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Excellent.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 70 / 76
Date: November 01, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm going to go ahead and rate this one as 5 stars.

City of Heroes has always been, in my opinion, something of an introductory MMORPG. The graphics are great, the animations are smooth, the gameplay is flawless but uncomplicated. It's never been as complex and in-depth as I'd like it to be but I always suggest City of Heroes to people as a good place to try out the MMORPG genre to see if they like it.

City of Villains continues this tradition. It doesn't really bring a lot of complexity with it, the gameplay isn't very dynamic -- you can't, for example, ally yourself with an NPC gang and help it take over the city and no matter how many of them you beat up there's always going to be more -- so pretty standard "video game" in those terms, but what it has, it delivers smoothly. The combat is straight forward and fun, soloing is possible but grouping is rewarded and the interface is clean and easy to understand.

That said, they have spent some time to bring some quality additions to the game:

* PvP. Finally, your hero can fight against player controlled villains and vice versa! And City of Villains doesn't just drop you in a room and say "here's some bad guys, go fight", the developers took some time to give us something to fight over. There are 3 new PvP zones:
-- Bloody Bay. Heroes vs Villains. There are missions to accomplish inside the zone and also, some of the finest outdoor leveling you'll ever see, IF your team is winning! If your team is losing, you'll be too busy fighting off your enemies to take advantage of the rich leveling opportunities.
-- Siren's Call. Heroes vs Villains. Siren's Call consists of a series of "hot spots", visible on your map, where hero and villain NPCs fight for control. Last man standing wins the hot spot and it's your job to make sure your side wins. As you win more hotspots, control of the zone shifts to your side and a special store opens up for your use. You also collect a bounty on your head while doing this and a random enemy will get assigned as your bounty hunter, and he gets nifty prizes if he can find you and kill you. At the same time, you'll have someone else's bounty. So do you want to help fight for hotspots, go hunt for your bounty, or hope your bounty shows up at a hotspot?
-- Warburg. Free for all, anyone can fight anyone. In this zone, your goal is to fight your way through NPCs, capture a scientist and lead him to a base where he will give you a launch code for missiles. These missiles show up as a temporary power and you can launch them against your enemies at any time. You can also ambush other people and take their scientist from them, after they've done the hard part...

So this isn't just "sandbox" PvP, this is PvP with a goal.

* Ragdoll physics. In the old game, "knockback" effects were pretty basic. The target went horizontal, fell down and then got back up. In the new engine, they added ragdoll physics, similar to Half-Life 2. If you knock someone back, they'll react to the terrain in a much more realistic manner.

* New archetypes. Although similar to City of Heroes archetypes, City of Villains puts their own spin on them. Brutes, for example, don't tank like Tankers but they tank better than Scrappers. They also don't hit like Scrappers, but they hit better than Tankers. Corruptors are basically Blaster/Defenders. There's also a new archetype called Masterminds, which can have up to 6 pets with a high degree of control over their actions. (And there's others.)

* Bases. Supergroups can now have their own base, designed from scratch using a base editor, bought with "Prestige", which is earned by guildmembers while fighting NPCs. You can then go out and capture Items of Power to put in your base. The Items grant bonus buffs to everyone in your supergroup but they also open your base up to enemy raids, as they seek to steal back your Item! But wait, there's more! Additionally, once your base is capable of recieving an Item of Power, you can raid other people's bases to steal their Item and stick it in your base.

Now you see why this is basically a seperate game, not simply an expansion.

If you buy City of Villains and do not own City of Heroes, you will be able to play a villain and do everything any other villain can do, you just can't create a hero.

If you have City of Heroes and do NOT buy City of Villains, then nothing changes for you: you can't access the new content and you can't make a villain or own a base.

If you have City of Heroes AND City of Villains, then you can do everything.

Note also that the monthly subscription for the game is the same whether you have COH, COV or both. (That is, if you're already playing COH, you can buy and play COV and not have any change to your current monthly subscription.)

Wanna Be a Baddie?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 22 / 26
Date: November 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Have you ever wanted to play a villain? Than this game is for you!! City of Villains (CoV) is essentially an expansion of NC Soft's previous hit game, City of Heroes (CoH). But the it can stand alone and be played without purchasing the first game.

