DC Universe Online

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DC Universe Online
DC Universe Online PS3.jpg
Developer(s) Sony Online Entertainment
Publisher(s) Sony Computer Entertainment
WB Games
Series DC Comics
Engine Unreal Engine 3, Havok (Cloth and Physics)
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)
  • NA January 11, 2011
Genre(s) Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Mode(s) Online only
Rating(s)
Media/distribution Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and Download

DC Universe Online or DCUO is an MMORPG by Sony Online Entertainment – Austin. Jim Lee serves as the game's Executive Creative Director, along with Carlos D'Anda, JJ Kirby, Oliver Nome, Eddie Nuñez, Livio Ramondelli, and Michael Lopez. EverQuest developer Chris Cao was the Game Director through launch up to May 2011, but has since stepped down to be replaced by Mark Anderson, previously the Art Director.[3] Mark Anderson himself has since been replaced by Jens Anderson. Shawn Lord is also involved.[4] Geoff Johns is the principal writer.

The first conceptual art for the game was released on July 4, 2008,[5] and the first trailer was released on July 14, 2008.[6] The game was released in January 2011.

The revenue model was subscription based with a user cost of $14.99 per month,[7] rather than using microtransactions.[8] The UK subscription was £9.99 a month, £19.99 for three months, and £49.99 for six months. The cost for Australian subscribers was $19.95 AUD. It had been announced on September 19, 2011 that the game would go Free to Play sometime in October. Since November 1, the game is Free to Play for everyone.

There are 3 levels of players: Free, Premium (at least $5 spent on the game) and Legendary, which are ongoing subscribers.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

DC Universe Online is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) set in the DC Universe. Sony Online Entertainment's stated goal is to make a different kind of MMORPG, with The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction cited as one of the main inspirations for gameplay. SOE is working to make DC Universe Online more interactive than standard MMORPGs, while trying to keep their key elements, which include a leveling system, raid instances, endgame progression and inventories. The world is mainly shared, public space instead of heroes or villains owning territory. The public space features dynamically-generated content designed for both hero and villain player characters (uniquely created by the player, who cannot choose DCU stalwarts).[9]

Players will choose a mentor for their character (Superman, Batman, or Wonder Woman for heroes and Lex Luthor, Joker, or Circe for villains). Their starting location, principal quest rewards and mob loot will be influenced by that decision. The starting zones are either Metropolis or Gotham City, for both heroes and villains. Heroes can also go to the Justice League Watchtower, while villains can enter the Secret Society of Super Villains headquarters at the Hall of Doom. Other safe-houses in the Gotham and Metropolis zones can be reached by teleporters from the two faction headquarters or from the two cities. For the heroes, it's various police stations. For the villains, it's various nightclubs owned by the villains.

Each character is given a communicator appropriate to their faction, via which they receive urgent communications from their mentor and his/her colleagues and subordinates; heroes will frequently receive status updates from Oracle, while villains will receive data from Calculator. In addition to assignments from their mentor, player characters may also receive requests for help from other mentors of the same faction. Player characters may also accept missions from non-player characters (NPCs) in the street, usually minor characters from their faction. There are also opportunities for quick street encounters appropriate to the character's faction: for example, a hero character may encounter a thug robbing an armored truck, trying to break into an office building, or in the process of mugging a citizen; while a villain character may be presented with opportunities to assist NPC thugs with an armored truck robbery, or assault a citizen using an ATM. All NPC interactions are fully animated and voice-acted. Player characters will earn threat ratings that will cause NPC heroes and villains to interact accordingly with the character.

The shared worldspace offers primarily solo and team player versus environment (PvE) gaming opportunities in the form of open air missions and instances, although player versus player (PvP) combat is also possible in this worldspace. Other PvP (and to a smaller extent, PvE) gaming is available in various types of queued instanced encounters: "Legends", small scale PvP combats in which players take on the identities of iconic characters (continued success in Legends combat unlocks additional iconic characters); "Arena", small scale PvP combat in which players fight as their own characters; "Alerts", cooperative team missions; and "Raids", large scale PvP combat between teams of opposing factions. Success in PvE missions is rewarded with in-game money, costume pieces, equipment and consumables, while PVP combat is rewarded with unlocks of special equipment sets.

[edit] Storyline

DC Universe Online is set in the present day, but the opening cinematic sequence takes place in a gritty, war-torn future depicting a final battle between the world's greatest heroes and villains.

