Download now: City of Villains gameplay trailer

First Impressions:

NCSoft, in its unique yin and yang style, has released a darker sequel to City of Heroes. City of Villains is being offered as a full priced stand alone game. I was lucky enough to attend the Beta events and play it. City of Villains is the standalone sequel to critically acclaimed MMORPG City of Heroes.

CoH and CoV play identically the same. If you have played CoH there is no new learning curve to slow you down. It was fun to be able to jump right in. It starts with the character creation system is there and now it is enhanced with tougher looking add ons of barbed wire, chains, scars, horns, heads and appendages. There are new textures for the costumes. you can choose hair and skin colors. Pick outfits from leather or tights and metal armor. There are a vast array of emblems to use and styles to try. There are an assortment of new powers, abilities, and customization options.

You then have to choose your origins from the five choices. Science, Mutation, Magic, Technology, and Natural. The Archetypes (ATs) have changed quite a bit. They aren't just the Brute, Dominator, Stalker, Corruptor and Mastermind as evil now. You can't just play like CoH. The archetypes in City of Villains are much more focused on offense than those of City of Heroes.

It starts off with a tutorial that is designed to look like a prison break. Instead of the "Outbreak" tutorial in CoH , you have "Breakout" in CoV. The Central figure in the game is  Lord Recluse who has sent some of his Arachnos forces to blow up the jail. The prison break scenario is chaotic, and loud. There is fighting all around you as Arachnos soldiers can be seen fighting containment squads. You look for a contact. He turns out to be a mutant inmate with goggles permanently attached to his face due to his eye-based powers. You run a series of errands and then move on to the next contact. Finally you help out an Arachnos Pilot and you get to Mercy Island. The villain characters are in on an attempt to dominate the world. There is a huge variety of villain missions including heists, kidnappings, and infiltration's to get villainous on.

The Rogue Isles is a chain of islands out in international waters. Over the centuries this archipelago has been a spawning ground for pirates, and smugglers. Recluse and his own criminal organization, Arachnos occupies it. Supposedly the story goes that through a loophole in the vague law, Lord Recluse set up there. The object of the game is to have an impressive life of crime indirectly working for this guy. From the snake pits of Mercy Island to the haunted hallways of Fort Hades over in Port Oakes, there are the new settings, archetypes and power sets that do make the game new and more fun.

Graphics:

It could have been more interesting and dark. The art-style is identical to CoH.

Sound/Music:

The sound is exactly like City of Heroes. It uses the same effects. They don't sound dark or evil. The music and background sounds are still loud with too much siren on it.

Gameplay:

Players can advance from low level thugs to eventually fulfill their destiny as legendary arch-criminals. Design and build infinitely customizable fortresses of evil. The Villain players repel intruders with slaughtering weapons and supernatural defenses. Players will still have plenty of PvE content to try the new skills against.

You will need a valid Credit Card or Game Time Card which is required to activate the game included the the box. It gives you the the first month of online game play, and after the first month, players will be charged a monthly subscription fee of US $14.99. Earlier this month NCsoft announced that existing City of Heroes' customers can purchase City of Villains and subscribe to both games for the single subscription price of US $14.99.

Enjoyment:

It is just as fun as City of Heros. It is easy to get into the expansion.

Multiplayer:

CoH players will need a copy of CoV to give access to the Player versus Player zones. Heroes and Villains can attack each other when players take on each other on. There are PvE zones and some PvP zones that are sure to be make some people happy. There is an entirely new addition of bases and base raids. City of Villains should be something that new fans will want. I expect that City of Heroes fans will probably be curious about the new territory as well. It should be interesting to see how the games cross over with the interlinked PvP zones.

Overall Impression:

It was easy to get right into it and get involved.  You select targets, click on the power you want to use on them and kill them off. There is an effortless feeling of jumping and gliding. If you get hurt you take some green crosses, or if you die you wake up in the hospital. After you kill a few bad guys in a mission you go and port to the next zone. It has a a relaxing pace. The bright costumes and the originality that players have makes the game interesting. It isn't immersive because it is a spoof and it isn't meant to be taken seriously.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

These games have one of the most robust character creation engines out there. It is a great deal of fun and creativity designing the characters and the choices of costuming are virtually limitless. You can even  select shades of colors and gradients. Women will enjoy the flexibility of this feature. Also you can design the physique of the character too, so being offended by a game avatar has been made obsolete.