Pros:
-Good character creation and customization
-It's free
-Open and massive world to explore
Cons:
-Combat is dull and lacks depth
-Quests lack variety
-Item and menu system is confusing and unorganized
DC Universe Online is a free open world MMO that let's you create any kind of character you choose. While the game has some great ideas, it's execution is flawed, and it hinders what could have been something truly amazing.
You begin the game making your character, the choices are vast and there are plenty of customization options, everything from body type to super power, to movement style is free for your choosing. You also get to choose to side with the heros or villians, as well as choose a mentor. Each one will determine which part of the game you start out and are based in, as well as where you will get your first missions. There is not too much of a difference between the missions themselves, so your mentor decision is not that big of a deal all things considered. It would have been better if they made it more fleshed out, with specific one-on-one mentor training (wouldn't it have been awesome to be trained by Batman? ). The world of DC Universe is spread out between 2 main regions: Gotham City and Metropolis. Each of these is pretty well designed, Gotham is always dark and has a gritty atmosphere and art style, Metropolis is always day time and the buildings stand tall. The world feels unique and vast.
A shame the same cannot be said about the game's combat, to put it simply: It is a button masher. There are only a couple of attack buttons, Square is your main attack, Triangle is your long range attack, and you have your various powers to use at your disposal. There is little strategy to fighting, just press the Square or Triangle button over and over again and hope you have a high enough stat level to beat the enemy. This combat system get's tiring fast, it is just too repetitive.
The quest variety also lacks depth unfortunately, they seem to follow the same fetch quest order: Go to location A, fight some enemies, Grab item X, Return to Base. Repeat and repeat.....it would have been nicer to see more variety, maybe some stealth missions (if your working for Batman wouldn't that make more sense? ), or just something to keep the game's pace from feeling stale. But DC Universe does not offer this. The menu system also could use some fine tuning, it is fairly unorganized and confusing.
Final Verdict:
The game however is free, and you can't really beat that. The download process is a very lengthy one, but the game is worth playing. It does have it's moments and is a pretty decent game if you're willing to look past it's problems.
DC Universe Online get's a 3/5