This battle takes place in the ruins of Metropolis, and features the deaths of several well-known DC Comics characters. The battle culminates with the death of Superman at the hands of Lex Luthor, leaving him, Batman (although we don't know it then) and the Joker as the survivors. Luthor stands back to proclaim his victory, only to see Brainiac's war fleet fill the skies.

The scene then shifts to the present-day Watchtower, where the future Luthor is telling the story to the present-day Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Luthor explains that the deadly final war between the heroes and villains was triggered by the subtle manipulations of Brainiac, who had been slowly downloading their powers over time. With the planet's most powerful beings dead, Brainiac intended to use the pirated data to create an army of metahumans under his control, facilitating his conquest of Earth. As the only survivor of the war, Luthor could do nothing to resist Brainiac's subjugation of the planet.

Luthor explains that he was able to survive in secret and eventually steal the stolen data and energy from Brainiac's mothership in the form of "Exobytes", nanobot-sized devices that can bond to a living host and give them their own superpowers. After finally designing a time machine (or, possibly, stealing one from Brainiac's technology), Lex Luthor has traveled into his past to release the exobytes into the atmosphere of present-day Earth. The heroes are outraged, but Luthor explains that because he has done this, soon thousands of new metahumans will be created from ordinary humans (becoming the characters that players design and play with). He implores the Justice League to find and train these new metahumans, because Brainiac is coming and the Earth must be ready to succeed where it was once doomed to fail.

In the second trailer to the game "In Lex we Trust", we find that Lex's description of events leading up to his arrival in the present time is not as he described to the heroes. The trailer begins with Lex reviving his companion, Fracture, from being unconscious. Lex explains that Brainiac's forces have already penetrated the Fortress of Solitude and that their time is running out. As they approach a time portal chamber, a Braniac Eradicator attacks Fracture who, using a small grenade, destroys the robotic drone. The two arrive at the portal which is being stabilized by Batman, whose face is disfigured and arm is replaced by a robotic prosthetic due to injuries from the battle of villains and heroes. As more Eradicators enter the chamber, Luthor lies saying his armor is damaged and that he can not hold them off.

Batman tells Fracture to take the canister that contains millions of Exobytes, and go through the portal, attacking the Eradicators and buying him more time. Fracture thanks Lex for using the exobytes to give him his powers and Lex, seeing the opportunity he had been waiting for, kills Fracture describing him as "an excellent lab rat." As Luthor is about to step into the portal, Batman calls to Luthor warning that "I'll be coming for you", to which Lex responds "No, you won't", and activates a self-destruct sequence. The villain enters into the portal and the Fortress of Solitude suffers massive explosions. He arrives in a dark alley, presumably present day. He is greeted by his present-day self who describes him as being late.

[edit] Universe

While the game has shown a DC Universe largely similar to the current in-publication DCU, it is unknown if this is meant to be the actual DC Universe-proper or if this is another world in the DC Multiverse. Notable differences exist, such as the absence of Damian Wayne and Stephanie Brown. Dick Grayson as Nightwing and Tim Drake still operating as Robin, Cassandra Cain still operating as Batgirl, Bane's continued use of the Venom steroid, Black Adam's return to super-villain status despite recent comics changing him into an anti-hero, and Ralph Dibny still active, as well as the absence of all other corps of the emotional spectrum, save for the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro Corps, Red Lantern Corps and Larfleeze/Agent Orange. It seems as though Final Crisis has not occurred, as Batman has not apparently endured trauma at the hands of Darkseid and the Martian Manhunter is alive, but Barry Allen appears to be serving as the Flash. Conner Kent/Superboy and Bart Allen/Kid Flash have yet to appear and have little to no references towards them in the game. Jonathan Kent is also alive and well, unlike his mainline DC Universe counterpart. Several story-arcs used for alert and raid instances are based upon content that occurred in-continuity that pre-dates Final Crisis and occurred, in some cases, as events in 52 and Countdown to Final Crisis. Examples include the Oolong Island instance and multiple story-arcs centered around Black Adam as well as Darkseid being currently absent from content. Also, certain key events from the mainline DC Universe are still referred to as history in the world presented in the game, including the Crisis on Infinite Earths, The Death of Superman, and Knightfall. Additionally, the events of Flashpoint and the reboot which ensued have not been reflected. Hero and villain design as well as in game canon all continues to be based off of the pre-flashpoint DCU.

