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A quality MMORPG that offers something different

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: May 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I broke down and bought City of Heroes last night. I decided since World of Warcraft isn't slated till November and Matrix Online lost it's publisher that it wouldn't be a problem getting into an MMORPG now (most people can only play one at a time). I must say, I'm impressed. It's much better than Everquest (which I found to be a chore rather than a game). The game is much more simplistic and focuses on the action of being a superhero rather than baking cakes and camping spawn points so you can slay a rat.

In City of Heroes, you start the game as a hero, not as an insect exterminator. You rome around the city helping civilians in need (usually they are being acosted by gang members). You have contacts as well that give you missions. If you complete them, they will introduce you to new contacts who will give you new missions (which of course ramp up in difficulty).

There is no money in the game and no items to collect. You are a superhero, not a gold hording adventurer. There is however a thing called "influence." Influence can be used like money to purchase enhancements to your powers via various methods (such as training, genetic enhancement, technology, etc..) all depending on your origin. You have a class as well that determines what kind of powers you have access to. Together, your origin and class describe what type of character you are.

With out a doubt, the single most impressive thing about this game is character creation. I'm not kidding when I say it may take you hours to generate your character. Not because it it complicated, but because there is so much customization available to designing the look of your character. Each class also has many different paths it can take, so planning that could take some time as well. Or you can simply use the random costume generator, randomly click through the classes and powers and be playing in an instant. I think most people will spend quite a bit of time getting just the right look of their superhero.

Another note about this game is how possible it is to "solo." Most MMORPGs are designed to play with a group and make it extremely difficult to advance (and indeed survive) when playing alone. In this game, several character classes work very well on their own. Still the point of the game is multiplayer. And to that extent, instead of guilds or clans like most games have, this one has superhero groups; form your own superteam. You can also group on the fly with strangers if you wish. This game even has a system that allows characters of widely different levels to group together in the form of "sidekicks." This is great because most games of this type only you to play with other players near your level.

Overall, the game is just simple fun. Grab a few buddies, form a supergroup and save the city.

Fun, but MMORPG veterans be wary

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 13
Date: June 02, 2004
Author: Amazon User

(Please note: this review is intended for those who have played or are familiar with at least one MMORPG [UO, EQ, AC, etc.] and have taken or can take the initiative to look up basic information about the game on their own)

City of Heroes (CoH) offers a fun, drastically different MMORPG experience: playing a super hero in a world where superheroes are as common as the criminal organizations they fight. Create a character, pick your power sets, design your costume and you've pretty much gone through 90% of the customization of the game. Because CoH has no true economy or item system to speak of, your focus will not be the accumulation of wealth. Your character's appearance is determined at creation and cannot be modified ever again, which in combination with the lack of items and economy, leaves little for many players of MMORPGs to focus on. After all, what's the point of playing if you can't quest for that ultra-powerful weapon that glows and only two other people on your server have?

All you have in City of Heroes is your reputation as a player. The game is a true roleplayer's dream world: all you have to focus on is your character's growth and involvement with your fellow players. Those who've always liked comic books and envision themselves as a superhero of ANY variety will have a field day in CoH: you learn of a drug lab in an abandoned warehouse, enter alone or with a team and fight hordes (literally 10-20 at a time in some cases) of thugs. You see a mugging as you wander the street and utter a battlecry as you punch the offender's face in: the bystanders flee in a very realistic way and the victim you save runs up to thank you when you're done.

But the experience would lose its charm quickly if the actual game dynamics weren't up to par.

The combat system is pretty innovative: it requires more conscious thought and team tactics than most other games. Unlike other MMORPGs, where every party member follows a formula that can be macroed with relative ease, CoH's combat is fast paced because almost every encounter entails multiple enemies at once. While crowd control certainly exists, the dynamics of ordinarily straightforward roles like Tanks and Nukers is changed drastically when faced with multiple opponents.

CoH's designers also clearly had your friends in mind when they made the game. Unlike FFXI, which made it a battle to even get onto the same server as your friends, CoH provides numerous ways to ensure you're still able to play with your friends. The acceptable level spread for a party is much wider than most games, and parties of level differences in excess of 5 are not uncommon. The sidekick system also allows you and a friend to play together regardless of your level difference: sidekick, and poof, almost the same level as your friend (on a temporary basis, and without the additional abilites gained by leveling).

