DC Universe Online - First Impressions

Inspired by - Green Lantern, Superman and the Joker

We've been getting a bit bored with most of the games we've been playing lately, so when Cold suggested we try DC Universe Online, I was quite happy to give it a try, especially as it's free to play.

It was about a 20 Gb download so that took a while but once I got in to the character creation screen, I was happy to see so many options! You choose from a few basic body shapes, next is the skin type and then you can either choose a look based on existing heroes and villains or you can create your own. You have about 10-15 options for every gear slot as well as hair styles. Once you've chosen your look, you can customise the color too - either an overall color scheme or you can go into each piece of gear.

You choose whether you want to play as a hero or a villain, then you choose your fight style (fire, ice, mental etc) and you also get to choose a mentor. You also get to choose your method of movement - I chose flight for my hero and Cold chose acrobatic. Both take some getting used to but I love the flying bit - seems much quicker than walking or running everywhere!

In the free to play version, you get 2 character slots and a choice of three mentors on each side but if you pay to play then those options greatly increase. The mentor bit only changes the storyline once you get into game so if you choose Superman for example, you don't necessarily have to be a flying character.

Villain Nev!

Once you actually get into the starting zone, you play through a tutorial type area. The combat system is totally different to anything I've played before and it's taking a while to get the hang of it. We made it to level 10 last night and I still don't know what all my combos do!

The worst part for me was arriving at the Justice League's Watchtower. It's a multi-level rabbit warren and the quests there are designed to show you around but there's no obvious signposts, just a big yellow arrow on the side of your mini-map. That's fine until you realise there are levels above & below you so you then have to back track to find stairs to get to your objective!

We had a lot of fun though and we even did a dungeon - although I'm not sure dungeon is the right word - maybe a group instance would be a better description! That was fun although Cold and I both died a couple of times through just not knowing our way around and taking on too many mobs.

I'm going to create a villain to play on my own as we can only play together a couple of evenings a week. I think I'll get better if I can go at my own pace without trying to keep up with the super speed that Cold plays at! There's a lot to learn and a few bits are frustrating me already but I'm sure I'll work those out once I make some combo notes and have time to read all the skill details!

It's definitely worth a try if you're looking for something different to play. If you play already, I'd love to add you to my friends list and maybe we can play together sometime. Leave a comment below and we can get that organised :)

(500 Words Challenge - Day 4 Word Count 585)

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