CoV continues the tradition but with an evil twist. In this game, you create a villain and choose its archtype and power sets. Then you enter the character creation section--which is a fun game in itself. The options for customizing your own villain seems endless and there are new and more monstrous options available.

The archtypes for CoV will seem new, but they do resemble CoH archtypes. Brutes for example are like tankers but with more ability to do damage. Corruptors are like blasters, etc. They do have a new class, masterminds--where you can summon and control various minions (unlike controller pets that were unable to be controlled.)

After creating your villain, you are put into Rogue Isles--first you have to break out of prison and then you get to go on various schemes--rob a bank, kidnapping, etc. Gameplay for this is very similiar to CoH but New to CoV is the PVP zones--these zones allow you to fight other villains and heroes from City of Heroes. These PVP zones also have missions and goals which make it more fun than just a free for all--though they have that option too.

Also new to CoV are supergroup bases that allow your SG or guild to create and customize their own base and protect it from raiders. But to build and outfit a base you need prestige points which need to be earned from doing missions...in SG mode, so it gives you an extra reason to do missions!!

CoH was the first MMRPG that i have played and the only one that i continue to play. I was happy to add city of villains to my account, especially since the monthly fee for both games is the same ($15).

The one issue to this series that I will mention is that it is updated usually every 2-3 months with new issues. These issues bring new content, new zones and new missions to keep the game ever evolving and updated. But it also brings character tweaking (some would say nerfs) that can negatively affect the way you are used to playing your toon. These changes usually affect the powers you want, the slots you use to enhance those powers etc..and my toons were able to adapt to these changes well...but i play a defender/controller and they were not as adversely affected as some archtypes.

All in all, this is a great game..you would want both CoV and CoH to get the full experience of the games...especially since the monthly fee covers both. CoV adds some much needed depth and the PVP zones give a new feel to the game. It also adds SG bases and raids to both games.

PROS::
1. one monthly fee covers both games
2. PVP zones --there are 3 zones and each zone has new zones/missions and goals in addition to the pvp element. the pvp zones are optional so you can choose not to go there, but you would be missing out on a key feature of the game.
3. easy to learn to play--great for those starting to play MMRPG

CONS:
1. Require an internet connection and monthly fee
2. Missions become repetitive over time and are very similiar to CoH missions/gameplay
3. Character "tweaking" with new issues can affect the way you are used to playing

----------------------------------------
Mysteria Morna--level 22 corruptor
FREEDOM SERVER---we have PIE!!

good!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 5
Date: November 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Have you ever wanted to play a villain? Than this game is for you!! City of Villains (CoV) is essentially an expansion of NC Soft's previous hit game, City of Heroes (CoH). But the it can stand alone and be played without purchasing the first game.

lol. you're wrong

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: November 08, 2005
Author: Amazon User

this game is NOT being discovered because everyone knows it's just like CoH with different powers and costumes. this game is just as repetitive as CoH. Every mission is still the same...gee, who would have thought! WoW is still the most fun MMOPRG there is. There is no satisfaction here of killing an extremely tough boss but in WoW there is (lots of epic loot :D). I'll still play CoV here and there if i'm not raiding in WoW. The good things about this game I suppose are the graphics, power effects, costume design. It's OK.

NCSoft Customer Support Lacking

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 6
Date: November 09, 2005
Author: Amazon User

City of Villains over-all is a fun game. The new Arch-types (classes) are fun to experiment with. The story-lines are a little more intriguing than in City of Heroes, but only because the Villain stories are more prone to double-cross. And the optional Hero vs Villain PvP is quite a rush, if you're into that kind of thing.

An important issue to me is Customer Support, and NCSoft (who supports CoV and CoH, as well as Lineage and Guild Wars) doesn't seem too concerned. When you submit a petition in-game, you recieve an email asking for more information - not too handy while you're still playing the game. Several hours after you respond to the email (usually 2-3, but in my case yesterday it was 5!, and one I submitted in the first few days of release was 18!) you'll either get a GM in-game offer to assist you, or an email explaining that the game is functioning as intended.

