E3 2013 – PS4, Sony and More!
Sony’s E3 2013 conference happened overnight, and they finally unveiled the PlayStation 4, as well as announcing a price of £349 when the console releases at the end of the year.
Marvel Super Hero Squad Online
Marvel Super Hero Squad Online is a browser based, family-friendly MMO by Gazillion Entertainment, featuring all your favourite Marvel superheroes and a variety of missions and minigames.
The Secret World Drops Subscription Fee
Funcom’s modern-day MMO The Secret World has now dropped their monthly subscription, with full access to the game via the purchase of the game client.
Star Wars: The Old Republic goes F2P
The free to play version of Star Wars: The Old Republic launches today!
DC Universe Online – A Very Quick Look
When I first heard about DC Universe Online, and especially the option to play as a hero or villain of your own design, I was rather interested. However, after my experiences with Aion at that game’s launch, and poor customer service by their developer, I was reluctant to splash the cash on this game till it dropped in price, or unless friends got into it and were sticking with it for a while.
A friend bought the game, and played for the first month, but then didn’t carry a subscription on after that.. however, while at ScampLAN he discovered he had been given some free time on the game, and he kindly let me have a bit of a run around 😀
I decided to play a Villain, so here’s Arcady: a crazy dual pistol-wielding loon, with Illusion as her Power and Flying rather than Acrobatics or Super Speed.
The first missions had me escape Braniac’s ship, learning how to move around, interact with objects and fight.. I found the keys a bit odd to start with, and ended up flying around while I was only supposed to be walking 😉
Once in Gotham, I went to help sow disorder and chaos for The Joker.. starting by fighting the cops who attacked me while I was trying to find my way to the first mission.. more fool them 😉
As I had picked Illusion, the first ability I got was Psychic Blades.. which fire three spinning blades to attack enemies in their path.
Combat was rather easy, and I liked the effects.. I did tend to get carried away though, as it was so easy to do, and the cops spawned quickly, often near enough to aggro straight onto me. Completing most of the quests led straight into others, without the need to go running back to a quest giver or even travel too far, which was great.
I didn’t explore as much as I would have liked.. flying certainly made it feel easy to get around without being interfered with. However, there were quests to do and more abilities to pick up.. so I failed on the exploration front this time.
Entering the warehouse for one mission, I encountered Catwoman, who I ended up helping in a fight against The Huntress..
I thought this was rather cool 🙂
Letting players fight alongside known powerful characters rather than simply following orders from them makes you feel like you’re actually quite powerful in your own right, which is rather appealing.
Afterwards, I was let inside the Funhouse, which featured huge rolling balls that, contrary to expectation, didn’t crush and kill me! The Funhouse turned out to be some kind of bonus-level.. there were various presents laying around for me to collect, with either money or costume items inside.. and it did look rather cool although a little disjointed from the rest of the game. I’m used to bonus levels belonging to arcade games! 🙂
I guess it’s more in keeping with The Joker’s crazy mentality to have you go running around through a building full of bouncing balls and bombs to get your rewards, and more interesting than simply being handed it invisibly during dialogue with an NPC.
After this, I think I may still get DCUO if it ends up in a Steam sale.. I think I could play through enough content during the included month’s game time to be satisfied, though long-term I’d be unlikely to play without friends in the game to go with.