The world isn't very big, but you have incentive to explore it all as the mission system takes you to randomly generated locations around the various city areas. This has the added bonus of removing camping problems from the game: when your team takes a mission, you are the only ones able to enter the (randomly generated) mission location.

Character customization is about average. Aside from the costume possibilities (NCSoft lists the number of possible permutations in excess of 2.0 x 10^27), once you've picked your power sets, you're going to have the same basic abilities as everyone else. The ability to choose from power pools is nice, but without equipment, there are clearly limits. Enhancing your powers with (aptly named) enhancements allows for a limited amount of customization: do you want your energy beam to travel farther, do more damage, or hit more consistently?

On a more technical note, CoH had one of the cleanest, smoothest MMORPG launches to date, with relatively few bugs and almost no server problems (I have yet to encounter either myself). They offer no live customer support, but their CS team e-mails you back about issues promptly and with a minimum of automation.

On the whole, CoH is an interesting experience geared toward those interested in roleplaying and character progression as opposed to ph4t l3wt. If that sounds interesting to you, or if you have a desire to put on a mask and combat evil, get the game.

***THIS REVIEW REFERS TO THE BETA RELEASE***

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 21
Date: April 08, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Right now, I am more excited about the potential of this game, especially as a MMORPG, than any other game I have tried but after playing the beta for a couple of days now, there are 2 things to remember that may change before the public version is released that I don't think will be changed unless there are major complaints as these 2 things seem to be inherent in the game structure:
1) You HAVE to play thru a tutorial before you actually begin the game, but that's OK, as you get a level up out of this--just remember you START WITH A TUTORIAL so DON'T start heading to the hot zone and start plugging away as there are NO respawns--the enemies are only there to help you pass the tutorial and once you kill them, THAT'S IT--I can't stress the importance of this enough as I spent a whole afternoon/evening milling around the hot zone after killing about 10 enemies with all the other heroes and none of them knew what was going on and they either thought it was a bug or there was an area we hadn't figured out how to access with more enemies;
2) Once you pass the tutorial, you will be offered a choice of two areas to be sent to to start your life as a new hero and you will be given tasks by your "supervisor"--once you get your task, BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU GO as this MMORPG is not like others where you walk out in the open and there are all sorts of different enemies to choose from, some below your level, some on your level, etc.--in this game, you will have to travel to a SPECIFIC area to complete your task--if you just wander around, 9 chances out of 10 you will soon run into a street robbery and get instantly killed as they are LEVELS above you;
That's the most important things--the only other thing I have is a bug where when you have to enter a building in your travels (and you will) either entering or leaving the building or both will get you stuck in a black screen where you can hear your hero doing things in conjunction with your keystrokes but you can't see him/her--in that case, just toggle to your desktop and CTRL+ALT+DELETE and end COH as a task and re-enter the game and you will find you will be at that same place and the game is saved!

Really Good

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: August 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is positivley one of the best MOG's I've ever played. Bear in mind though, this is only my opinion, and this game is not for a hardcore-six-hours-a-day-every-day gamer. More on that later. As supposed to games like everquest, where you could spend three months killing bunnies and rats and still not get to level five, this game starts you off beating up thugs, and lets you level at a nice pace.

The character generation system in this game is probably one of the most stunning I've ever seen, only to be outdone by Earth and Beyond's generation system. You can make anything from a ultra-muscular three foot tall pink midget with leapord boots to a seven foot tall robotic behemoth to a sleek and silent ninja. As I said before...Stunning.

The graphics in this game are very good, but your going to need some heavy equipment to be able to play it with all of the bells and whistles on. Even with my seven year old computer, I can still see reflections, smoke, and costumes crisply and clearly. This also helps in bringing out each characters individuality.

The game structure is very simple: Talk to contact, do mission, return to contact, and repeat. The missions are very simple, and don't usually involve doing anything more than killing a certain amount of thugs, killing a boss, or disabling a few labs, collecting a few stolen corpses, etc. Simplicity is key in this game. Once done with a mission, contacts will offer you a new one, or introduce you to a new contact, and sometimes you get better options at a store.

