City of Villains

November 17,2005 - We’ve heard of a sheep in wolf's clothing, but City of Villains is the gaming world’s first known example of a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Last year’s City of Heroes has grown remarkable legs thanks to its fresh character creation system and invigorating gameplay, and boasts an excellent player community dedicated to their virtual universe of derring-do. Still, from the moment of its release, Paragon City’s valiant inhabitants longed to use their powers for the forces of iniquity. Cryptic’s attempt to answer these prayers is a solid companion piece to the original, and retains the energy that made Heroes so successful. Dyed-in-the-wool veterans may enjoy the new scenery and villain archetypes, and newcomers will find a lot to enjoy right off the bat. On the other hand, City of Villains is also an irksome reminder of CoH’s drawbacks, and even with some fancy new particle effects and semi-ragdoll deaths, the visual engine hasn’t aged as gracefully as you might hope. It’s a worthwhile diversion from the usual MMO grind, but doesn’t do enough to set itself apart from City of Heroes, and even with strong story quests and PvP zones, it just doesn’t feel--well--villainous enough.

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What happens when the city is overrun...with villains.

Not that the characters don’t look wicked, thanks to the incredible character customization options at your disposal. Whether your idea of the perfect perpetrator of dastardly deeds is a vampy vampiress or a wily werewolf, chances are you can outfit an avatar that personifies your most terrifying tendencies. All of the upgrades to this system in City of Heroes has made its way in the transition, so alternate outfits and capes are options should you get tired of your current look. Choosing the perfect guise offers committed role-players hours of paper doll glee, even before entering the world proper.

While City of Villains purports to have five new archetypes, only one of them looks wholly original at the outset: the Mastermind. This isn’t to say that classes are exact copies, because they aren’t. While the Brute archetype closely resembles the Tank in City of Heroes, subtle differences reveal the Brute to be better at dishing out the damage while not quite as proficient in taking it. Still, there is some clear consistency: Stalkers are like Scrappers, Dominators are like Controllers, Corruptors are like Defenders. This isn’t always a bad thing, since the subtle differences are enough to distinguish the games from each other, and will ease seasoned Heroes into the newly exotic territory. Many will undoubtedly gravitate to the creative Mastermind profession, as it is the first pet class to grace the series, and lets you choose one of four different henchman types to summon. While limited to a single pet at first, in later levels, Masterminds summon as many as six companions, which make them formidable in groups, and an excellent solo class.

At the outset, you’re introduced to the Rogue Isles, an archipelago near Bermuda that serves as a popular home to your fellow scoundrels. After the initial prison escape that moonlights as an introduction to the world proper, you set out to catch the evil eye of Lord Recluse, which means showing the thugs who would muscle their way into your territory exactly who’s boss. City of Villains does a fantastic job of giving missions meaning and fleshing out your contacts, even if most of these outwardly personal elements are superficial, such as the way your foes and random passersby call you out by name. Your contacts detail your quest, which takes you to an instanced mission area and normally consists of clearing out the baddies, and possibly grabbing a few jewels, or something similar. The missions tie together well and provide continuity that City of Heroes lacks, yet your most common foes aren’t heroes—they’re other villains. We never get the feeling that we’re being villainous as much as merely naughty. No matter how powerful the bank guards are, or how nutty the innocent bystanders look as they flounder about, they’re still just guards and commoners, which makes us feel more like a cat burglar than the personification of Satan himself.

Leveling up means new powers and upgrades. Every archetype has a decent number of superpowers at its disposal, and each power can be augmented with enhancements that you either purchase with the infamy you accumulate through normal progression, or gather as dropped loot. You’ll also grab inspirations along the way, which serve as temporary buffs, both offensive and defensive. Just like with CoH, however, there is no real inventory to juggle--no weapons to fiddle with, no miscellaneous items to combine, no tradeskill items to improve. For better or worse, City of Villains is about the struggle, and if you found yourself bored with the superficiality of that particular aspect before, you’ll find little to alleviate it here, at least where the player-vs.-environment portion of the game is concerned.

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