the PC.
  12. FilFestuccia
    Sep 8, 2013
    6
    With a monthly fee, it made no sense. Free-to-play is the right option for a game which provides some fun but lacks the depth and endless replay value of top MMORPG. At first impact, the combat system proves quite entertaining, although a physical style is less fun than a power-based one. Customization options are very interesting, allowing the player to add up "styles" along withWith a monthly fee, it made no sense. Free-to-play is the right option for a game which provides some fun but lacks the depth and endless replay value of top MMORPG. At first impact, the combat system proves quite entertaining, although a physical style is less fun than a power-based one. Customization options are very interesting, allowing the player to add up "styles" along with powerups. But DC Universe Online just can't manage to stay fresh for more than a month or so, mostly due to a vague plot and a lack of interesting end-game content.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

42
#42 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
67

Mixed or average reviews - based on 46 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 46
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 46
  3. Negative: 5 out of 46
  1. Multiplayer.it
    Apr 6, 2011
    78
    DCUO, as first console-MMORPG, can be considered a good start; it's basically a Hack'n'slash, with an interesting history and RPG elements, but some missions are repetitive and there are a lot of graphic bugs. However, the monthly major updates promised by Sony On Line justify the subscription, especially for DC Fans.
    Read full review
  2. games(TM)
    Mar 23, 2011
    60
    Superb when everything comes together, hugely frustrating when it doesn't. [Issue#107, p.96]
  3. Playstation Official Magazine Australia
    Mar 17, 2011
    70
    The fighting component, however, is where the game hits a stumbling block. More depth to the combat could have really made this a winner, as you really only have a dozen or so regular attacks and "specials" (and that's when you level cap out at 30) combined, so it can get old after a while. SOE may be hard pressed to sustain interest. [April 2011, p.76]
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