Rating: 
Summary: Fun Fun FUN
Review: I currently play Final Fantasy XI online which, at later stages of the game (levels 60+) just gets too tedious, and too tiring. COH is a completely different MMO in that it's fun right from the get-go, and it stays fun even past the later levels. Why? It's simple: because the game concentrates on combat and it does it exceedingly well. While other games have crafting, selling, housing, etc... COH has awesome combat. Its so good that you'll forget you're playing an MMO at times - it has combat that is on-par or even better than most single-player games out today. Plus, you can join your friends and make a kick-butt supergroup - weeding out the crime that infests the city. What's more the graphics are great, and yet hold up well at 30fps+ on my old GeForce 3Ti. COH proves that you dont need crafting which is totally boring in most MMO's anyways. -I mean what would you rather do? - Spend 2 hours sitting in town making crap for money, or going out and kicking some bad-guy butt? I choose the latter any day! Anyways, check it out. The reviews are all positive for a reason. It's fun fun fun!
Rating: 
Summary: Probably great
Review: I'm sure this game is fantastic...that is if you can actually play. I've had it for 2 weeks and have not been able to play once due to various reasons that have not been determined by tech support yet. My suggestion is to visit the site and read the boards before you buy. Hopefully, you'll be able to determine if you will be one of the lucky few that can play the game with little or no issues. I will continue to try until my free month is up and then I'll move on or return to other games I play. Good luck if you choose to buy.
Rating:
Summary: Yes, it's worth it
Review: The main gripes from other reviewers are: (1) they don't like the monthly service fee and (2) They keep getting kicked from the mapserver.I too experienced very common mapserver disconnection problems. However that was during the first week after the game had shipped, and now the mapserver reliability has improved dramatically. From my experience, it is no longer an issue. If you think the game will be boring, because the first few levels of advancement seem like mindless, repetitive missions against simple-minded rooms full of 3-4 thugs, then try to find a mentor. A mentor is a much higher level player who temporarily invites you to team up. While mentored, your exiting powers are increased to the mentor's level so you can get a glimpse of much higher level combat and hopefully team play (experience gained is scaled down proportionately to your true level). I haven't played much, but through mentoring, I have already seen that the evolution of the combat dynamics is truly amazing. During the first 7 levels, all you see are players using the same sets of one or two early "powers". But when you see the full glory of a team of diverse heroes with their full power complements matched against powerful badguys, each with their own special strengths and weaknesses, there's no doubt that you will realize the game really has legs, and it's not likely that you will want to let your subscription expire before you can really play at that level.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Concept Yet Still Lacking
Review: City of Heroes(CoH) is a wonderful entry into the Massively Multiplayer Online market. For those who don't know, this is a class of games that allow vast amounts of players in a given area. MMOs generally take the form of Role Playing Games where players spend time strengthening characters and earning money and items. CoH definitely focuses on character strength, but much less so on the money-making and item collecting. This is both its greatest strength and biggest weakness. Without true items to collect, trade, and search for, the game becomes extremely simple to learn and progress through. New players aren't outclassed by wealthier or better equipped players, and you aren't left out of group play because you are missing that "must have" combination of equipment. At the same time, however, the simplicity leads to an extreme amount of repetition. You will find yourself fighting the same basic enemies in the same basic locations, and the lure of newer and better items isn't there to keep you motivated. This can and has caused many people to play CoH for hours only to create a new character because they are bored of the same old stuff. Character creation, though, is by far CoH's best feature. You can spend hours pouring through the near limitless combinations of outfits, accessories, masks, and colors the creation engine has to offer. Combine this with the numerous skill sets, and you will find yourself creating tons of new characters just to see how the powers feel. Combine the great character creation with the ability to have up to 8 characters on each of the servers, and you can have a veritable army of superheroes all your own. If there is one downside to creation, its the glaring lack of capes. This wouldn't be so bad if people in the game didn't refer to you as 'Capes'. Overall, City of Heroes is a great game with tons of potential. Of all the MMOs I've played, its has the most roleplay potential, and is the easiest to play straight out of the box. With a larger dose of story, and the rumored City of Villains expansion in the works, CoH could go down as one of the greatest MMOs ever produced.
Rating:
Summary: Great Game!!!
Review: My friends and I recently purchased this game. Prior to CoH, we were all alpha and beta testers for World of Warcraft. Not wanting to get burned out on WoW before release, we decided to take a break and give this game a try and we haven't returned to WoW since. This game is alot of fun. Its very simple. There is no loot system, eliminating trade chat and kill stealing issues. However, there are enhancements, which are used to increase your heroes abilities. Character creation is fun and allows people to custom create unique characters. As far as looks go, I have not yet seen two heroes that look alike. Overall, I am very impressed. If your looking for a good online PvE game while waiting for WoW of EQ2 or any of the other upcoming MMORPG's, you might want to check this out. While the game is not yet perfect, its definately off to a good start.
