User Rating: 9.3 | City of Heroes PC
Finally, a MMO that's nothing but FUN! Gone is the intense in your face level grind, tedious inventory management, endless downtime, and locked in skill templates. There are literally hundreds of different classes you can make by mix and matching the four base classes, and as everyone else has mentioned there are millions of possible costume choices. You can make a hulking machine gun firing she-beast or a ice-shooting horned half-robot dwarf. Capes aren't implemented in the game yet, however. The frame rate is super smooth on my mid-range system. Groups are easy to find and fun to play in, with plenty of little things that make group combat easier. Selecting a group member automatically selects *his* target, so it's easy to assign one person as a main tank and then just use your attacks "on him", which actually attacks his target. Your skills are upgraded by finding loot drops, which add bonus damage or lessen recharge time or whatever. You can also combine lower level drops into higher level ones. Groups can instantly and easily take on missions (which scale depending on how many people are in your group) without tedious journeys back and forth from a trainer or contact. The game has a few interface quirks and could really use some additional hotkeys. Server populations can be low at off-peak times, and the game is currently having some minor lag issues and frustrating dropped connections. Still, it's a very smooth launch for a game only a week old. Combat sounds are satisfying but the rest of the gameworld is fairly silent, and music only pops in occasionally when you switch zones. City maps are expansive but forest or other "dungeon" like zones are just a series of rooms, clearings, and corridors instead of a true forest where you can walk between tree trunks. The game also lacks any crafting system or PvP, and until you reach level 7 or 8 you won't have much choice in what new skills to upgrade to. There's currently a weird design decision in place which makes it impossible to finish certain story arcs if you "outlevel" the Contact who gives you missions. The game might not be as "deep" as SWG or DAOC but it's also a hell of alot more fun. It's also more expensive than other MMO's, costing $15 a month instead of the usual $10 or $12. 
