Others say...

"FREAKIN' AWERSOME!!!"
City of Heroes is a definate must by for any non gamer and gamer alike. It's exsquisit graphics are only topped by its fun and amazing gameplay. If u want it but u dont want to put down $70.00 for it just buy the cd edition for $20.00.

"Release your inner hero"
When you saw Batman Begins and watched him punch out and terrorize the baddies, did you think, "I could do that"? Ever dreamed of flying over the city streets in search of crime? Ever think about what you'd call yourself if you were a hero?

Here's your chance to live your dreams.

A little over a year ago, NC Soft released City of Heroes. The premise is simple: Paragon City fell to an alien invasion of the Rikti years ago. The city's heroes fought valiantly, with most dying in defense of their beloved home. Now the world needs a new generation of heroes, and that's where you come in. For the first time ever in an MMOPG, you can create the superhero of your dreams and fight crime. The possibilities of how you do this are huge.

NC Soft is to be commended. They weren't afraid to think big, and with this game, everything is big. You start out by choosing a server to host your hero (there are 11 to choose from). Next you choose what type of hero you want to be. Each type has its strengths and weaknesses. You can be a blaster, with the ability to take down foes from long range. Maybe you want to be a scrapper and unleash your inner Wolverine. How about a controller, able to manipulate the minds of your enemies? Or become a Tanker and show the Hulk how it's supposed to be done. Finally, you could be a Defender, keeping your team healed during missions. There are two other choices (Warshade and Peacebringer), but you don't get to choose them until you have a character at level 50. Some hero types are better suited for solo missions, while some are almost helpless without a team. Hey, just create one of each and try everything.

Then you get creative. You can choose practically any type of hero you want. Male or female, human or robot, tall or short, muscular or skinny...the list goes on and on. Design your own costume, and you've got hundreds of ways to do that. Capes don't become available until you reach level 20, and some incredible aura effects are open to you when you hit level 30 (burning eyes, glowing body, etc). You have to complete a mission for each, but they're worth it.

After designing your hero, you're off to Paragon City to fight crime. As you defeat more enemies, you gain more XP points, which helps you reach higher levels. With each even level, you gain a new power. With each odd level, you gain two slots you use to enhance your current powers.

There are so many fun things to do in Paragon. You can just hunt baddies and beat them up all day long, or you can go on missions with a team (or solo), or join a task force if you've got a lot of time on your hands. NC Soft continues to add things to the program, meaning you never know what's waiting for you when you log on. For Halloween, they unleashed giant monsters and smaller ones on the city. Earlier this year, huge, nasty snow creatures menaced the town. And most recently, they've opened the arenas. In an arena, you can pit yourself, your team, or your supergroup (think The Avengers or The JLA) against other players.

The key to this game is finding good teammates and friends. When you join a supergroup, you have an ongoing batch of fellow heroes to call on at a moment's notice. If you join a team, you guys just stay together as long as you'd like and then everyone goes their separate ways. Bad guys are labeled with their level, so you can tell ahead of time if this is going to be a hard battle or a walk in the park.

The question presents itself: Can I be ? Well, possibly-but not for long. NC Soft was careful to avoid anything resembling DC or Marvel superhero logos or insignias, and major costume designs (you can't be a web-covered guy, for instance), but there are some creative folks out there. On any given day you might see a Green Lantern, Flash, or Batman clone (and if you play for more than an hour, you're almost guaranteed to run into someone's idea of a Wolverine. He's got to be the most copied character in Paragon). But for the most part, the fun comes from seeing how different the heroes are. And thanks to legal pressure from Marvel, NC Soft has started policing things a little more. Create an obvious knockoff of a well-known character and you might just log in one day to see it changed and renamed "GenericHero1234". You get the chance to redesign him/her without losing your experience points, but keep your ideas fresh and original just to be safe.

The graphics in this game are intense, and everything looks great. Just be warned, you'll have to have a video card that supports 3D graphics or it won't work properly.