[edit] Confirmed characters

Heroes[5][6][10][11][12]
Villains[5][6][10]
Other characters

[edit] Locations

The following locations appear in this game. For the city areas, some of the areas there can be visited. Also, there are various hubs scattered throughout Metropolis and Gotham City for both campaigns. In the hero campaign, the players have police stations. In the villain campaign, the players have various nightclubs. The opposing factions are unable to enter these areas:

[edit] City Locations

  • Gotham City
    • Arkham Island
      • Arkham Asylum
      • Arkham Botanical Gardens
      • Island Dock
      • D'Angelo Sewage Treatment Plant
    • Burnley
      • Burnley Freight Yards
      • Club 539 - Also known as the Burnley Night Club, this is one of the nightclubs that the players on the villain side use as a safe house.
      • Giordano Botanical Gardens
      • Gotham Arms Apartment
      • Gotham Mercy General Hospital
      • Gotham Tap Room - This is one of the nightclubs that the players on the villain side use as a safe house. Anyone on the hero campaign that chooses Joker as their mentor begin their quest here.
      • Gotham University
      • Greenhouse
      • Museum of Natural History Storehouse
      • Von Gruenwald Tower
      • WGTU Radio
    • Diamond District
      • GCPD 12th Precinct - This is one of the Police Stations that the players on the hero campaign use as a safe house.
      • Iceberg Lounge
      • Intergang Penthouse
      • Mysterious Warehouse
      • One Gotham Center
      • R.H. Kane Building
      • Temple of Crime
      • Wayne Enterprises
    • East End
      • Bat-Signal
      • Cape Carmine Lighthouse
      • Crime Alley
      • East End Free Clinic
      • East End Regal Hotel
      • Ellis Memorial Convalescent House
      • GCPD 9th Precinct - This is one of the Police Stations that the players on the hero campaign use as a safe house. Anyone on the hero campaign that chooses Batman as their mentor begin their quest here.
      • GCPD Special Crimes Unit
      • Gotham City Sewers
      • LexCorp Reclamation Plant
      • Malone Improvement Plant
      • Old Soder Cola Plant
      • Original Wayne Enterprises Building
      • The Bowery
      • Wayne Memorial
    • Gotham City Chinatown
      • Chinese Cultural Center
      • Museum of Natural History
    • Old Gotham
      • Cathedral Square
      • Clock Tower
      • Courthouse
      • GCPD Headquarters
      • Gotham City Hall
    • Otisburg
      • 15 Kane Street
      • Ace Chemicals
      • Amusement Mile
      • Gotham Light and Power
      • Gotham S.T.A.R. Labs
      • Joker's Funhouse
      • Knightsdome Sporting Complex
      • Millicent Mayne Plaza
      • Monarch Playing Card Company
      • OMAC Base
      • Stagg Enterprises Gotham HQ
    • Robinson Park
      • Reservoir Side Gazebo
      • The Forum of the 12 Caesars
      • The Pillars of Hades
  • Metropolis
    • Downtown Metropolis
    • Historic District
      • C.A.O. Dams
      • Metropolis City Hall
      • Metropolis Court House
      • Metropolis Museum of Art
      • Metropolis Urgent Care
      • Old Dutch Quarter
    • Little Bohemia
      • Club L'Excellence - This is one of the Nightclubs that the players on the villain campaign use as a safe house. Anyone on the villain campaign that chooses Lex Luthor as their mentor begin their quest here.
      • MPD 3rd Precinct - This is one of the Police Departments that the players on the hero campaign use a safe house. Anyone on the hero campaign that chooses Superman as their mentor begins their quest here.
      • Metropolis General Hospital
      • Metropolis Metrodome
      • Queensland Boardwalk and Beach
      • Southbank Commercial District
      • University of Metropolis
      • West River Quay
    • Metropolis Chinatown
      • MPD 5th Precinct - This is one of the Police Departments that the players on the hero campaign use as a safe house. Anyone on the hero campaign that chooses Wonder Woman as their mentor begins their quest here.
      • Madame Xanadu's Magic Shop
      • Mannheim's Chinese Theater
      • North Market District
      • Sheeda's Den - This is one of the Nightclubs that the players on the villain campaign use as a safe house. Anyone on the villain campaign that chooses Circe as their mentor begin their quest here.
    • Midtown
      • Cain Street Mall
      • Centennial Park
      • Club deVille - Also known as the Midtown Night Club, Club deVille is a one of the Nightclubs that the players on the villain campaign use as a safe house.
      • Ellsworth Memorial Hospital
      • MPD 7th Precinct - Also known as the Midtown Police Station, this is one of the Police Departments that the players on the hero campaign use as a safe house.
    • Metropolis General Hospital
    • Stryker's Island
    • Suicide Slum
      • Ace O'Clubs
      • Metropolis Shipyards
      • Steelworks
    • Tomorrow District
      • Avenue of Tomorrow
      • Big Belly Corporation HQ
      • Galaxy Communications
      • Jerry White Memorial Eco Corridor
      • MPD 8th Precinct Metropolis Science Police HQ
      • New Troy Central Station
      • S.T.A.R. Labs Building
      • Science Spire
      • Simon Municipal Bridge
      • Starrware Industries

