Well, it's been another long trip and I find myself in another MMO kind of mood.  So this time, I've decided to try DC Universe Online.  I've been hoping for a free trial for some time now, but decided to take a chance and give the game a try while paying the full price.

I now understand why there is no free trial.  This isn't a very good game.

Now, there are a small number off good elements to it.  For starters, if you're on the PC version there is a fairly innovative mouse-based combat control scheme.  Your weapon-based powers are all done by pressing, holding down, or using some combination of the mouse buttons.  This is pretty cool, but your actual power-based abilities can't be used the same way and use the number buttons instead.  This makes moving during combat awkward for a keyboard/mouse combo.

The other good things about the game is the voice acting, which includes a number of A+ cast members from the various DCAU series.  Every character, right down to the minor mission peddlers, is voiced.

Lets start with character creation.  You can play as a hero or villain, with some missions overlapping between the two.  You choose a mentor, who acts as your initial source for missions and speaks to you on a regular basis.  You choose a power set from a group of six and a weapon set from a group of about 10.  These two sets are unrelated to each other and advance at completely different rates.

You also get to make a 'costume'.  My main complaint about this is that your costume can only consist of three locked colors.  Now, you can add variety by choosing from a wide range of skin and hair tones, but your costume is locked at three.  How crazy is that?  Did the creators not bother to check out the costume creator on City of Heroes or Champions Online?

Combat is surprisingly annoying, even at lower levels.  In some outdoor areas, enemies respawn at shockingly fast rates.  A number of my 5 level characters have been swarmed by 6 or more enemies at a time at inopportune moments.  This, combined with the keyboard/mouse scheme, makes fighting an unpleasant click-fest.  I've gotten headaches from overuse of my right index finger.

But if combat is too hard, couldn't you team up with another player?  If there's a way to do it, I haven't seen it.  DCUO supports mics and headsets, but at any given time, I don't see more than 3 or 4 players in my region.  The documentation isn't entirely clear on how to talk to them.  Is everyone really able to rush to the 30 level endgame so fast that you can't find support at lower levels?  There isn't any incentive to socialize at all.

The quality of the software is questionable as well.  The game is based on the same Unreal 3 variant as Arkham Asylum.  That's fine, if you want the entire DC universe to look like Gotham City.  Does Metropolis need to look so gritty, though?  Does the Flash?  Does Green Lantern?

Several users have mentioned problems running on multi-core processors, and have had to set their affinity to a single core in order to run the game properly.  Sony Online Entertainment has also admitted that their software has problems with several brands of routers.  Seriously?  Multiple cores and routers have been a staple of computer users for years.  Sony, one of the innovators of the MMO, has a problem with these two technologies?

Even the launcher is an insult to gaming.  You can't even see server status on the launcher.  You have to click a link and go to DCUO's forums in order to check on the current status.

I get the feeling that DCUO isn't even a real MMO.  The entire game is just a prelude until you get to 30 and can participate in the more action-oriented PVP events.  That isn't worth $14.95 a month.

What a waste of a good license.