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City of Heroes 3 years and still loving it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I cant tell you how many games over the years I wasted my money on. City of Heroes is the only game I was ever completely satisfied with. Not only great graphics, fun gameplay, interesting people, truly versatile character creation, endless expansions... i could go on and on. Ive been playing for 3 years. I have both heroes and villains. Team and solo play very satisfying and fun. Veteran players are mostly helpful and eager to assist newbies to the game. I tended to be negative to the additions of player vs. player zones, arena competition and the new invention/economy system but to my surprise over time I have grown to love them. I dont do pvp much because the adrenaline rush does not mix well with my coffee habit ;). Each time you create a character you can choose to take the tutorial which does a great job of explaining all the mechanics of the game (wait until your first time flying! ((level 14)) One of the best things about this game is you choose what you want to participate in and how involved you will be. You even get to change your difficulty for missions (five settings). Be warned that your "real life" may suffer from neglect (lol). Do make sure you have a good/fast internet connection and at least 256mb of video card ram. I have played on lower end/older systems ok but you will love it more if you have a true gaming system.

Honestly Impressed

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Over the years, I have played many MMOs and eventually most have reached the point where the game has lost its polish and the flaws in the design grow so obvious that I can no longer enjoy it. After starting to get burnt out on World of Warcraft in 2005, I turned my attention to the City of Heroes. I have not once stopped my subscription with it since then. Furthermore, never have I been more impressed with the apparent love that they put into the game with everything they've done with it. They have released content that other MMOs would label as expansions and charge money and Cryptic has released them for FREE. Their only expansion, City of Villains, is the equivalent of an entire new game added on top of the massive world that already exists with Heroes.

Their greatest feature is without a doubt the character customization. It has had so many options available from the jump and it has only expanded exponentially since release. There is even a forum topic devoted to the requests of players for new costume pieces and he does listen to what the players have requested.

The one thing that you will hear the most complains about is Enhancement Diversification ("ED"). I honestly do not feel any of the pain that the others claim to have from it being implemented. The designers wanted it this way. It is their vision of how the game is supposed to be. Many other MMOs have done the same, most definitely World of Warcraft! Believe me. I know. I tried out Burning Crusade when it was released and it was even more frustrating than when I was playing it back so many years ago.

While the strongest feature is the creation, the gameplay feels as close to accurate portrayal of heroics than any other graphic game. If you make a suitable character and learn how to play well enough, you can make a character that CAN wade into a huge group of villains and come out of it ready for more. Though, you can make so many different character types that I think anyone's reasonable ideas can be satisfied with what is out there.

So if you are a fan of superheroes and like playing MMOs, you should at least give City of Heroes a shot. Get on, make a hero, and save the world! If you are not sure, go check out the official website to see what is coming up with Issue 11: A Stitch in Time!

Just Plain Fun

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First let me start by giving you a bit about my experience with City of Heroes (COH). I have been playing off and on since beta and overall I have enjoyed the game. I have leveled to the highest obtainable level and have experienced most of the the game has to offer. For this review I'll be leaving out some of the finer details regarding the gameplay mechanics because as with all MMO's that changes pretty frequently. If you'd like information on some of those details I'd recommend you take a quick look at the game's forums to get up to date info.

With all that said I think for those just getting into MMO's (Massively Multiplayer Online) or may find the other's available this is a great game to pick up. I might also add that for those who have had their fair share of the fantasy themed MMO's with their swords and orcs City of Heroes is a great alternative.

COH keeps the archetypes simple, at least it looks that way on the surface, which is great if you're just starting out. You'll find each archetype has an obvious strength/weakness and a role their designed to perform in group situations. One of the great things about COH versus other MMO's is that you'll find that you don't have to have the "perfect" group combination to experience most of the game. It is possible to do missions without the coveted "tank" or "healer" role, it may not always be as easy but it by no means impossible as the mechanics in other MMO's have taught you.

Character creation,as you've probably discovered by now, is one place the game really shines. The limits are almost that of your creativity, it is not uncommon to play the game for months or even years and still not see a character similar to your own. From capes to chains you really can create just about any look you'd like, although some costume pieces must be unlocked later in the game. I recommend you take a look at some of the screenshots of the various character models in the game if you have not done so already.

The graphics of COH in my opinion really are stunning, the character models reflect the classic superhero body structures and the city itself is simply amazing. Power effects are great initially, but in time you may start to be annoyed by some of the toggle (on until you turn them off) abilities, especially if you're one of the melee classes. Each zone of the city has it's own feel and style, anything from the dark gloom of ghost towns to the hustle and bustle of a modern day metropolis. One of my favorite pass times in the game is simply logging in and just flying around the city.

When it comes to how long this game will hold you, for most gamers it won't be as long what you may be used to in other MMO's. To me COH seems to lack a staying value, after so long it begins to lose it's appeal and it starts to have a "been there done that" feel to it. So while still a great game I find I can spend about a month or two at a time with it before I feel the need to move on.

