Online game "DC Universe Online"

Everyone loves superheroes - and many people love supervillains, too, because they are all vivid and memorable in their own way. And when all the "superheroes" come together in one video game played by thousands of users from all over the world - it's just a bomb. That's what DC Universe Online became in 2011, when it came out. And how does it feel now and why is it still popular? We tell you in our review.

The fact that the game is still popular can be seen if only by the number of players who run alongside you when you enter DC Universe Online. So what's the reason? Well, the first thing, of course, is the appeal of a truly epic story, mixing different timelines and different characters. According to the story, in the future, supervillains have defeated the greatest superheroes from the Justice League. And it was largely due to the devious plotting of Lex Luthor, Superman's nemesis.

But in the end, the most cunning and insidious was another long-time adversary of the hero in the blue tights and red cape - Brainiac, an intergalactic villain who loves to destroy and diminish entire planets and cities. Roughly the same thing he did to Earth. Even Lex Luthor, naturally, did not like it - so he went to the past, where he told all the heroes and villains about what awaits the planet ahead. But not just told, but suggested a plan to avoid such a sad end for all. The point is that he managed to survive the future proposed by Brainiac - he stole data and energy from his main ship, sealed them in the form of small nanodevices "exobits" and released them into the atmosphere of Earth from the present time.

Thanks to the property of "exobites" to connect with people and give them superpowers, there are now many new meta-humans with superpowers on the planet - they need to be trained to fight back Breiniac in the future. In fact, that's not exactly how it happened, the insidious Lex has again cheated and deceived, a chain of complex space-time events has emerged, two versions of Luthor have appeared at once, one of which he himself betrayed. But for us, the point is that as a result of all this, there really are many new heroes and villains with superpowers on Earth, one (or one) of which is to be played.

And the most interesting thing is that when you create a character, you have to choose which side he will belong to - conditionally good or evil, and which of the famous "supers" (respectively, heroes or villains) will be his mentor. This determines the starting quests in the first chapter and where they will predominantly unfold - the Joker and Batman, for example, have settled mostly in Gotham City, Superman in Metropolis, and Lex in the center of the multiverse. In addition, the choice of side affects who you will oppose in global PvP battles and raids - the game, understandably, has two large factions, where the superheroes are led by the Batman of the future, and the villains - the future Lex Luthor.

It is clear that in any case the missions are reduced to running somewhere, killing 10 such-and-such enemies, destroying some objects, saving or protecting someone, activating something, in the final fight with the boss and everything in that vein - in general the classics of the genre. In addition to story there is a lot of side quests - almost at every important location you can meet those who will once again ask to run away, kill, find, protect, cure 5 people who are attacked by dangerous gases, or enter the vaccine 10 patients in the hospital and take them to the ambulance.

But firstly, this is a classic MMORPG about superheroes and supervillains, so such quests are the absolute norm. And secondly, all the adventures in the story are of great quality, both in terms of staging and directing - they are accompanied by spectacular clips and expressive voice acting. And then there are the unique stories associated with the most famous mentors - Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Joker and others. For fans of the DC Comics universe, this is just the name of the heart. By the way, the entire content in DC Universe Online is divided into episodes, in one of which we, for example, oppose the sons of Trygon, and in the other we can go to the past to meet the amazing versions of Harley Quinn and Supergirl - so you won't be bored anyway.

Finally, all of these quests are interesting because the events unfold in the huge and fairly detailed and authentically reproduced Gotham and Metropolis. People walk, cars drive, there are many different offices, establishments and tall buildings, on the walls of which you can dashingly run. At the same time, there's always something going on, someone fighting with someone.

Or you can see someone trying to rob passers-by and try to stop the bandit. You can also take part in time races (you have to fly or run fast through control points), find various useful items, as well as points of interest marked with question or exclamation marks - all this forces you to explore the locations with interest.

As in any MMORPG, DC Universe Online has many other adventures and modes in addition to story missions - "events", raids, and operations. Many of them are also perfectly staged, accompanied by high-quality voice acting and clips, and offer to fight with more serious enemies than in the story missions. Therefore, they are already designed for joint passage with other players. So, in one of the raids we encounter a powerful creature, which was created as a result of Batman and Luthor and their apprentices fighting each other, using the paradox of constant time travel and making heroes and villains work in parallel with each other. And this creature devours time itself.

All of these challenges are designed for different numbers of players (there are solo, there are two or four players and even an 8 on 8 format), and some have rating and skill level requirements for users. In addition, after the first playthrough, you can try the challenge again on a higher difficulty.

