City of Heroes and City of Villains was the first massively multiplayer
online game to let us don a cape and tights to live out the life of a
superhero/super villain just like we always wanted to since we were old
enough to read our first comic book. With the upcoming release of href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/47541" target="_blank">CoX's 13th
free expansion, the game shows no signs of slowing down so I
decided it's time to revisit the city of virtuous heroes and dastardly
villains. For any of my longtime readers, it should come as no surprise
that I chose to go the route of super villain and begin my quest for
world domination. How do you begin such a quest? I'm glad you asked.



In other games (and I don't care what games we're talking about), it
normally takes a matter of a few minutes to create your chosen
character by choosing from various looks and powers. Take everything
you know about the limitations of character creation and throw it out
faster than a dirty diaper. CoX has the greatest character creation
system ever devised by man! All right, that may sound a bit extreme,
but trust me - if the character creation system had been released as a
standalone game, I would have bought it. No matter where I went, how
long I've logged in off an on over the years, I've never seen two
characters that looked alike... ever. Name one other game you can say
that about. Don't worry; I know it's a tough question so I'll wait.
Anything coming? Anything? Yeah, I couldn't think of any either, but
I'll give you an "A" for effort.


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Evil
Incarnate

The default character may look like a bad impersonation of href="http://i.somethingawful.com/jlistcontest/topten/baroness-final-small.jpg" target="_blank">the
Baroness, but by the time I was done rifling through an
absolute smorgasbord of villainous bits and pieces of various clothes,
accessories, and body parts, I had my living embodiment of evil. After
spending over an hour (literally) designing my red demoness, complete
with black leather, magical runes, and adorning skulls, she was ready
to next choose from an impressive list of powers. Fortunately, there
was an entire section on Magic and Dark Energy. What could be a better
fit than that for a denizen of the Abyss's 9th plane?



At this point, I've got my avatar, my powers, and I'm ready to throw
down some death and destruction like it's nobody's business. The
development team apparently felt the same way, so the villain's
tutorial section is actually a prison break complete with scaring the
bajeezus out of some poor nurse for keys to the drug cabinet and doing
favors for some older prisoners to get introduced to new contacts, all
just to find your way outside. Next, a new contact decides he wants to
see what you're made of and sends you out to beat some poor souls up.
He tells you to go beat two people up, and just like a midget wrestling
match, he doesn't care whom they are, he just wants to see some bodies
flying.



Watching the combat unfold is just what the doctor ordered if you're in
the mood for some super villain fun. Using my dark bolts of energy,
combined with the shimmering shield of dark energy wrapped around me, I
beat those thugs like a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZmDWltBziM" target="_blank">drunk
southern widow whacking on rug. It may not have been pretty,
but it knocked the dickens out of them. The bodies went flying or
crumpled at my feet in a massive display of rage and destruction.
There's nothing like the smell of burning brimstone in the morning to
make you feel alive, eh?


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They didn't
stand a chance!

Just when you think the tutorial is over, a bit of a wrench gets thrown
into the mix and is a great way to introduce you to the nature of
instancing missions in the game. Before the pilot will fly you off the
prison island, you'll need to go into a building to rescue the poor sap
that was on his way to break you out of prison before he got himself
nabbed by the fuzz (amateur). The game's compass points you in the
direction of a nearby building, giving you the distance to your target
as well. Once there, pop open the door, and just like every surly
teenager on the planet, you're off in your own little world, totally
ignorant of what's going on around you.



Inside, you find Billy-Bob-Not-So-Badass getting shaken down by the
local guards just as he spills the beans and gives them your name.
Thanks Toolboy... I appreciate it. Now it's up to you to beat the
guards down, talk to the Pansy Princess here, beat your way through the
rest of the guards, and finally rig the bomb that was originally
designed to blow you out of prison so you can use it as a distraction
to get away. Welcome to a new world of villainy!



Character creation in CoX is nothing short of being a masterpiece. The
initial story may sound more than a little contrived, but it's a
brilliant excuse for a tutorial and does a great job of getting you
into the action without bogging you down with a hundred pieces of text
to digest. Combat may not consist of the fast paced action I'm normally
used to, but it's early in the game and at this point, I'm more than
willing to give NCsoft the benefit of the doubt. It's been at least 3
years since I had set foot into the CoX universe. For a new "first"
impression, I've got to pull a Siskel and Ebert here and give them a
thumbs up. Initial impressions are important, but see whether the game
stands up to some heavy play testing next week when I bring you a full
review!



To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our City of Heroes Game Page.

Last Updated: Mar 29, 2016

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