Which brings us to our next category; Items. There are but two items in this game, Enhancements and inspirations. Enhancements, well...Enhance. You can add them to a superpower to increase damage, speed, range, etc. Inspiratioins are one shot use items, much like potions. They let you recover health, make you do more damage for a short period of time, etc. Hardcore gamers would complain that there is no option to create items. I say good riddance. I for one don't want to spend eight hours searchiing for an amulet to add to my mold of Nak'shuba to make a broadsword of light. I just want to go out there, take down a few baddies, and level up.

The game, however, costs a fortune. In addition to the initial 50.00, there is also a $15 fee per month. There is a trial period though, so after the first month, you'll probably know if you want to make the investment.

This game is very user friendly. A power is triggered by a press of a button, while anything else can be triggered by a menu, or by a quick typing command. Do you want to join a team? No more advertising yourself in city of heroes, or begging that elf over there if you can be in a team with him. Finding a team is as simple as pressing a button. Using the "Seek Team" option allows you to show your name on a menu, where people can see your name, level, and powers easily, and invite you if they wish. Using the "Find Team" option, you can use the aforementioned menu to locate willing teammates at invite them.

Which brings us to our final catagory, the people that actually play the game. When I joined city of heroes, I was expecting to find about thirty people telling me that I was a stupid n00b. After getting ready to be thouroghly insulted I was taken by surprise. Just about everyone was willing to help me out! A level thiry dropped by and helped me take out a bunch of thugs, all while showing me the ropes of the game. I couldn't belive that someone was taking the time to help me instead of spiting in my newbie face. Granted, there are a few bad apples in every bunch, but the good people far outweigh the bad.

In conclusion, CoH is a great game for a casual gamer, or someone who wants to play for a few hours a week. And while this game is pretty expensive, and not for the kind of people who want to go on a 14 hour mission, this game will keep you busy for a long time to come.

Then again, I'm just a gamer. A gamer very bitter towards Everquest.

I never looked so good in spandex

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 14
Date: February 17, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I had been interested in MMORPGs and I loved comics. City of Heroes (COH) is the best comic oriented game ever. It breaks down like this.

[Backdrop]
Fictional Paragon City is being overrun by various villains both super and ordinary. Paragon is realized in an amazing amount of visual and audio detail, people walk the streets, cars drive the roads, boats in the harbor, night & day etc.. The city's zones are HUGE!

[Character Creation]
You can easily spend hours tweaking all the costume options that are available for your heroes. There are literally billions of possible combinations. (With issue 4 coming out soon it will add even more costume options.) You can make your hero truly your own.

[Controls]
The game controls are VERY easy to learn without being simplistic. They make it very easy to get going in the game and offers more depth with advanced options. Using your powers is as easy as clicking a target and a power icon in your power slot. Anyone who has played NeverWinter Nights will recognize this type of control setup. It's played from a 3rd person perspective and offers you total control of the view of your character.

[Graphics]
The visuals are very good and support playable framerates on video cards even a couple years old. The power effects and animations are really convincing and draw you into the action.

[Community]
It's very easy to communicate with your fellow heroes with several chat options (Local, team, supergroup, broadcast, buddy list) and even in game Emails. I've been a COH player for almost a year and there have been 3 MAJOR updates. These are MAJOR updates because they added things like new zones, enemies, powers, options, gameplay upgrades. These have all been FREE. I don't think you'll find a better level of support from any other MMOG. Minor bug fixes are handled automatically as needed as well.

[Overall]
Pros: Great character/costume development. Great support for the game with free updates. Great gameplay. Nice player community. Good leveling curve. Many types of game play available, (offensive, support, defense, buffing, debuffing).
With new Issues (Free Major Updates) coming out every few months COH really holds it's value and keeps players engaged.

Cons: Only one small con, there isn't really much "Role Playing", this is a massive online superhero game, not really an RPG.