And in PvP battles between players, which become available after level 10, you often need to choose one of the legendary heroes - the same Joker or Batman, for example. This is called "Legends" mode, and in it, unlike the usual PvP-battles, you really can and must play as the greatest heroes and villains - however, you have to manage to learn the features of the fighting style and skills of the character literally on the fly, but it is only more interesting - besides, after the first matches you quickly get used to them.

Both in regular and legendary PvP there are a lot of different modes. Presented the classic deathmatch between two teams (regular deathmatch and Best of Five Deathmatch, where you have to win 3 matches out of 5), capture the flag, rescue hostages, bomb clearance, capture and hold control points, "King of the Mountain" mode, which differs from the previous one in that at least one player must always be in the capture zone. Of particular interest is the Hall of Doom Assault mode, which is divided into two stages - first you must fortify the perimeter, and then fight the enemies, with the first to destroy the four known "supers" and finish off the rest. And in Graviton Tech Recovery mode, teams try to capture gravity equipment and take it to their base in a safe zone.

By the way, each player in the DC Universe Online can equip their own base and even equip, decorate it to their liking. There he is also free to install mods for generators that give different bonuses to the player, train and trade. In place and activities related to the guilds (here are called leagues), which, understandably, also have their own base - in the guilds may consist of up to 500 people, and the leader distributes all the ranks and ranks, from candidates to officers. By participating in various activities, players earn prestige points, which can be spent on creating and moving League bases, learning skills that give bonuses to the entire guild, expanding the League bank.

As you have already understood, one of the main features of DC Universe Online is the possibility to create your own unique superhero or supervillain. There is an option to choose actually a ready-made character, inspired by one or another famous "super" - it will determine its main features and characteristics for you at once. But it is much more interesting to customize everything yourself. It is not only about the choice of gender, appearance features, personal emotions and animations (although the customization of characters in such a game is naturally paid more attention). the main thing is to choose the side of the conflict, mentor, weapon and superpowers. In addition, at the start we choose the method of movement - will you fly through the air, also run as fast as the Flash, or use acrobatics, moving with seven-mile strides.

As for weapons, you can fight with your bare hands (hand-to-hand combat), shoot with a bow, rifle, pistols or even a blaster, use different edged weapons (including staffs, two-handed or one-handed blades) - each has its own branch of combat skills, which we learn as we level up. The choice of weapons also determines the style of combat - each of them gives not only unique skills, but also general bonuses to the character's characteristics. For example, using rifles, among other things, gives +70 to health and +2% to the chance of critical success when using healing. And the use of bare fists in battles strengthens health less (+25), but raises combat power much more noticeably (+70 to Might).

As for the choice of specialization and strength, it affects the role that the character will preferably play. For "tanks", strong fighters on the front line, taking the lion's share of damage, the power of fire or ice is suitable, but for healers it's better to choose nature. "Controllers," who rely on the use of all sorts of skills, rely on intelligence and gadgets. There are also "Damagers" who do the most damage. There are actually more powers (there's also light, earth, water, lightning, rage, and others), but these are the basic, basic ones.

However, in the process of the character's development nobody forbids you to learn various skills, unlock new weapons and pump them up, and even change your roles depending on the current situation. Especially because the combat mechanics encourages switching between different weapons types, stances and combat styles. By the way, the battles themselves in the game are very dynamic and clearly inspired by the combat system from Batman: Arkham Asylum - that is the non target mechanics, when you actively move, dodge, place blocks and use skills, instead of just choosing a target and calling it, and, yawning, pressing the "hot keys". There's also stealth, which allows you to quietly take out enemies.

Additional bonuses and benefits give the installation of artifacts and mods for weapons and equipment (all kinds of armor add different pluses to the characteristics), crafting, "pets", as well as the installation and pumping of the so-called "mainframes" at the base - these are computers that allow you to get special items and techniques for use in battle. In addition, gradually new partners become available to you, who can also be summoned to help in battles - we develop them ourselves, so that they can use their unique skills more effectively.

Naturally, some benefits can be obtained for the notorious donat, that is, by buying something in the in-game store. Moreover, it is possible to subscribe to this conditionally free game to get more daily and weekly rewards, or, for example, to have all possible powers available when creating a character. But it's also possible to play and have fun for free.

No wonder that with so much content and a quality approach to the script, characters, cutscenes, and gameplay itself, DC Universe Online is still a very popular - and quite rare - superhero MMO. At the same time it is actively supported: constantly added new episodes, patches, special events. So don't miss your chance to finally kick Batman's ass as the Joker - or vice versa.

Zarium. December 2022