Now with the release of Issue 6 over, new villains will be released, and they added two new types of powers: archery and trick arrows (think Green Arrow), and Sonic powers (think Banshee or Black Canary).

The ongoing price of this game is very reasonable compared to "Everquest" and "The Matrix Online".

With Marvel and DC both announcing plans to create their own similar MMORPG games, City of Heroes still stands out. Marvel has already said you won't get to play their characters, so I don't know how they plan to draw people away from this game to their own unless they're discounting the price dramatically.

If you're looking to lose yourself in an incredible world of heroes and villains, come to Paragon City.

"It was fun while it lasted."
I've been a loyal player of City of Heroes for over six months. However recent ill considered changes made to the game by the developers have ruined the game I used to love playing.

The developers have decided that they need to "guide" players into the "correct" way of playing the game by eliminating options players had in designing their characters. This has resulted in ruining the thing that made this game so fun to play.

These changes have been coming every few weeks culminating in a massive change that went in on 10/26/2005 that has lead to large numbers of players canceling their accounts and leaving the game, including myself and most of my friends in the game.

Be warned, this is no longer the same game that so many people reviewed favorably in past reviews. Had I rated it 2 months ago I would have given it five stars. However, this game takes many months to develop a character (and with recent changes character development has been slowed by at least half), and nothing is more frustrating then to spend months developing a character only to have it drastically weakened repeatedly.

If you don't relish the idea of paying $15 a month for many months creating a character only to have your creation destroyed by a company that chooses to ignore the pleas of thousands of its' customers, I'd suggest spending your money elsewhere.

"Ideal for the casual gamer"
Of course, no game can be everything for everyone. This game is for you who like superhero comics or online multiplayer games. Player vs player fighting is optional.

The controls for this game are very easy to get into, compared to other games I have played, and you can also customize them. A tutorial gets you into the game and lets you get started on the action in a couple minutes. That is, after you have created your own unique character. The character designer goes far beyond anything I have seen elsewhere, letting you create anything from robots to aliens to anime-style catgirls. This part is almost a game in itself, and you also get to change your costume later in your career or even add up to three more costumes, as well as a cape and special "aura" effects. It is almost impossible to create the same character as anyone else unless you do it together with them.

I have played City of Heroes almost daily since early beta (spring 2004) and still enjoy it. In all fairness, though, I am a casual gamer. I think that for the true hardcore gamer dude it may be a bit too simple. You are unlikely to find any hidden secrets or loot that are not available to the "n00bz". But if you want a quick fix of rough and tumble superheroics, have fun with some friends, or just to fly a while among the skyscrapers before bedtime with your cape billowing in the wind, this is the place to go. And the DVD edition is the best way to get started. (Some download required.)

"Too bad I can only give 5 stars...."
This game deserves more than 5 stars. It's incredibly addicting. I've been playing City of Heroes since February of '05, and it's still just as much fun as the first timed I played it. I know what you're thinking, "I don't want to have to pay a monthly fee to play a game." I thought the exact same thing before I played it. The decision I made, and the one I recommend to you, is to pick this game up for $30 (you might even be able to find it cheaper if you look around) and try it for the first month for free. I became hooked immediately. Everything from the character customization to the operation of your powers is very easy to operate.

Another great feature is that Cryptic Studios is still working on this game. They release a new issue every few months that can contain anything from new powersets to new city maps. That's where your monthly subscription funds go, putting new content into the game to further fuel your addiction. And these aren't updates that require you to buy an expansion disc like other games. All the updates for City of Heroes are downloaded to you computer when they are released. And just recently, NCSoft announced that players that have City of Villains (standalone sequel to CoH) and City of Heroes will be able to play both games and only have to pay the monthly fee of ONE game! My advice to you is to check this game out for yourself. If you don't, you could be missing out on one of the greatest gaming experiences out there today. Just make sure your graphics card is up to par....