City of Heroes

Rating:
Summary: BEST GAME EVER
Review: THIS IS GOING TO BE A NEVER ENDING GAME THAT HAS SUCH COOL AND AWESOME LEVELS. ONLY DRAWBACK IS YOU CAN ONLY PLAY THE GAME ONLINE. BUT OTHER THAN THAT YOU SHOULD BE FINE

Rating:
Summary: If you like MMO"s
Review: This game is very promising. If you like MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) then there is a good chance you're going to love this one.

If you've played other games like "everquest" and find them slow or boring, you'll find this game very action oriented. You take the role of a super hero, fighting crime in paragon city. You might choose fire or ice as your ways of interacting with creatures, mind control, magic, and more. You might choose to play a hero that blasts foes from afar, or one that gets in the foe's face and knocks them across the room.

Flying, teleportation, and other "super hero" skills become available as you level, helping your hero mature into one straight from the comics. All of Paragon City will know your hero's name if you succeed enough and become a star player.

This game has hundreds of hour of gameplay, tons of variety in character creation and power choices, and the perfect 'look' and 'feel' of a super hero game. This will be the DEFENITIVE super hero game on the day this game launches.

If you're an MMO fan looking for something new, or a Super Hero fan who has never tried an MMO, you're going to find a new 'home' here.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to Paragon
Review: Let me just say, that his game is worth the money. I was a BETA player, and this game will keep you busy for at least a year. Those who judge it just by the price would totally change their mind if they played 10 minutes of this game.

First of all, you get to choose you Origin and Archetype. The Origin is basically for role play value, it won't change the effects of your powers. You can choose from different Archetypes, like Blaster, who can dish out tons of damage, but can't take it very well, while a Defender can take tons of damage, but can only do so much as pinch his enemy.

After that, you choose your actual powers, and depending on your Archetype, there are certain powers to choose from. If you're a Blaster, you can choose fireballs, lighting bolts, energy beams, ect. A Scrapper can choose from many melee attacks, like Martial Arts, or close range weapons.

Then you get to ccreate your actual character, and here's a warning. Make sure you have lots of time for this, as it will take forever. In a good way however.

There are so many different things you can choose from here: Tights, armor, cybernetics, many different colors, face types, and more.

Next up is creating your ID card. This consists of creating a name, battlecry, and bio. Make sure to have many different name ideas ahead of time, it's almost garunteed your "Captain Atom" idea will be taken. It's good to go off of your powers and costume for your name. It's strange to see a guy with cool armor and lightning coming out of his hands with a name like "Larry".

After that, you enter the tutorial, which tells you how to play the game, with the main controls. Then, you get transported into Paragon City, where you can fight muggers, meet friends, create super groups, and just have fun.

I highly reccommend you buy this game. It's great for comic geeks, and gamers alike.

Rating:
Summary: A Review at the End of Beta
Review: I have played this game for the last two weeks of beta, and have had a great deal of fun most of the time. I'll divide the various aspects of the game up:

Technical: Admittedly I have fairly high end machines, a Centrino 1.6 GHz laptop and a 2.6 GHz Athlon desktop. Both ran the game perfectly with no noticable lag (though some rubber banding at points). I have read on the forums that people with machines in the 500-900 MHz range were also able to run the game, though not as well. There were no crashes to desktop, although I was disconnected from the server a few times. However, compared to any other MMORPG that's come out, this (and Lineage 2) are the most stable and complete games yet.

Visual and Sound: Quite stunning. The world is colorful, the variety in costumes amazing, and the sound, well, its good, if a bit short. Sometimes the repetative sound effects can be a bit annoying.

Gameplay: Should be familiar or easy to learn for almost any gamer. Uses WASD controls with mouse look, easy to get around, has targetting with tab. You can run in first person mode, but I've found it not to be terribly useful.

Content: Perhaps the game's only weakness. There is not yet enough. Its nowhere near as empty as AO or SWG were at launch, and there are a variety of missions to keep you occupied. Still more mission variety, more task forces, and in general more of everything is needed to give the game long term appeal.

