Play NC has been a top competitor in the world of MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games). City of Heroes did very well and won numerous awards. City of Villains will follow that path as well.

City of Villains was introduced in October 2005 as a stand alone sequel to City of Heroes, that could also be used in conjunction with the previous game. In City of Villains you create your own archvillain and follow a path that takes you to the top of the evil group, Arachnos. Missions tie into the needs and desires of the evil head of this group, Lord Recluse.

System Requirements

The minimum system requirements for this game are:
Windows 2000 or XP, Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon at 800 mhz, 512 MB RAM, CD-ROM, 4 gb available Hard drive space, Direct x 9c compatible graphics card, 16-bit sound card, and a dial up connection.

The recommended system requirements for the game are:
Windows 2000 or XP, Intel Pentium IV at 2.0 ghz or AMD Athlon XP 2000+, 1gb RAM, 16x CD-ROM, 4 gb available hard drive space, high end graphics cards, 16-bit sound card and a broadband connection.

Why all of that? The graphics are intense. Besides City of Heroes looking pretty good for an MMORPG, City of Villains received a graphics upgrade. You will want the recommended requirements to see how great the graphics are. They paid a great deal of attention to details with this one. As much as I would love to have it on the highest graphics settings, I usually keep it on recommended. Despite having a 2.8ghz Pentium D, 2 gb of RAM, 250 gb SATA hard drive, a 128 mb graphics card, and a broadband connection, the highest settings still run a little slow.

Ease of Play

The game plays much simpler than a lot of MMORPGs out there. You choose a character class and design a character. You choose power sets and as you go up in level you are able to obtain more powers. You use enhancements to add to different attributes of your power (for example, you can add speed enhancements to an travel power, recharge enhancements to a slow recharging attack power, etc.) At level 14, you get a travel power which makes traveling from zone to zone much faster. This has been a problem in a lot of MMORPGs which sometimes have you traveling for 10 minutes or more to get where you need to be. You get missions from contacts in which you accomplish tasks and are awarded experience and infamy (like money, but to buy enhancements and costumes with). You can also just hunt around zones if you like. You get multiple costume slots to design alternate costumes for your characters. Everything is very easy to understand and get used to.

Character Design

There are a lot of different options for character class and power sets. The Costume design, however, is the best part. There are tons of options for not only costume parts, but also colors. It is possible that no two characters will ever look the same. Naming can be troublesome, as in most MMORPGs. As soon as you think you found the perfect name, you find it is taken. But I guess that comes with the territory.

How it plays

The missions are very engrossing. If you take the time to read the story lines, it sucks you in and in the end you actually feel like you're accomplishing something. Missions can be indoor missions (take place in an office building, a warehouse, or a cave depending on the storyline), instanced zones (you board a train that takes you to a zone created just for you or hop on a truck to go to Paragon City), or hunting missions (you roam the streets to defeat a certain number of enemies). The dialogue in the game is witty (you may walk into a mission and read a message about needing to give the enemy a beating just because they were dumb enough not to lock the door). There are story arcs that result in fighting heroes (actual figures from the City of Heroes game) and give you a bonus in experience, infamy, and enhancements. There are also bank and casino robberies to keep you busy.

The villain groups are interesting and diverse, ranging from a mystical group of demons and casters to a powerful and evil corporation to a group of disgruntled mine workers.

Another thing that impressed me were the cut scenes. During missions, you may hit a certain area in the mission that will trigger a cut scene related to that mission. Perhaps you go close to the hero you need to fight and you'll see a cut scene of her talking about how she is going to defeat your character and how you will never get the specific item you came there for. This definitely helps you feel more engaged in the mission.

Another cool feature of the game is the pvp zones. There are several in the game where you can attack heroes and some where you can attack both heroes and villains. In one zone you can accomplish tasks to launch missiles or decrease the heroes stats.

The Social Side of The Game

The super group can be a big part of your game experience, or you can choose to go without one and play with whatever random people turn up each night. The social experience of the game is pretty pleasant. People are polite and helpful. Teaming is a fun way to grind for experience in the upper levels. If you are in a super group, you can even have a base that your super group designs using the prestige that its members earn for the group. This prestige is earned whenever you are in supergroup mode and is gained free of penalty until level 25. After that level you start receiving a smaller amount of infamy as you go up in level. Your group can also raid other bases and have their base raided. It adds another fun play element that you don't see in most games.

Zones

The zones are also diverse and well rendered. Some zones have more traffic than others, but each has a story and you will move through different zones depending what level you are in. In each zone there are badges to be found, which could be made into another game in itself. Badges are awarded for finishing certain missions, defeating certain enemies, travelling to certain places, and hitting certain in-game milestones. Many people collect the badges for fun and one badge is chosen as a title to appear under your characters name. There are usually special events in each zone, for example giant monsters in certain zones like the Ghost of Scrapyard in Sharkhead Isle. These also add a fun element to the game.

Price and Updates

The game is relatively inexpensive; only $29.99. The monthly fee is $15 but includes both City of Heroes and City of Villains so it is worth it to play both. They also release large expansion updates called issues. These are free of charge and add anything from character classes to entire zones.

Controls

The controls are easily learned or if need be easily changed. Movement can be achieved with the mouse or any combination of keys (I prefer to use the arrows and the mouse for targeting). Jumping is set to space and autorun to R as a default but you can change any control setting you want and also have an alternate. For example, since I use the arrows to move, I made the autorun delete since it is right above those keys instead of having to reposition my hand to the R everytime I need to run. As an alternate, I set the right shift. My laptop has a 15.4 inch screen and the keyboard is smaller because of it. The right shift is the key above the arrows on that keyboard. The alternate setting is definitely helpful for those of us who use more than one computer but I can also see it being helpful for those of us who like to use different controls so their hands don't get tired.

Graphics and Audio

As I've stated before the overall look of the game is great. The zones are very diverse; everything from islands to cities to towns with a big mining industry. Details amaze me. You walk into a mission and can read a bulletin board in an office or look at the back of a computer and see video outputs. Character details (both NPC and player characters) are impressive. It renders pretty well for an online game. There have been some games I've played where you can be walking through a zone and a tree or a mountain jumps out in front of you. In this game, everything fades in. The little details, however, are what's going to really impress you. On Nerva Archipelago, you can go on to this seemingly deserted isle, with ancient ruins, wooden bridges, and jungle and even see things like birds hovering around or waterfalls.
The sound is clear and well done. All of the sounds are impressive and the music has a cool metal feel to it. The sound effects can get be annoying at high volumes; especially the sounds of healing powers and electrical blasting powers. It's best to keep the volume at a medium level on this one, but don't be surprised if you end up knowing which zone you walked into just because of the music...

In-Game Support

The in-game support in this game is great. If you're stuck, type /stuck and most of the time you are freed. Anytime you petition for a problem with a mission, a GM shows up in 10-15 minutes with a drone to help you out. Their tech support is friendly and knowledgeable. Servers go down occasionally for maintenance but the times for this are well scheduled. Bugs are identified quickly and solved swiftly.

Out-Of-Game Gaming

PlayNC also releases a comic book based on City of Heroes and Villains that is readable through there website or that can be ordered as a paper subscription for a small fee. There are collectible figures that come with the DVD edition of the game and also a card game.

This game is great for the seasoned MMORPG player to someone looking for something to do in their spare time. It fun, engaging and a cost effective diversion.

Recommended: Yes

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