Trust me, it’s a nefarious plot, worthy of Lex Luthor or Doctor Doom.Australia’s best minds will be stolen by a game so thrilling and addictive they’ll be unable to tear their hands from the keyboards or their eyes away from the screen. Sleep, social lives, relationships, even jobs, could be lost, and what’s more the fools will pay about $27.50 per month for the privilege.And, while they’re doing so, the Martians, the Molemen or the trans-dimensional beings of Galaxy X are be free to conquer Earth. The world is Paragon City, in which costumed heroes patrol the skies or walk the streets, ever ready to face the dark forces that want to dominate or destroy their gleaming metropolis. Street crime is a persistent menace, but in a city where aliens,mutants or giant snow-monsters could be around the next corner, gang violence is the least of your worries. Luckily, while the normal citizens live in fear, you don’t have to. As a costumed hero, you have the power to battle evil and ensure that truth and justice prevail.
Even better, the style of hero you play is entirely up to you. Players can choose from five basic types, with varying defensive and offensive capabilities, and from five origins – magic, mutant, science, technology and natural.These affect the sort of powers they can harness. After that, you still have a wide selection of powers to choose from, and then a genuinely vast wardrobe of costumes, hairstyles, physiques and forms to clothe your hero in. If you can imagine a hero, you can produce it, and if the huge variety of heroes you’ll find in Paragon City proves anything it’s that some people have a pretty wild imagination.
Once your hero is finished, there’s a quick and painless tutorial level, then it’s time to put him or her on the streets of Paragon City. For an easy start, the game uses a system of contacts to give you missions and send you in the direction of the nearest brawl.These missions usually come down to finding an area and clearing it of hostiles, but it’s a good way to get you into the game and build your powers without the 12 hours of rat bashing that some massively multiplayer games deem a sensible initiation. If you don’t feel sociable, you can follow this approach for a long, long time, fighting bigger foes and exploring a wider range of powers, but this entirely misses the point. City of Heroes only shows its true brilliance once you start getting involved with the wider community. Join up with a team of heroes – don’t worry, they’re usually friendly and will probably invite you if you show a bit of willing – and the game opens up a lot more.The hordes of mutants that make certain districts no-go areas for lone crime fighters are easy meat for a balanced group, and NCsoft has added some neat features to make it easier for players at different levels to play together.As you develop your hero, there are bigger and brawnier opponents to destroy and, with energy beams flying in every direction while furious brawlers and flame-wrapped heavy-hitters take the fight straight to the enemy, a mass super-powered scrap becomes a wonder to behold.
These are the moments where the game is at its best visually.While Paragon City has some dramatic architecture, there’s no denying that some districts and many of the internal areas have a touch of the generic about them.A sizable population and some busy traffic keep the streets from looking empty, but once you get away from the central plazas with their huge hero monuments it’s little more than a blank canvas, waiting for some broad strokes of superhero colour.
City of Heroes is undeniably a fight-fest, not a thinking man’s RPG, but at least NCsoft is committed to adding content: expect new villains, plotlines, powers and areas to the game as time progresses. More importantly, the city is full of regular people just having a blast. It might be the quantity of crazy costumes, or the sheer silliness of the whole endeavour, but this is one game where people are out for fun, not just the next level or a new magic broadsword +10.