In conclusion, this game is not for hard core gamers (go see Lineage 2), but for the casual gamer or the gamer who enjoys cooperative instead of competative environments. For you, this is definitely a game to check out (especially if you ever liked comic books). I expect it will have the smoothest launch to date.

Rating:
Summary: Better than playing with knives!!
Review: Fellows,

I don't care what walk of life you're coming from this game has enough content to satisfy every gamers dreams! Half Nekid Chicks, totally ripped dudes in tights, Badass elves. You name it! You don't have to have super powers you can have super Bazooka's or super-Flamethrowers, even super blasts of radiated energy exploding from your bloody fists! Actually, wait, that's a super power but still, isn't that cool! And who, who hasn't wanted the ability to fly!? That, my friends, is just the tip of the iceberg. Once you get going in the game, you'll discover the joys of being a SuperHero. There's nothing quite as satisfying as shooting a bolt of concentrated energy right into a scar wretched face of a purse snatching thug, there simply isn't! Unless of course that purse snatching thug was Richard Simmons and you had the power to shoot brown Turkey gravy from your forearms (Ultraman style)! I was running around the huge, beautifully detailed world of Paragon City last night, and ended up chillin' with various super-peeps at cityhall when before I could scream holy chocolate gum-goodies! I saw an "oompah loompah" leading a battalion of super heroes in jumping jacks. Like Full Metal Jacket Style! I've never seen anything so funny in my life! I almost started to cough blood. Forget not being able to customize your character after you created him! You don't see super-heroes in comic books thinking oh, I want the ability to trap criminals with boogers now and presto! Mission accomplished booger boy. Choose your character carefully it usually takes me 30min. to an hour to put a hero together and then yeah, you go through a little tutorial but shoot. You're using a new character afterall, get accustomed to it and then lvl up to hunt down some baddies. 30 minutes tops. Before you know it 3 days goes by, you're not bathing regularly, nobodys calling, and some girl named Rebecca says here's your ring back @!#$%! But hey, every law abiding citizen in Paragon City thinks you're the BOMB! 'Sides that blonde with the shiny, gold, bullet stopping wrist cuffs last night thought you were a stud. I wonder if they do weddings at City Hall too! Expansion pack here we come! Have at it Friends! Paragon city NEEDS YOUR HELP!

Rating:
Summary: A Huge Superhero MMORPG (* Beta Test Based Review *)
Review: As one of those early adopter type folks who bought the pre-release, I was really looking forward to seeing what City of Heroes had to offer. With over a month of playing time in the beta test, this game goes far beyond my expectations.

The game world is based in Paragon City, home of hundreds of superheroes. It's a city recovering from the aftermath of an alien invasion. That threat and others from Underworld types, scientifically spawned undead, fascist organizations, odd cultist groups and super powered street gangs keep the city both dangerous and a fertile environment for many adventures.

The city is divided into almost a dozen areas for launch, each with its own level of difficulty and resident dangers. As your character progresses, you will move from zone to zone to encounter new missions and challenges.

Character creation is simple and actually fun. You choose from 5 different possible origins (mutant, science, et cetera) and then you choose from 5 hero types (blaster, scrapper, et cetera). Then your hero type gives you the option of two power sets to choose from - weapons, claws, spikes, power blasts, fire, ice - almost anything you've seen in comic books. Then comes the real fun part of character creation, designing your hero's costume. The options are greatly varied and amazing. You choose custom colors with plenty of extra little details to differentiate your character. In all the time I've been playing, no two original designs have been an exact match.

As you progress in level you are given the chance to add enhancements to your powers to add extra damage, greater range, better accuracy, longer duration and many more options. You also get to choose and add more powers from your power sets each with an attack or ability related to that particular set. Not too long into the game, you are also given the option of adding a third power set to your character. This again can make your character quite different from many others.

Previous reviews have mentioned glitches (including the black screen problem) that actually have already been solved. On-line customer support has been great with developers and testmasters monitoring the community boards live and messaging with players while servers were being upgraded and problems solved. I expect that this excellent support will be the rule and not the exception.