Now, imagine if you will, reading a comic book. All of the action takes place in the first five pages. The next fifty pages is filled with the Hero (or Villain) doing absolutely nothing but searching for a nearly invisible item - no dialogue, no action, no nothing. Pretty dull, wouldn't you say? That is apparently how the game is "functioning as intended".

If you don't mind paying a subscription rate for that kind of service, then CoV is a pretty good game. Otherwise, you may want to look into something else.

Great game to be a comic baddie but..........

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 5
Date: November 18, 2005
Author: Amazon User

....the fun dont last long and thats why i gave it 3 stars.
On the bright side, this game is perhaps the most fun mmo out there. If you ever want to be a comic book baddie here is your once in a life-time chance.
The fun starts with the awesome character creation process. You can create one of the most detailed and unique baddie ever to grace the villianous Mercy Islands. You than choose among the game classes which are pretty much tad altered City of heroes exisiting classes with the only excpetion of Mastermind. This really new class lets you have pets to act as group. You can have upto 6 pets over the game life cycle out at one time. However, the advantages of this class in pure pve is pretty obvious but you really suffer if you desire to do pvp. Currently, like most other mmo's this pet class is severly lacking in pvp scenario against non-pets class. The other classes just ignores your pet(since pets damage output is low) and head straight to you and drop you with few hits since MM class dont have many indvidual high dps attacks or defensive spells to make much of a dent without the pet contributing and holding the target away from the player. Hopefully they will balance the classes at some point but right now pvp is not for the master mind class.
Once done with the character creation and choosing your class you hit the street and do mostly instanced quests and keep on beating ever increasing numbers of bad guy who are mostly recyled city of heroes villains..surprisingly you dont get to fight many heroes which kind of is very dissapointing. I can understand fighting some villians here and than for supermacy but the bulk of the game should be directed towards fighting heroes which is sadly not the case.
Also the game with increasing lvl's mostly at Level 20+ forces you into grouping like City of heroes. Its very hard to solo most quests at that point as you end up facing Elites and Bosses grouped together. Surely you can do it by taking inspirations over and over again or taking a group with you but if you are trying to play Solo than the mission are very hard and challenging much more than they should be. Check out World of warcraft for example...the game offers a wide variety of soloable and group missions with enough variety that solo player can do quest too with less epic gear while group mentality is rewarded with the hardder quests with great epic loot. There is no real money or loot or economy invloved in the game. However, if you like to group than you can find loot for your super group Base if you plan to make one(which can be attcked by opposing players in their own super groups). But to get that loot or Salvage as its reffered too you have to play in super group missions mode too meaning you are doing a quests with others in your group and you are not operating Solo..so we have yet another instance of forced grouping. I know people play these games for social interaction but the game should also cater in a limited sense to Solo players meaning be Soloable but at a cost of lesser rewards. Some find the game Solable but to me who is a veteran of many other mmo's..this game is primarily not solo friendly and the mission are way too hard to solo through as you progress through the game. If you like an excercise in frustation you might enjoy soloing these exceedingly hard missions but if you want to have fun than its not gonna happen.
So thats my 2 cents....The game is great fun while the fun factor lasts. The game has no real longievity in my view. I expect this game life cylce on my computer to last either through the free 30 days trial or maybe a month extra at most just like the fate of its elder brother City of heroes. Than i will be back full-time to my casual friendly Lvl 44 Warlock on World of warcraft.

Know what you are getting

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 20
Date: November 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I purchased both the deluxe (which I also reviewed) and the regular version of this game. I've spent hours now with friends from City of Heroes exploring it. My husband is enjoying some of it, as are a few of our friends, but I feel more and more that I wasted money. This game is very much a matter of taste. Parents with younger teens especially should know what they are buying their children if they purchase this game. I know many people will think "Oh, come on, it's only a game", but games reflect and affect how we think. Games have been used for centuries to teach, not just skills, but behaviors and attitudes. NO, I don't think kids will run out and start robbing banks because of a video game. I do think they will develop an idea that stealing (or other anti-social behaviors) might be fun.

