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Review: City of Heroes
City of Heroes, is the comic book insopired MMO Game developed by Cryptic Studios and published by NCsoft, where players can discard their secret identities and take on the role of crimefighters within the fictional Paragon City.
We got to spend a bunch of time in after release and found out just why as kids we loved pretending to be good guys! It was not until we became teens that we wanted to be the villians! Check out why we wax nostaligic and enjoy the game.
City of Heroes - Div Devlin (08-10-04)
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Div checks the
news for crime!
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The Background
City of Heroes is Cryptic Studios and NCSoft's foray into the superhero genre of MMORPGs. The idea came around in 1999, and has since developed into the wildly successful game that we play today. Set in the fictional city of Paragon (Which is in Rhode Island for some god unknown reason) you explore the richly detailed city districts (ie zones) as one of the city's protecting superheroes.
Why any villain would want to set a base of operations in a city that contains thousands of superheroes is beyond me (most likely the same folks caught on Stupidest Criminals Evah videos), but be that as it may, there are quite a few colorful gangs that accost you as you patrol the streets. In a nutshell, the game is easy to pick up, learn, and start doing missions or street hunting in. You pick your Origin (only affects what Enhancements you can buy and some of your contacts) and your Archetype (your character's class), then choose your Primary and Secondary power sets. After level 6, you also have access to pool powers which are available to all Archetypes.
Leveling is handled by arresting (uh huh...arresting them with an assault rifle, sure...)various villains for experience. You can also do missions for experience. Missions range from kill XX number of a certain gang type to rescuing hostages. While the stories and gang types surrounding the missions change, mostly it's just killing people and finding shinies to click. There are also Task Force missions that are a string of related missions culminating in the arrest of an archvillian, and Trials which are yet another special type of mission (though there aren't many of those ingame yet).
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| The Heroic Red Ninja!
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There is no loot. Enhancements are dropped and buyable items that you slot into powers to increase various attributes of the power, and Inspirations are basically one shot potions. The drops are random and can go to anyone in the group itself. The currency that you use to buy your enhancements and inspirations is called Influence, given from arrests, completed missions, and citizens that you rescue.
The Unique
One of the main attractions to the game is the premise. A modern day environment running around as the centerpiece of many children's daydreams, the superhero, simply cannot fail to bring in many players, both MMORPG veterans and the comic book clan. The character creation process is one that you will spend many, MANY hours in. Guaranteed. Even if you don't want to play super powered dress up, there are still so many combinations available tat you just can't help but skim through them. A few hours later, you'll snap out of your reverie for the sheer robustness of it and actually make it to the tutorial. And if you screw up during creation and don't realize it until later levels, don't worry, the effeminate Serge will freshen your dated look.
The Good
The combat is fast, fun, and easy to learn, making this one of the most accessible MMORPGs for beginners. As mentioned above, the character creation process is fun, leading many to live a life of alt-holism. Power selection is fairly diverse within each archetype, so you'll find yourself rolling characters just to try out a concept or random idea. You feel like a super hero right away, being able to jump into combat immediately. No more getting pwned by a little rabbit (unless it's Pookie..).
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| Chilling!
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You can also pick up and get out of this game fairly quickly, stopping the 10 hour game sessions unless you really want to go for that long. Your subscription (at $15/month) also comes with a comic book. While many believe that the quality is not anything compared to that of other comics, it's free, so not much can be said about that. City of Heroes has lent itself very well to a variety of fan sites, web comics, and other interesting fan ventures, some of which can be found here, here, and here.
The Bad
Not all is well in Paragon, however. While the combat is fast and intuitive, it is basically all you get to do in game. After a while, it can get old, alhough the higher up in level you go, the more interesting the gang types seem to get. Many of the people coming to this game descend from a great number of other MMORPGs, and are used to the content that has been built up over years and years. Because of this, most are rather disappointed with what is available in game. But come on people, it's only been out a few months, who knows what's around the corner (well the devs, so if someone gets the ropes and gags..).
The Future
The 2nd issue (update) is due out soon, with the main attraction being capes. So cast off your towels and get a good virtual cape to sleep in the streets in! (because after all, the landlords are too good to give us superheroes a home. Half the doors are locked when you get to them! Bastards).
They are also already working on the expansion, due out sometime next year. City of Villains will allow players to engage in consensual PvP (although it's been hinted that some form of pvp will be implemented prior to CoV's release), and add in other features such as player bases, although how everything is getting put in is rather up in the air.
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| Flying In Any Game Rocks!
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The level cap is supposedly not being adjusted upwards for awhile yet (it is currently sitting at 50), so content for the midlevels is most likely what will be included in the upcoming patches. This is a good thing and for the casual gamer, you will not tire out. For the power gamers though, you are going to quickly find yourself bored with nothing to do as the Dev Team needs to catch up.
The End Game
Just like any other game this isn't for everyone, but quite a few people are using it as a stopover for a few other major titles due out this fall (if they do not get delayed). Whether they will stay after those games are released is pretty much up in the air, although there's a pretty good chance that if things continue improving CoH might be able to step up and be a contender. For a quick MMORPG fix City of Heroes seems to have mastered a fun experience, but staying in it for the long run is somewhat dubious right now, as many people seem to be hooked for a month or two and then just lose interest, at least from what I've seen personally.
All in all, City of Heroes is a solid game with a remarkable stable launch and high sales figures over the last few months. Hopefully this trend of excellence will continue on and make City of Heroes the game to play. For me though, I'll need to come back when City of Villians is released, as I crave PvP.
Discuss: Discard those towels and play the comic roles!
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