Truth, Justice, and the ...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: May 17, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Finally, one can have a pink mohawk, orange spandex, and a tail ... and not get laughed at (as far as you know!). I am a comic book fan and am familiar with MMORPG's and I have enjoyed this game completely!
I played a lot of Asheron's Call and Galaxies in the past and I had fun, but for me personally, I just didn't like the crafting and nonsense work. I already work 10 hrs a day and don't want to work another hour and a half when I get home! In City of Heroes, you just go out and take a bite outta crime! No messing around with surveying and scavenging, just plain old combat. It's easy to pop on for 30 minutes here and there for a little crime fighting.
Another thing I really like about City of Heroes is that I can still enjoy it on a 56k connection. Yes, I am still one of those puds on dial-up! When I installed games like AC and Galaxies, the update patches took in the 2-4 hour range ... ouch! City of Heroes took me a total of 20 minutes, that's from install to update to character creation. Surprisingly, in-game lag is not bad. I have had maybe two moments of frustration when I had to log off and back on, a lot less than in other MMORPG's.
The combat in the game is pretty cool! Mostly point and click style with strategy and the ability to run away if needed. You can chase down thugs or just stand around a corner and snipe them from a distance. It's fun moving from building top to building top ... yes you can jump in this game. One of my characters has come to the point where she can hover, which is pretty cool to survey the city or take some beam shots at unsuspecting criminals. I can't wait to fly ... up, up, and away!
Unlike some of the reviewers so far, I like the graphics in this game. I can't run under full graphics settings, but I am still able to see the details in the city and the colored blasts of my character's super powers. The city changes as a day goes by (light and dark). One thing I wish the game had was weather and its effects. It would be cool to break up a crime in a dark alley, while its raining cats and dogs!
Character creation is very detailed! You can create a female, male, or superhuge hero and then customize height and size within those three categories. The outfits choices are real meaty and in the end, chances are, no two heroes will look like one another. For me personally, it was finally an opportunity for me to create some of the RPG superheroes I had made in a dice game as a kid.
Anyways, I am really enjoying this game! Which is cool because after Galaxies (Star Wars is very loved in my house) I was ready to swear-off MMORPG's completely! I am glad that I gave-in and tried this one out. If you have never played a MMORPG and want to start, then this game is a good starter game. Easy combat system, easy chat system, and easy levelling system ... good for newbies!
Grab your pink spandex, paint your hair blue, and head to Paragon City to foil the plans of Dr. Killpatient ... we could always use more heroes!

This is a job for <your name here>!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: August 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I'll admit that I went into this gaming experience very biased. I have been a fan of comics and superheroes ever since I can remember (some of my first toys were the Mego super hero action figures), and from the minute I heard that this game was coming out I was dying to try it. I even went so far as to finally upgrade my computer's video card just so that I could play.

I am hooked. There's no other way to put it. I just finally got the ability to fly (in the game, of course) ;) and I must've spent a couple hours just flitting around reliving childhood fantasies. I find myself thinking about Paragon City during the day and itching to get home so that I can get back online.

This said, the gameplay is largely repetetive, as some other reviewers have mentioned. I can foresee this getting irksome in a little time. For now there are tons of new powers that I can try out (like flight, whoopie!), and new character designs to experiment with. There are also new and interesting baddies as you progress from zone to zone in the city. What I'm banking on, though, is the fact that this is an ever-expanding universe with new updates (delivered free by download) all the time. This means that there may be new missions, new enemies, maybe even new powers and such, on a semi-regular basis. That fact made me give the overall rating as a four rather than a three.

My recommendation: If you are a fan of super heroes and have a computer that meets the requirements for this game (and if you can afford the $50 for the game and the $15 monthly charge) then you should really try this out. It may be just a hack and slash (or, in this case, pow! and zap!) RPG, but it's a really fun example of the genre, and the online aspect provides a depth of experience that is quite enjoyable.

Great game balance leads to great MMORPG.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: May 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

City of Heroes is probably the best pure combat MMORPG to come along in a couple of years. The freshness of playing a superhero as well as not being completely pigeonholed into skills determined by some predefined class are the base for a good game. The fact that no single build can dominate the game (or advance without working with others) makes it great.

Gameplay is simple. Basically, your job is to go out and kill villains through quests or simply walking around the streets of Paragon City. Lots of villains. That's it. There's no crafting or economy to speak of; the only two commodities are the equivalent of heal/buff potions and enhancements to your basic attacks/defenses/regens/moves that require replenishment as you advance . The world is beautifully constructed as a big city - think a less dark Gotham - with the graphics and sound good enough so you'll need something running at least 2GHz and 64MB of video ram to play.

