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  • RPG Hub
  1. Games
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  3. City of Villains

City of Villains review

Being bad feels pretty good ... but it could feel even better

Reviews
By Dan_Amrich
Published 9 March 2006

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GamesRadar+ Verdict

Reasons to buy

  • +

    Action-heavy

  • +

    addictive gameplay

  • +

    Best character creator in MMOdom

  • +

    Play CoH and CoV for one price

Reasons to avoid

  • -

    Simply not evil enough

  • -

    Not really different from CoH

  • -

    Most people can't build bases

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

The good guys have had their day - now it's evil's turn. But as the dark shadow to the popular massively multiplayer online superhero RPG City of Heroes, NC Soft's City of Villains feels very familiar but only slightly sinister.

Like its less evil twin, City of Villains drops players into Paragon City, a metropolis ravaged by crime. Street gangs, giant snakes, and mutated corpses roam the streets, looking for their next victims. The good guys are here too - spandex-clad Longbow operatives patrol the streets, trying to thwart evil. And then there's you, a bad person with a good idea, eager to rise up the local rogue's gallery. Pull off a bank heist here, a kidnapping there, and let the other bad guys know who's really bad, and yours will be a name that both heroes and villains fear.

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The gameplay remains the same: running (or flying or leaping or teleporting) around an expansive city, ducking into offices and caves and sewers for a very action-heavy RPG experience against computer-controlled enemies as well as other players. There's no "item crafting" as found in most fantasy MMOs, but as you fight, you'll earn enhancements to your superpowers, which you can choose and upgrade as you see fit. The same goes for your supervillain - if you want to merge a zombie's torso with cybernetic legs and crown it all with a top hat, the game's expansive character creator indulges your every whim.

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