City of Villains

Author: Chris Caines
Published: 2nd November 2005
Comments (13) Stumble
City of Villains Gameplay and Interaction

Gameplay

If you haven't played City of Heroes, then the game follows a typical user-selectable first or third person MMO experience, with most activity split between street-fighting and instanced missions offered to you via contacts or the local rag. Many of the missions are of the 'Rescue this person' or 'Blow up this building' affair, but as you delve further into the criminal underworld you'll find more complex and juicy things awaiting you, which may require the services of other villains or even entire super groups.

As you progress through the game you will level up, giving you access to new powers and abilites, as well as allowing you to drastically increase the effect of your powers with enhancement slots. Amongst a myriad of other upgrades, these enhancements can increase the damage and speed of your attacks, as well as lower the effort required to perform them. Level-specific zones are also available to you as you become more powerful, ensuring you don't get you out of your depth in some of the tougher areas, known as Hazard Zones.

City of Villains Gameplay and Interaction City of Villains Gameplay and Interaction
Thankfully the gameplay and user interface is identical to City of Heroes, with the exception of some specific rewording of already familiar features, such as Influence becoming Infamy. (I can never say that without thinking of Kenneth Williams in Carry on Cleo). Therefore, if you're an accomplished player of the original, you can hit the ground running in City of Villains without having to spend time learning how to play, leaving you more time to immerse yourself in the new archetypes and zones .

With the release of City of Villains, there has also been a simultaneous release of new features inside City of Heroes in order to merge the two games into one unique experience. If you own both products you'll be able to benefit from them in both games.

For those of you looking to smash Paragon City's finest good guys into a pulp, there are disputed zones you can enter in order to partake in some Player Vs Player (PvP) activity. There are three of these zones (whilst a fourth has been hinted at) which all allow you to enter into different forms of conflict against other players of similar level ranges, both friends and foe. One nice trick is that if you are higher than the zone's recommended level, you are automatically exemplared (artificially lowering your level, a feature within CoH used to allow higher level players to fight alongside lower level compadres) down to the corresponding range. So don't think you're going to be sweeping in with a level 50 and wiping out the poor lower level characters!

Your own Fortress of Solitude

One of the benefits of being in a large group of super people means you don't have to hang around in your parents' basement or get changed in telephone boxes. Now you can have your own base to work out of and as you develop 'Prestige', (The supergroup equivalent of Infamy/Influence, which is the in-game currency) you can upgrade and use it for all manner of both practical and decorative purposes. The ability to bond together and obtain items, improve your base and build weapons and defences should ensure that well established groups can find things to do well into their career.

City of Villains Gameplay and Interaction City of Villains Gameplay and Interaction

Whilst bases are open to both Heroes and Villains, you have to have purchased CoV to own and use a Hero base. You may find that some members of your group cannot access it unless they're prepared to shell out for the upgrade.

However, be warned; bases look to be inordinately expensive and a large and powerful supergroup earning prestige by the bucketload will still take several weeks to build the base of their dreams. If you're a duo or a small group, don't expect to have Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted in your blueprints for a little while.

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