User Rating: 7.3 | City of Heroes PC
Well to start with, I have played pretty much every MMORPG out there. This game has some pros and cons like everything else. So to make it simple, Im going to divide them up in those two categories. First, are the Pros: Best damned character creation I have ever experienced..As far as looks go, there isnt a game out there that can touch the creative freedom you get from this game. The Powers you get overtime as you level up are awesome...constantly leaving you thinking about what to pick next to further enhance your hero. The Graphics are great, I tried this on a high end machine 3.0ghz and then on a low end 850mhz P3 and with a decent video card, I still got decent frame rates and a nice crisp city to look at. The Backstory is cool since, depending on what type of hero you become, you might have a certain arch-enemy type faction that you are after. Now for the Cons: The sound is about middle of the road. The sound effects of your powers are neat, but the music is rather bland..but then again, in a mmorpg, most may even prefer for the music to be somewhat out of the way, since concentration is a must in this genre. Even though the powers you receive are nice, after a few levels, around 9 or 10 especially, you still get that grinding feeling that comes from leveling and watching your exp increase inch but ever loving inch. These next and final two gripes I have are pretty much just personal things..but for one..and this is gonna be hard to explain, but..well..I just dont feel like a super hero based in a game where I dont see any familiar faces since this game is not licensed by Image, Marvel or DC Comics. I keep thinking how much nicer this would have been to have been involved in the legitimate comic worlds than this one. It just feels slightly, generic, I guess is the best word for it. And Lastly, we've all grown up witht he comics, cartoons and the movies..what made the heroes so special were that we saw them on their own battling against whatever enemy..when I say alone I mean, just them!! No other heroes around, unless it was a crossover of some sort. I mean Spiderman has his own city to look after, X-Men do their thing without every other hero poking their nose in every 5 seconds..Basically, what Im saying is, from a roleplaying standpoint, I just dont feel super when Im seeing every other variation of a hero running past me every 5 seconds. You get that feeling of "this town ain't big enough for the several hundred of us." Not to mention that even though your character might LOOK original, theres someone out there already thats close enough with the same basic powers, so they are basically the same person as you are. I can't count how many "Fire blasters" that all that orange red and black that I have seen on just one server. In my mind this would have been a better game if the worlds were limited to amuch smaller group of people so that those of us that were there might actually feel important and super. Again those are just personal gripes. On the flipside, if you are looking for a break from the ArgueQuest, Ultima Suxxors Online, Final Noobies XI Online, then give this a shot..It should last a while before the players actually start to ruin it :) You know I speak the truth, sheep! 