[edit] Main Headquarters

[edit] Legends PVP Locations

[edit] Raid Locations

[edit] Alert Locations

[edit] Cast

The game's voice cast is very large, and is inclusive of many known characters in the DC Universe. Sony Online Entertainment released a complete voice cast list[14] on January 18, 2011. Some cast members, such as Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, were announced early.[15] The high-profile heroes and villains include:

[edit] Comics

Main article: DC Universe Online: Legends

DC Comics announced in January 2010 that they will be releasing DC Universe Online: Legends, a 52-issue weekly limited series (along the lines of previous similar series like 52, Countdown to Final Crisis and Trinity) which would be based on the game.[16] Rather than a weekly series, the format was changed to a biweekly series, with comic book writer Tony Bedard and game writer Marv Wolfman, and with artists Howard Porter and Adriana Melo. The title launched in February 2011.[17][18]

[edit] Development and Updates

A Beta was released on December 14, 2010 and was closed on January 5, 2011. There were a number of technical issues that came to light when the beta was closed which were only partially resolved by the game's release.[19]

The game has had six major updates that it has released in addition to hot fixes since it officially launched.

In August 2011, there was a global server merge implemented by the developers to consolidate all PC servers and PS3 servers into 4 individual servers, one for each platform per region.

On September 6, 2011 the first downloadable content pack was released, called Fight For The Light. This pack included a new, seventh power, Light, and the ability to join the Green Lantern Corps or Sinestro Corps as reservists. It also included three new Group Combat Alerts and a Duo. The pack was free to all current subscribers.[20]

DC Universe Online is a free to play MMO as of November 2 of 2011. There is Premium as well as Legendary memberships available. All new players are created with Free membership. All existing lapsed paid accounts were transferred to Premium membership. All current paid accounts were transferred to Legendary memberships. Premium membership requires a single purchase equivalent to $5, Legendary members pay a monthly fee.[21]

[edit] Reception

 Reception
Review scores
Publication Score
Allgame 3.5/5[22]
Eurogamer 6/10[23]
GameSpot 7.0[24]
GamesRadar 6/10[25]
IGN 7/10[26]
X-Play 4/5[27]

