City of Heroes

"The Second Coming of MMORPGs"

City of Heroes is a new MMORPG, based on the premise that you can be a superhero. City of Heroes costs $15 a month to play after the price of the disc. However, all MMORPGs do this (many credit card deprived teenagers complain about this, but MMORPGs are very expensive to run, and there are no mainstream MMORPGs that are free), and it is not a problem. If MMORPGs are your thing, this is definitely one of the best.

Graphics/Environment (10/10): Absolutely beautiful. Paragon City is huge (As big as, if not bigger than most MMORPG game worlds) and very detailed. There are literally a thousand or more buildings throughout the world, each of which is life sized and can be scaled for a magnificent view. Paragon city actually looks like a real city, with cars, roads and citizens (like Grand Theft Auto, but bigger). Even without a strong graphics card, you can see a lot of detail and color in the game.

Every hero gets to design his own costume, and the developers were not joking when they said there were millions of possibilities for a costume. You can choose your face, headgear, masks, accessories, clothing, colors and more. Each player's costume is more unique than our human fingerprints! You could spend hours in the character creation screen alone. It all looks very beautiful in game.

Music/Sound (8/15): Sadly, the music department is the weakest part of City of Heroes. You may hear a tune when entering a new zone, or when leveling up, but that's about it. Music comes up very rarely, and long detailed instrumentals are non-existent. The sound is decent, although there could be more detail (cars passing by, people talking, etc.).

Gameplay (65/70): The most important aspect of any game, and City of Heroes passes this subject with flying colors. You are a superhero, and can customize your powers and costume. Although there are classes (archetypes as they are called in City of Heroes) like any other MMORPG (Blaster, Controller, Defender, Scrapper and Tanker), each one gets to choose a primary power set and a secondary power set. For example, a Tanker could have his primary set is Fiery Aura, and his secondary is Battle Axe. Furthermore, within each power set, you get to choose which powers in that set to learn (9 in each set), and starting at level 6, you can open up power pools, which are super powers available to all classes. Power pools include flight, super speed, super leaping, teleportation and much more. Furthermore, you can use enhancements to upgrade your skills (such as damage, range, recharge time, etc.) Although not as unique as costume design, there is bound to be a fair level of uniqueness between heroes, making it worthwhile to try many different hero types.

There is no PvP in City of Heroes, although it is planned for the expansion (City of Villains). However, it is not necessary, as the PvE combat is perfect. Enemies appear in context, like a true comic book (you encounter your enemies in the street stealing purses, cars, making drug deals, and so on). They act like real opponents, and are a good fight. You can also go on missions, which advance the story and give you some direction, although you do not need missions to go far in City of Heroes if you do not like them.

There are no items in this game, which means once you've chosen your hero's costume at the beginning, there is no altering it (which is a cryin' shame). However, you do get money (called influence) and can purchase enhancements for your powers, and inspirations, which temporarily boost your stats or heal you (like potions or buffs).

Unlike most MMORPGs, level advancement is not boring or slow. You will be able to fight off big groups of streets thugs right from the start, no moseying around with rats and snakes for us! You start off with 2 powers, and even at early levels you have a wide variety of attacks to use, making combat fun and non-repetitive.

Grouping is not required to advance, unlike Everquest or FFXI, although it does help.

Requirements/Lag/Slowdown (15/15):

Minimum Requirements:
System: PIII 800MHz or equivalent
RAM: 256 MB
CD-ROM: 4x
Video Memory: 32 MB
Hard Drive Space: 2000 MB

Without a doubt, City of Heroes is the fastest running MMORPG I've ever seen. One common turn off for MMORPG players is extreme lag and slow down. Well, I myself play City of Heroes on a 2.4 ghz P4, 512 MB RAM, 64 MB video card computer, and although this would be terrible for playing any other MMORPG, I have absolutely no problem here. I almost never have lag, and only once a week (yes, I'm not exaggerating) have had the game freeze for more than 3 seconds. This is truly the average joe's MMORPG.

Pros:
-Very unique heroes
-Wonderful graphics
-Detailed, believable world
-Runs very smoothly

Cons:
-No changing costumes after character creation
-No real equipment or items to collect
-No PvP combat
-Lacking social interaction

Overall: 88/100= 9/10= A must buy. In my gaming career, I've played many MMORPGs. I've played Everquest, Dark Age of Camelot, Anarchy Online, Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Online, FFXI and Asheron's Call. Of all of these MMORPGs, I can say without a doubt that City of Heroes is the best one I have ever played. City of Heroes alleviates the problems of most MMORPGs, such as slow level advancement, severe lag, and boring, repetitive gameplay. You do not need to play for 8 hours a day to get to anywhere rewarding, the game is fun and rewarding before you even leave the character creation screen. For casual and hardcore players alike, City of Heroes is a real treat. If you have been afraid to try MMORPGs before, give City of Heroes a chance. If you don't have a credit card, you can purchase Game Time Cards at your local game store. Trust me, the $15 a month is well worth it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 05/15/04