COH is a great game when it's all said and done, but don't expect to play this game for years to come. I find that the game is great in small doses or as a break from other games. If you're just starting out with MMO's or not interested in some of the alternatives you can't go wrong by picking up a copy.

A great concept, but lacks depth

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: April 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Most people enjoy City of Heroes and City of Villians. At least for a while. I own both games, and both games play pretty much the same. The classes are virtually identicle, except that instead of the "Defender" you have the "Mastermind". The game has added features since release, from bases and lairs to unlockable classes and the ability to store several costumes. But overall, this great concept falls short of expectations.
The game is basically an action RPG. You do various randomly generated missions, get experience and influence (which is money) then get more abilities. Do this a few hundred times or so and you've built your character as powerful as it will ever be.
Honestly, this game will show you everything there is to see within the first few days. Though it may sound harsh, there are plenty of single player games out there with more replayability. Even with the newest additions that help the game, there isn't enough depth for an MMO you pay $15/month for.
However, the people that do play this game create an amazing community. Getting into a good supergroup (or villian group) may keep you playing for months. If you like to roleplay, this game may appeal to you, even if the sometimes mind-numing repetitive action doesn't. Good role-playing may even be enough to keep the game interesting.
City of Heroes or City of Villians is a great concept. It IS fun for a little while, but if you are expecting to be entertained for months...you may want to look elsewhere. City of Heroes is one of those games that may collect dust for months after you get bored, then you decide to active your account for a month or two, play a little, then get bored again. That goes to show how powerful the concept itself is, but its too bad there isn't more to keep you engaged.

Character creation is worth it alone, devoted developers are a bonus.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Consider my rating 4 1/2 stars.

The character creation is still the best of any MMO despite being 3+ years old and gives COH unlimited replay value on the character creation alone. But the best part of COH are the devoted developers. I have never played another MMO that had as devoted developers as City of Heroes does! They constantly come out with free expansions and are always doing things that improve the game. Honestly, COH was only a 4 star game when it came out but because of the devoted developers it has gone up to 4 1/2. The reality in the new MMO world is people play many different MMOs now and very few exclusively but which ones do they keep going back to? There are only a few games that people keep going back to and City of Heroes is one of them, especially when you get an inspiration for a new character.

Very fun, but incredibly glitchy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 5
Date: March 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I got this game around November/December last year, and although I enjoyed the game, I wished someone had warned me about a few things before I bought it, so I decided to write a review to do just that. Note that this is just MY experience, yours might be entirely different.

Let's start with the good. The character creation is simply wonderful. It's one of the (in my opinion) most fun aspects of gameplay. I love creating a character, shaping their origin and powers, etc. Oodles and oodles of fun, a veritable barrel full of snazzy monkeys. The game itself is a lot of fun as well, letting you live out childhood fantasies of flying about and being adored by the defenseless populace as you take down hordes of nefarious villians. The evil you face is varied and creative, and the missions are usually pretty interesting (although I get the urge to throttle someone the second I hear the words "bank mission"). The graphics are fantastic as well - I once thought about playing in "safe mode" with reduced graphics, but couldn't bear it before even seeing beyond what my character'd look like.

Now the bad.

After getting over the surprise that you pay for the game upfront and THEN pay regular payments afterwards (#&%@^*!!!), I noticed off the bat that after waiting for it to install, you have to wait for all the patches to install. Being an impatient person who was excited about getting to play the game, that was a kick in the head. After finally getting through that, I realize just how slowly EVERYTHING in the game loads. Normally I'd consider my computer on the fast side (not to mention new and with dsl), but you could grow gray hairs waiting for it to finish loading - if it doesn't disconnect halfway through.

Which is my main concern with City of Heroes. Losing connection to mapserver. I mentioned above that I am an impatient sort. I am also a violent person. So you can imagine how the words "Lost connection to mapserver" have me narrowly restraining myself from clawing through my monitor. Especially if I'm in the middle of a fight. Just recently it froze just as I had three Circle of Thorn members advancing upon me, and by the time I had gotten out of the game with a Ctrl/alt/del that completely screwed up my graphics and slowed down the computer, rebooted, clicked through everything that pops up when I log in, opened up City of Heroes, and waited for it to load, I came back to see my character crumpled on the grass and it telling me to go to the hospital (where I could earn some lovely experience debt). Oh joy. In fact, the last time I tried to get back on after that happening, it was frozen from the very beginning. This very problem is one reason why I almost always turn down requests to join a team, because it was really annoying and made me feel really guilty slowing the team down as they waited for me to be reconnected and find them again, even though they were all very considerate about it. (Although a note that the other reason I turn them down is I'm not a particularly social person and if an invite pops up while I'm being swarmed by gun-wielding gang members or if I'm asked repeatedly, again and again, it makes me increasingly anti-social. So a note: politeness is the best policy, my friends.)

But my final word is that if it isn't still frozen the next time I try to access the program, I'm sure I'll be playing it for quite a while. Because despite my many grievances towards it, it really is a great game that I really enjoy. So if you're willing to sacrifice a lot of time loading and rebooting and have patience with your games freezing all the time, but like a great game with awesome features and fun gameplay, City of Heroes is right up your alley.

