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After a very successful launch, numerous awards, and legions of players, NC Soft is letting gamers deviate from their heroic ways in City of Heroes to take a walk on the other side. In City of Villains, players can now become the ultimate bad guy as you fight not only legions of A.I Opponents, but up against flesh and blood heroes as well. The game is setup as a stand alone product though players who own City of Heroes will be able to access certain new areas and will enjoy only one membership fee to play both games.
After setting up an account, players are given the ability to create and customize their villain from a very impressive selection of classes and abilities. I was very impressed at the amount of details that I could put into my character, as I was easily able to craft a look that was unique. After settling on the right class, look and name for my Villain, I set off to make a name for myself through mayhem, destruction, deceit and all of the anti-virtues I had been fighting to prevent in my City of Heroes persona.
The gameplay options of the game are amazing as the opening training tutorial was very easy to use and understand and the scope of the game even in this early first stage was amazing. Once my villain made it through training and escaped the prison he was contained in, he was able to explore the highly detailed city. Unlike the massive high rises of Paragon City from the first game, players much work their way up the ranks by various missions in the foreboding Rogue Isles, where bad guys are in abundance and plot their various schemes. Players travel to various zones by ferry and flying craft, as the urban monorails of COH are no place for scum like us. Players take on various tasks to gain experience ranging from robberies, busting up rival gangs, and infiltrating lairs to name but a few. The variety of enemies is vast as they range from thugs, super villains, and all manner of creatures in the sewers. As players gather experience, they will be able to gain new abilities, which will allow them to take on greater tasks.
The many players I encountered were very helpful and on more than one occasion a passing player assisted me in combat or helped heal me. It is nice to know that even when we are playing as villains, players still take the time to be helpful and avoid the everyone for themselves mentality. The vast map is easily navigated by a pop up mask that allows players to travel to hotspots or places of interest. Missions are assigned by reading articles of interest in the paper as well as by NPC characters. Combat is easily handled by a user interface that shows what skills are available and which are recharging. The ability to trade enhancements is also a nice addition increasing the community aspect of the game. The controls of the game are easily learned and the enemy A.I. starts out simple but increases as the game goes on much like the original. The in game combat has been greatly enhanced by the inclusion of rag doll physics where knock backs and knock downs unfurl in a far more realistic and detailed manner than before. Players will also get the ability to build their own base and equip it with all manner of defenses. This is a nice touch as assault on or defense of a base is a very nice and much needed feature. The inclusion of Player VS Player combat out of the box is good as aside from the arenas; there are also strategic locales where players battle with and against real and computer controlled opponents.
The graphics of the game are solid showing the incredible potential of the game engine. I was able to have high detail levels that included moving grass and water drops as well as dynamic effects. The game engine is able to render detailed objects far in the distance and gives an amazing sense of scale, as the terrain and layout of the island are very detailed. The lighting effects in combat as well as the inclusion of cut scenes were also a nice touch and ads to the immersion in the game for players.
The audio portion of the game is very strong as the music changes according to zones and gameplay conditions as do the sound effects in game. On my Creative Labs X-FI card, the surround sound effects were crisp and allowed me to hear of dangers all around me, as each sound was portrayed in the range appropriate to the locale of my character.
While some of the concerns about COH remain such as XP Debt, grinding out mission after mission to level, and mission repetition, what is abundantly clear is that the designers have setout to address the issues such as no XP debt until level 10, and the numerous free updates. I am very excited to see what the future holds for the games, as the sky is the limit for the potential of COV as it I is a solid game with outstanding gameplay experiences that
will delight fans of comics and Massive Multiplay Games. Great Job guys this one not only lived up to expectations it leapt over them in a single bound.
5 stars out of 5
Hot off the buzz from E3, the good folks at Cryptic Studios and NC Soft have taken time out of their very hectic schedule to answer a few questions about City of Villains. The game is the follow up to their Smash MMOPG Game City of Heroes. I want to thank both Cryptic and NC Soft for fitting this in amidst their deadlines for the game.
1. What is the background and setting of the game and how does it fit with events that have been established in current COH timelines and events.
David “Zeb” Cook, Senior Designer for CoV: For City of Villains, we’ve created a whole new setting, the Rogue Isles, for villain players. Located in the Atlantic and beyond the jurisdiction of the heroes of Paragon City, the Rogue Isles are ruled by Lord Recluse, head of Arachnos, a world-wide evil organization bent on – well, the same things all evil supergroups want. This gives us a place where players can be villains without having to worry about being overrun by the thousands of hero characters already out there. The Rogue Isles fit with the existing CoH timelines hand-in-glove and you will see crossover between the two – story elements, famous characters, and, of course, player interaction in the PvP zones.