Heroes are also allowed to create supergroups and temporary teams to tackle harder missions and to work effectively against more difficult villains. You may see people come and go from a team only to be quickly replaced by another character. The different character types work extremely well together to create good, cohesive teams.

There are already rumors of expansions to different areas beyond Paragon City involving the aliens and possible magical zones. As with the comic book genre in general, no location is out of the realm of possibility. This game world seemingly has limitless opportunities for growth.

I will definitely jump into this MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game) with no reservations whatsoever. This is only the third MMORPG I've beta-tested and I can't wait for this one to go live. It will also be the first MMORPG that I've been willing to pay the monthly fee for. If you're a fan of comic books and the superhero genre, give this game a try. You'll be hooked right from the first character you create to completing your first mission.

Since I'm a radioactive mutant I give this game a full five thumbs up! ::grin::

Rating:
Summary: Great game no problems...
Review: Let me reinstate that I spend 4-5 hours each night playing and had no problems. They have daily maintenance on the servers each morning from 6-8 am cst and they come back quickly. I have been online for over 2 weks now and my only problem was my DSL provider been down dealing with the recent worm attacks. None of my friends have had any problems logging in either and if you have a good system with the latest drivers and a good connection, it's not a problem. Some of these negative revieweres don't like this type of games. Go to the Gamespot boards and read from real people who play the game daily. Up up and away....!!!

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful diversion from the "standard" MMORPG
Review: As a long-time veteran of MMORPG games (also known as "persistant world" games), I have found City of Heroes to be a breath of VERY fresh air.
Instead of the "cookie cutter" forumla of dragons, swords, wizards, and clerics, CoH casts you as a superhero.
The character creation portion of the game allows for enough possibility to be nearly infinite, I've personally created a robot, a small demon, a knight, a catgirl, and your standard hero in tights. I've also see my fair share of ninja, business people, and other stunning possibilities.
Forget days of waiting for the one monster you need to appear and then hope you can kill him before the other players. There's no "loot" as one is accustomed to thinking of it, nor do you have to contest "spawns" with other players. Missions (quests) are played in a custom area that is created only for you and the people in your group.
Yes, there is a monthly fee to play, but this is clearly marked on the package, as well as in online reviews I've read. Yes, it does require a higher end graphics card, however, this too is noted in the recommended hardware.
My biggest complaint is that the game seems a bit "easy" so far. However, as NCSoft has more time to develop new surprises, and craft new expansions, I would expect this to change.
All in all, a GREAT game for the money.

Rating:
Summary: Short review
Review: I have to be honest, I didn't expect to like this game very much given the fact that most video games can't hold my interest for very long. So far, I love this game. It's easy to learn, fun to play, offers a lot of interactivity among users, and allows for pretty individualize character creation.

It is true that it's a little light on content right now, but I give it time to grow. Hopefully there will be more by the time I start to get bored of what's already there.

Of course, it is always important to read the box (it clearly details the monthly fee, hardware requirements, etc.).

As for technical issues. I bought it knowing they do no officially support laptops, but haven't had any problems with slow servers, installation, or game play. And I definitely don't have a "top of the line" machine. More importantly, the support on the website has been pretty excellent from what I can tell, particularly given the fact that the game was just launched and they must be swamped with requests.

Overall, an excellent purchase.

Rating:
Summary: you have to pay extra to play
Review: I am really into comic books and all of that, so i thought City of Heros would be a good game. so because i was able to get somthing as a gift i picked this game. I told my mom all about it with great detale and much excitment. Then when i was setting it up. you first, have to create a user name and a password just to play the game. Fine, i could do that but the thing that botherd me the most is that to play the game even without going online and teaming up with other people you have to sign up and subcribe to the game. and the cheepest was signing up for $14 on your cridit card and them charging you. i did not think that it was worth it to play this game. i did not think that my parents who bought this game for me should have to do this. it is not fair. and worst of all it dose not say this in any of the reading that i have done on this game. i just found out today when i was setting it up on my computer.

ps. don't buy it you end up paying more then the 30 bucks it coasts to just buy the game