Worth your dollar!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

To start off I would like to tell you that I have had this game since Aug 2004. So, I have seen almost everything.

The patching, depending on your computer, can take awhile. This computer takes about half an hour to download a free new issue. This computer is five years old so unless you have some serious problems with your computer, there should not be too much trouble.

Once in game, there is the most wonderful character creation mode ever. Almost everyone I have met in the game has at least ten characters because the creation mode is so addicting. Unless people copy costumes, you never see the same costume.

The powers are also quite cool. Some people say that certain powers are more powerful than others but, depending on your style of play, you can make almost any of them work amazingly.

The leveling process is quite interesting. Depending on your level, the gameplay may be more fun than at other levels. I, personally, am extremely bored with the starting content because I have had the game for so long but for the most part, the rest of the journey (to 50) changes.

I also have to say that the community is great...there are some really active, fun players as well as "supergroups."

So, now you are thinking...Why for these bad ratings?
Well, for the most part, a lot of the bad ratings came at the very start of the game or around summer/fall of 2005, where there were major changes to the game to accommodate CoV and just in general. One of the major "nerfs" was to the Fire Powers of a Tanker(one type of hero). They weakened a power tremendously so that people would not "power-level" other characters. They also shortened the gap where you can get xp (e.g. level 41 tanker can not get xp if there is a 47 blaster on the team) This build had become very popular and with the power of fire went a lot of the CoH population. I have to say that whenever a power is quite powerful, it gets weakened. But hey, heroes have to push through those obstacles.

Slowly, but surely, that population is building back up and I encourage anyone looking at this game to buy it!!! (Champion Server);-)

Bottom Line: I am still playing aren't I!!!

One last thing, the game comes out with new Issues (expansion packs) on an average of every four months, not to mention patches and tweaks to fix game content. With the most expensive payments, it costs $60 for four months, though you can get it cheaper. Normal expansion packs cost about $40-$50. Those ten or so extra bucks for the fixes adds up to being worth it! (I am sure you can spare a couple dollars for the fun ;-) I dont see many other games cranking out expansion packs that quick!

Fun, yet horrible

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 9
Date: January 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

i bought this game like 2 years ago, so im kind of late on the review.

anyways, i really thought the idea of being a hero with a whole arsenal of powers would be cool, and its awesome. this game can really help a kids dreams, such as flying, running at superspeed, teleporting, you name it. the game lasted me about a year though. then i gave it up for so many reasons its not even funny.

first off, i have dial-up, and unless u have dial-up too, u'll have no idea what im talkin about. the game updates so slow that i could leave it one all night and it wouldnt be done. its like theres a new update every month or somethin, cuase after you get through update 1, u got 5 more to go. if u have the life to make it past the next 5, u got 6 more to go (im being serious, it was horrible). and then, after u spend so much time updating the game, you finally get to play, only to find out your computer cant move fast enough to keep up with the rest of the game. if your hero walks into a highly populated area in the game, it just freezes. it gets incredibly annoyin when your in the middle of a fight and the game freezes, then the next thing you know ur on the ground dead. also, unless you have some really new and high tech computer, loading a into a new map in the game is so long you can leave the room, fix up lunch, come back and find out that the computer didnt even download a bit of the map. what else is annoying? how long a mission takes. at a point in the game, you'll be getting missions that take 2 hours to complete.
even though the game is really fun, its not even worth tryin to play.
so unless you have a really good computer, dont buy CoH, its a waste of money and huge chunks of ur life.

City Of Heroes=good fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

When I first got this game, it was crappy as heck, cost a good chunk of change per year, and barley fun. Of course, once my dad gave the old computer a 512 RAM boost, the game really stood out. Sure, it gets repetative sometimes, but the script is well-writen( and can somehow pull of both drama and slapstick comedy at the same time),The comunity is friendly, and c'mon, u get to be a hero. My main charicter is a level 31 invun/warmace tank and I just enjoy beating the stuffing out of thugs/arch-villians/corupt evil companies/Evil cults/zombies/1920 gangsters (no,, really!)/giant robots/ Nazi-like facits(origionaly a group founded by Hitler)and causing mass genocide to evil aliens from another dimention. The charicter creation is literaly infinite, the graphics are great, and you don't need Marvel or DC heroes to enjoy it.

Ok game but system requirements off

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: November 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I picked this up recently. People were right about the low populations and such. I thought I'd be good because it said minimum requirement was like a pentium 700 and I had a pentium 3 1000 and I was able to play world of warcraft fine. It was so slow on my computer it was unplayable. It took like 15 seconds after I touched a key for the screen to update. It seems to run ok on a 2 ghz pc though.

It also seems to imply that you can play this on a dialup. The starting patch you get after you load it after you play is 1,200 megs. After I finished downloading it they had a new patch that was like 400 megs..

Luckilly I had DSL but it would of been a nightmare if I was using dialup, probably would of had to download for a week.

Gameplay seems allright and its nice change from some of the others, weird not having currency though.

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