2. What changes will there be in how players gain influence in the game and what are some of the things players can spend influence on.
Zeb: There are not significant system changes for how you gain influence (or infamy as it is known in CoV), but more a matter of what you do to gain it. You’re a villain. If you want infamy you need to do notorious things like rob banks, knock over casinos, take part in gang wars, smuggle goods, commit sabotage, kidnap scientists, and do all sorts of dirty deeds for people willing to pay you.
As for what you can do with your infamy, we have plans but they’re still shaping up.
3. How are missions assigned in the game and what sort of missions will players face. What enemies will players encounter aside from other heroes?
Zeb: One of the things we’ve set out to do in CoV is change the feel of how players get missions. All along we’ve known that villains needed to feel like they were causing trouble, not stopping it. We’ve revamped contacts to make them more individual with particular stories to tell. Players will learn that this contact is all about Arachnos or the Goldbrickers. That gives them more ability to choose their targets. We’re also introducing a brand new contact type, brokers. These are the guys who know what’s happening. Players can ask them what they’ve heard about Circle of Thorns, Consortium or other groups and maybe get a job that involves that group.
The great thing about villains is they pretty much hate equally. They hate heroes, they hate other villain groups; they can even hate their own group, with factions plotting against each other. In addition to new members of the groups they’ve already seen, players will face hero organizations such as Longbow and the Legacy Chain, take on costumed vigilantes from Paragon City, and battle other villains such as the Goldbrickers, Snakes, and Arachnos.
4. What are some of the character classes and the strengths and weaknesses of them and how does this differ from the current COH structure?
Zeb: CoV replaces the existing archetypes with five brand new ones customized for villainous play. These are the Brute, a melee guy who gets tougher and meaner the longer he is in combat; the Stalker, who uses defense and stealth to make quick strikes; the Destroyer, who combines ranged attacks with buffs/debuffs; the Dominator, a master of control and attacks; and the wholly new Mastermind, who can summon minions and support them while they do his fighting.
5. How is player vs. player going to be handled and can villains fight other villains?
Zeb: One of the big goals of PvP is to make it part of the gameplay, not just an “I pwnz you!” thing. Another major goal is to make it optional. PvP play occurs only in special PvP zones. Each of these zones is constructed to have special gameplay to give you an objective. You can achieve these objectives without having to PvP, but you can also do it (and sometimes faster) through PvP play. Success in these zones will allow you to gain temporary powers or buy from special stores, for example. Who you get to fight depends on the zone you’re in. In some, it’s every man for himself, while others are purely heroes vs. villains in true comic book fashion.
6. How does base building work and what sort of defenses will players have access to?
Zeb: Bases are a new feature available to supergroups. They will be able to build and customize their own secret bases with the same kind of flexibility the costume creator gives their characters. Supergroups will be able choose the look of their base interiors, change lighting, raise and lower ceilings and floors, and place a wide array of objects, including defenses. There are turrets of various types, traps, force fields, and a wide variety of functional objects to make life easier for SG members.
7. As a follow up, how will base assaults and base defenses be handled between attack and defense groups and what is the limit to the numbers on both sides?
Zeb: With bases comes the possibility of base raids. It is not automatic – you can build a base that will not be raided – but it is an option players will want to explore. To make base raiding fun and not just a cheap shot, raids are scheduled so both sides can muster their teams and take part. Some may complain this is “unrealistic” but we want these to be events players look forward to and can plan and strategize for. As for numbers, we’re still testing to see where the final limits will be.
8. How did you decide to do COV as a stand alone rather than and add on and what features does owning COH allow players to use in COV?
Zeb: It just seemed natural to do CoV standalone. There are people who are very interested in playing and villain and by making the game this way, we have made it easier for them to get into the game. The content in CoV is available to everyone who buys the game. If you also have CoH, you’ll obviously be able to play a hero in Paragon City, too. For CoH players, owning CoV opens up not only the ability to play a villain, but also base building, PvP play, and other minor additions.
9. Will players be able to take their current heroes from COH and make them a villain in COV without losing their present level?
Zeb: We love that idea. Other than saying that, I can’t comment at this point.
10. Will players be able to have henchman in the game and how will a player rise from a common thug to a super powered bad guy?
Zeb: While we thought about starting you as a common thug and earning your superpowers, we realized that players really like ability to jump in and play an uber villian right from the start. So you will start with just a few powers and earn more as your threat level grows. As for henchmen, you can always team up with a lower-level player and use the sidekick system.
Thank you,
Gareth
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Gareth Von Kallenbach
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