Where this really shines, though, is in the game balance and character development. The first key is that its very difficult to advance without teaming up given the sheer number of villains during encounters. While soloing is definitely doable for any of the classes depending on which powers you pick, it just is simply slow going after a while. Forcing people to team makes the second key - great balance within groups - brilliant. While there are some well-tested classes here - the tank, the healer, the ranged attacker, the enchanter - the implementation makes no one class strong enough to dominate combat (tanks take a ton of damage but have weak attacks, for instance) and ideally you need a good mix to succeed. Finally, the last key is that within the classes themselves there are hundreds of different attacks/defenses/moves that vary effectiveness based on the critter; once you throw in buffs to those skills you're talking hundreds of thousands of variations for your character. Your style of play is set when you pick your class, but you're definitely not pigeonholed.

The only caveat to COH is the current lack of PvP, which will be a bigger issue in several months once characters hit high levels and run out of things to kill. However, sometime soon we'll have City of Villains released - and the combination of the two games should lead to some naturally great PvP battles. Until then, one of the best games in years.

A Review at the End of Beta

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: April 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have played this game for the last two weeks of beta, and have had a great deal of fun most of the time. I'll divide the various aspects of the game up:

Technical: Admittedly I have fairly high end machines, a Centrino 1.6 GHz laptop and a 2.6 GHz Athlon desktop. Both ran the game perfectly with no noticable lag (though some rubber banding at points). I have read on the forums that people with machines in the 500-900 MHz range were also able to run the game, though not as well. There were no crashes to desktop, although I was disconnected from the server a few times. However, compared to any other MMORPG that's come out, this (and Lineage 2) are the most stable and complete games yet.

Visual and Sound: Quite stunning. The world is colorful, the variety in costumes amazing, and the sound, well, its good, if a bit short. Sometimes the repetative sound effects can be a bit annoying.

Gameplay: Should be familiar or easy to learn for almost any gamer. Uses WASD controls with mouse look, easy to get around, has targetting with tab. You can run in first person mode, but I've found it not to be terribly useful.

Content: Perhaps the game's only weakness. There is not yet enough. Its nowhere near as empty as AO or SWG were at launch, and there are a variety of missions to keep you occupied. Still more mission variety, more task forces, and in general more of everything is needed to give the game long term appeal.

In conclusion, this game is not for hard core gamers (go see Lineage 2), but for the casual gamer or the gamer who enjoys cooperative instead of competative environments. For you, this is definitely a game to check out (especially if you ever liked comic books). I expect it will have the smoothest launch to date.

Welcome to Paragon

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 22
Date: April 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Let me just say, that his game is worth the money. I was a BETA player, and this game will keep you busy for at least a year. Those who judge it just by the price would totally change their mind if they played 10 minutes of this game.

First of all, you get to choose you Origin and Archetype. The Origin is basically for role play value, it won't change the effects of your powers. You can choose from different Archetypes, like Blaster, who can dish out tons of damage, but can't take it very well, while a Defender can take tons of damage, but can only do so much as pinch his enemy.

After that, you choose your actual powers, and depending on your Archetype, there are certain powers to choose from. If you're a Blaster, you can choose fireballs, lighting bolts, energy beams, ect. A Scrapper can choose from many melee attacks, like Martial Arts, or close range weapons.

Then you get to ccreate your actual character, and here's a warning. Make sure you have lots of time for this, as it will take forever. In a good way however.

There are so many different things you can choose from here: Tights, armor, cybernetics, many different colors, face types, and more.

Next up is creating your ID card. This consists of creating a name, battlecry, and bio. Make sure to have many different name ideas ahead of time, it's almost garunteed your "Captain Atom" idea will be taken. It's good to go off of your powers and costume for your name. It's strange to see a guy with cool armor and lightning coming out of his hands with a name like "Larry".

After that, you enter the tutorial, which tells you how to play the game, with the main controls. Then, you get transported into Paragon City, where you can fight muggers, meet friends, create super groups, and just have fun.

I highly reccommend you buy this game. It's great for comic geeks, and gamers alike.

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