Rating: 
Summary: Great game
Review: I have played MMORPGs for 4 years now. Most of that being in everquest. This game is great fun and the best part is you can log in for an hour get a mission done get exp whatever and actually feel like you accomplished something! No tradeskills to worry about just leap over buldings fly around rooftops and fight the crime infested streets of Paragon City with other superheroes. The character creation system is AMAZING. You can literally create any superhero you can possibly think of. Tiny men to giant amazon women its all there have fun!
Rating:
Summary: Don't knock it...
Review: Servers were down yesterday since they rolled back an update that did not work. They also have daily server downtime for maintenance. I have played for over 100 hours since it came out 2 weeks ago with no issues, except the lack of sleep from playing this phenomenon of a game. Try it today, it was working this morning. Also, check the CoH website for server status.
Rating: 
Summary: Booted From Mapserver
Review: I just bought the game today and I have spent two hours trying to play it only to be booted from the mapserver countless times. I've been able to get in about 3-5 minutes of uniterrupted play time and then it freezes and disconnects me. I am praying that they figure out how to fix this issue because the game could be a potentially awesome one . . . goes to show ya, TEST IT BEFORE YOU SELL IT!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great game but backend support lacking
Review: ***************************************************************
I was immediately impressed by the audio/visual aspects of this game. Character, maps, and special effects are all very detailed and consistant with the super hero genre. The character costume design tool lets the player develop some very impressive, original combinations. Gameplay is pretty straight forward: go out and beat down the bad guys using fists, weapons, or psi and energy powers, either wandering about the troubled streets of Paragon City looking for a fight or by obtaining missions with specific objectives. Success gains the character experience which increases their "security level" granting new powers and access to more challenging areas. It also provides "influence" which is the coin of the realm in CoH. Influence allows the hero to purchase Enchancements which increase the effectiveness of their powers by increasing damage, range or reducing energy costs (Endurance = mana) or Inspirations which are temporary power ups and healing items. Both can also be aquired directly through combat. My two complaints with the game are lack of content (beyond combat there is very little to do and NPC interaction is extremely limited) which hopefully will be addressed with later patches and releases. You can't trash your surroundings either which is a staple of super hero combat. The archetype system (basically character class) feels a bit constraining and there are some balance issues. There is also a pitifully slow response system for those attempting to set up an account with NCsoft. You may have to wait as long as two days to get the access code needed to set up an account and add CoH to play it. Overall, I am enjoying the game very much. As of this writing I have a 15th level Scrapper (melee based fighter) and am a member of a superteam (guild). The online community seems pretty decent toward each other and the servers have been fairly stable. If you enjoy the genre you will like this game.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best MMRPG on the Market at the moment
Review: As a veteran of a number of MMRPGs (including Everquest, Dark Ages of Camelot, Star Wars Galaxies, PLanetside)I have mostly good things to say about City of Heroes. I'm a little shocked by some of the 1 star ratings on here and I am wondering exactly what some of those folks expected. For those of you who don't know, City of Heroes is a Massively Multiplayer Roleplaying Game- its a pay to play subscription based service which puts you into the shows of a superhero in a world full of other players who are also playing superheroes. Basically, you create a hero based on origin and archtetype (a fancy word for "class") in a very similar vein to many other MMRPG. Since others have gone over what the game is, I'll give you a lists of good/bad. The Good Incredibly deep character creation system
No Loot (and no fighting over loot)
Great looking powers
Option to create up to 8 heroes on each server
No PVP
Very well done cityscapes with plenty of stuff to jump on/off of Generally friendly playerbase
Mission based system provides relief from "camp X spawn" games
Practically bug free release
Almost no lag. The game is actually playable on dialup.
Excellent developer interaction and feedback (ie game gets fixed quick)
Option for solo play (depends on your archtetype) The Bad Leveling curve gets much steeper past lvl 15. To reach lvl 40 (maxing out your levels), you'll need 8.5 million exp. pts
Some problems with disconnects
No capes
No option for PVP
Questionable high end game (once you're done with leveling, whats left). I played CoH for about a month and half in beta and steadily since release. Its a game where you can log on and do a mission in an hour or spend an afternoon playing with a group of heroes. When it comes right down to it, its still a MMRPG with superhero trappings but playing COH is probably the most fun I've had doing an MMRPG since the early days of EQ.
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