First, I must say the game does play about as well as the original, especially now that patches are in place. Many graphical improvements appeared for both games. Other improvements are CoV only, such as additional options in costume design. I did have fun designing evil looking characters and running around the lower levels fighting new enemies. New character options, new archtypes, a visually interesting world -- that's all present. There is a lot to tempt someone from City of Heroes into getting the game and the combined account, especially with the two-for-one price structure.

The game offers player vs the computer and player vs player. If you want to stick to just robbing banks, kidnapping people, killing other bad guys and such, your areas of operation are somewhat limited. If you want to actively hunt and kill other players, you can go into the PvP areas.

My major objections are completely personal for me and others may not have the same feeling. I can't get behind the ideas in the game. City of Heroes was a positive experience, something to feel good about. City of Villians, in keeping with its "dark side" ideas, promotes all the nastiness a human can produce. AFter playing for a while, I found I was angry, vengeful, and thinking about how I could hunt down so-n-so (other players) and pound his face into the ground. After about two week of playing, my enthusiasm wore off completely and turned to distaste as I thought about what kinds of activities I was emulating. Did I really want to spend my time and energy this way? At least in the hero world, I could feel I'd accomplished something, however imaginary, and I'd had fun with my friends online. In CoV, turning on your "friends" is part of the game. There is even one zone where heroes are pitted against heroes to gain objects of destructive power. I deleted all my villainous characters and decided I would not play anymore.

There were other options with CoV that came into CoH I was still looking forward to, and that was mostly concerning the development of super bases. If you've played other MMORGS, you probably grasp the idea of game economy and the value of making things and having your own "place" in the game world. Well, after 3 weeks of experimentation with this, all I can say is...very poor job. The rules and costs for creation take the whole thing beyond challenging and difficult to "why do you even want to bother with this?" Again, it all hinges on the PvP aspect. If you don't want to raid other players, there's not a lot of point in a base. If you do, there is prohibitive cost involved and your supergroup will need to be successful, constant raiders. But don't worry, it will be at least 6 months before you can even consider it, because you can't make and buy everything you need for a while yet. The developers will need either to make major changes or simply state that they never intended very many people to manage having a base.

I have many friends who were looking to put CoV under their Christmas trees, and I'm now advising them to think it over carefully. If you like player vs player action and all that it entails, then, yes, City of Villains is just what you want. If you aren't sure or don't think so, then save your money.

Take a fun walk on the dark side of the City.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 9
Date: November 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

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
Gareth Von Kallenbach
[...]

Super Villains always lose...but this time, this means YOU.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 21
Date: November 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

How was City of Villains designed? Start by loading up the City of Heroes game engine, then begin the long and tedious creative process:
1) Change the word "rescue" to "kidnap".
2) Change the word "retrieve" to "steal".
3) Change the word "hero" to "villain".
4) Release an overpriced collector's edition, and a soon-to-be bargain bin standard version.
5) Count your money, and laugh, laugh, laugh.

What you, the player, do in this game doesn't count as villainy in any way, shape, or form.

As with most MMORPGs, you will spend the vast amount of your time on the leveling treadmill. But what is it that your "villain" will fight? Why gangsters, trolls, evil snakemen, and renegade heroes turned baddies! The same thing you would fight if you were a hero!

In City of Heroes, civilians cower in the streets at the hands of thugs, and thank you for rescuing them. In City of Villains the thugs chase you down in the street, and the civilians walk by you without so much as a whisper of terror. Civilians are invulnerable, so you won't be robbing them or beating them up, nor will they "tremble at the mention of your name." Meanwhile, the street thugs see you as just another costume to be chased down, regardless of how quickly you will dispatch them or your supposed lack of morals.

You might say, "Hey, this game is rated Teen, its not meant to show the real side of criminality and violence!" To which I respond, "Exactly! This game has no point! It's a poorly conceived, huge waste of time!"

This game is basically a PvP patch that masquerades as a totally new game. Regardless of the claims to the contrary, it DOES NOT STANDALONE - It is the shadow of City of Heroes and thus it is devoid of substance and depth.

this game is bad

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 29
Date: November 27, 2005
Author: Amazon User

in WOW you can level up get armor and stuff like that, but in this game you only get powerthingies and your gudged by your looks and power thingies. i would strongly recomend to play WoW
instead of CoV

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