Here we are to save the day?
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| Source // Moby Games |
Superheroes are everywhere these days. No longer confined to pages of a comic book, they've spread to television, cinema, tabletop gaming and, of course, video games. You can't turn around without seeing another film poster or game release.
Back in 2004, however, superheroes weren't so prevalent... except in one city. The City of Heroes.
An MMO set in a metropolis absolutely stuffed full of superheroes - and, later on, supervillains and rogues - City of Heroes was the destination for fans who wanted to play out their dreams of becoming the next Superman.
What would a city overpopulated with cape-wearing characters be like to live in, though? Anything like 2019, with all these Marvel movies?
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| Source // Moby Games |
Frustrations
Sadly for us, official support for City of Heroes disappeared, along with the game, in 2012. While an unofficial server was up and running just this year, I've had a quick look at the game on YouTube to see what I'm missing and let's just say it's not much.
Now, I've probably just upset a few people, but that's fine. I don't really like MMOs. Superheroes I can get behind, in moderation. Overwhelming numbers of spandex-clad strangers all blasting away at monsters in sewers, not so much.
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| Source // Moby Games |
Fun Times
That said, I don't want to be too down on what was essentially the only game to allow players to customise themselves to their exact liking. Not just a close enough resemblance to the superhero of their dreams, but a 1:1 representation of them.
Character customisation was deep. Mariana Trench deep. From primary and secondary abilities to the look of those powers. Their colour, their visual effects, the lot. It's like Soul Calibur VI levels of character creation here.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
Ever wanted to be a knock-off Joker? You can. An Egyptian Space Marine? Knock yourself out. An out of proportion woman with an awful lot of exposed skin? Please, that's the first thing geeks made in City of Heroes...
For all the joking, though, from what I've seen, this was hours of gameplay alone, just tweaking how you wanted to appear to everyone else in the city.
But you can't hang a game on that. What would you have gotten up to, back in the day?
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
Further Frustrations
This I know less about. I've seen footage of raids with tens and tens of players and targets for their superpowers, but they took place in corridors, or a large sewer pipe, and did nothing to inspire a life of heroics. It was like a superhero Zerg rush, everyone spamming an attack until the threat was neutralised.
The screenshots here are more low key, shall we say. More appropriate to a single superhero adventure, before they join the Justice League. Helping civilians and generally saving the city. Go you.
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
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| Source // Moby Games |
Is that all there is to it? I read that expansions allowed players to create villains and PvP would, therefore, have been a viable means of entertainment, I suppose.
Perhaps it was more of a playground. A platform that would allow you to be the superhero or villain you wanted to be or wanted to see in the comic books. That alone would be reason enough to get into City of Heroes if you were a fan of the genre.
As a fan of gaming, though, I've not seen a whole lot of game. Maybe that's because I've seen footage of the unofficial resurrection, rather than anything from back in the day. Perhaps there just isn't much of a game, despite nearly 10 years of support and expansions.
Final Word
At the end of the day, all I can really say is that I have no idea what I missed in City of Heroes, and it baffles me as to why there isn't something like it around today. With all these cinematic universes, surely City of Heroes, or something like it, would do well?
Maybe it wouldn't. MMOs require investment. Then again, buying comic books requires investment too. But perhaps we want more immediate rewards these days, and don't want the time investment of an MMO...
Oh, I don't know. City of Heroes is officially no more, and I'm not in a position to comment on it. I wouldn't have been too bothered with grinding through the levels, but you can bet I would have spent a long time perfecting my look.
No idea what that look would be, but damn, I'd do my best in that character creation menu, let me tell you...
Fun Facts
Despite spin-off content in the form of collectable card games and, perhaps obviously, comics and novels, City of Heroes would effectively just disappear, with the developers' focus shifting elsewhere.
City of Heroes, developed by Cryptic Studios, Paragon Studios, first released in 2004.
Version watched: City of Heroes Homecoming, PC, 2019 (Nova, Positive Gamer).