DC Universe Online received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Nick Kolan of IGN said, "I wish I loved DC Universe Online, but instead I just like it. It's got a lot going for it – a great license, some superb voice actors, a lot of well-crafted settings, fast action-based combat, and an entire market of people who, so far, have barely been exposed to the MMO genre."[28] GameSpot's Kevin VanOrd wrote, "PC players will be immediately struck by the console-focused interface and the overzealous profanity filter, which inexplicably can't be turned off. However, loading times on the PC are zippy, and the game runs smoothly as you soar across the skies. The PlayStation 3 version is noticeably more sluggish. Menus take too long to pop up; the frame rate chugs along every so often, or the game might freeze for a second or two; and the telltale texture pop-in common to games using Unreal 3 technology is all too prevalent."[24]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "DC Universe Online Gets a Release Date". IGN. http://ps3.ign.com/articles/114/1141254p1.html. Retrieved 21 December 2010. 
  2. ^ "DC Universe Australian Release Date". EBGAMES. http://www.ebgames.com.au/pc-151129-DC-Universe-Online-PC. Retrieved 9 January 2011. 
  3. ^ "News Archive". DC Universe Online. 2011-05-18. http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/en/news/archive.vm?id=39&month=052011. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  4. ^ "DC Universe Online". IGN. http://ps3.ign.com/objects/755/755358.html. Retrieved October 29, 2008. 
  5. ^ a b c Cavalli, Earnest (July 4, 2008). "First DC Universe Online Art Unveiled". Wired. http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/07/first-dc-univer.html. Retrieved October 29, 2008. 
  6. ^ a b c "DC Universe Online PC Games Trailer - E3 2008: Trailer". IGN. July 14, 2008. http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/754948/dc-comics-mmo/videos/DCUO_trailer_071408.html. Retrieved October 29, 2008. 
  7. ^ Miller, Greg. "SDCC 10: DC Universe Subscription Fee and Cross Platform Play". IGN. http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/110/1108657p1.html. 
  8. ^ Reahard, Jef (June 21, 2010). "SOE confirms subscription model for DCUO". Massively. http://www.massively.com/2010/06/21/soe-confirms-subscription-model-for-dcuo. 
  9. ^ "DC Universe Online Overview". DCUO (Official site). http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/en/overview.vm. 
  10. ^ a b "DC Universe Online PlayStation 3 Trailer - The Making Of". IGN. July 22, 2008. http://ps3.ign.com/dor/objects/755358/dc-comics-mmo/videos/DCUO_makingof2_072208.html. Retrieved November 19, 2008. 
  11. ^ "DC Universe Online character list". VideoGamesBlogger. July 26, 2009. http://www.videogamesblogger.com/2009/07/26/official-dc-universe-online-character-list.htm. 
  12. ^ Groen, Andrew (June 23, 2009). "DC Universe Online Hands-On Preview". Cheat Code Central. http://www.cheatcc.com/ps3/rev/dcuniverseonlinepreview.html. 
  13. ^ "DC Universe Online". Comics Continuum. http://www.comicscontinuum.com/stories/1101/09/dcuniverse.htm. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  14. ^ "DCUO Voice Cast List". http://forums.station.sony.com/dcuopc/posts/list.m?topic_id=10298. 
  15. ^ Makuch, Eddie. "Mark Hamill, Kevin Conroy voicing DC Universe Online". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/ps3/rpg/dcuniverseonline/news.html?sid=6270467. Retrieved 27 November 2010. 
  16. ^ George, Richard (January 15, 2010). "DC Universe Online Becomes Legendary". IGN. http://comics.ign.com/articles/106/1061432p1.html. Retrieved January 18, 2010. 
  17. ^ "DC First Look - DCUO: LEGENDS #1 (DCU Online) Page 1". Newsarama. 2010-11-15. http://www.newsarama.com/php/multimedia/album.php?gid=2714. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  18. ^ "Wolfman, Bedard, Benes Launch "DCUO Legends"". Comic Book Resources. http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=29404. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  19. ^ "DC Universe Online Beta Test Signup Page". DCUO (Official site). http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/en/beta/. 
  20. ^ "Fight For The Light Release Announcement". DCUO (Official site). http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/fightforthelight/. 
  21. ^ "DC Universe Online Free-To-Play Announcement". November 2, 2011. http://www.dcuniverseonline.com/en/news/archive.vm?id=69&month=current. Retrieved November 3, 2011. 
  22. ^ Alan, Scott (2010-10-03). "DC Universe Online – Overview". allgame. http://www.allgame.com/game.php?id=65795. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  23. ^ John Bedford (2011-01-21). "DC Universe Online Review – MMO – Page 1". Eurogamer.net. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-01-20-dc-universe-online-review. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  24. ^ a b "DC Universe Online Review, DC Universe Online PC Review". GameSpot.com. 2011-01-11. http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/dcuniverseonline/review.html. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  25. ^ "DC Universe Online review, DC Universe Online PC Reviews". GamesRadar. 2011-01-27. http://www.gamesradar.com/pc/dc-universe-online/review/dc-universe-online-review/a-20110127153733434002/g-2008071511229284009. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  26. ^ var authorId = "220014782" by Nick Kolan (2011-01-28). "DC Universe Online Review – PC Review at IGN". Pc.ign.com. http://pc.ign.com/articles/114/1143429p1.html. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  27. ^ O'Holloran, Dan (2011-01-25). "DC Universe Online Review for PS3". G4tv. http://www.g4tv.com/games/ps3/31933/DC-Universe-Online/review/. Retrieved 2011-08-28. 
  28. ^ Kolan, Nick (January 11, 2011). "DC Universe Online Review". IGN. http://ps3.ign.com/articles/114/1143430p1.html. Retrieved 2011-01-11. 

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