City of Heroes at E3

Did you ever have one of those friends in high-school (ok, as an adult) that makes it to the comic book shop EVERY week? That knows exactly how many times Superman had died and been resurrected and the issue number and who wrote it and who colored it....you get the picture. They've got an entire room devoted to comic books. Jack Emmert, the Lead Game Designer on City of Heroes for Cryptic Studios is one of those guys. You can just see it oozing from his pores - he LOVES comic books.

Now, imagine that that friend of yours making an MMO based upon Comic Books. Talk about your ultimate dream. Welcome to Jack Emmert's world. Everything he ever loved about Comic Books he's pouring into City of Heroes. And you know, he's having fun!

NCSoft was kind enough to give me a private showing (I'd lost my voice at E3 by then) and Jack and his producer Chris were on hand to answer all my questions.

First off, the setting is Paragon City. And Paragon City has been through it all. You can read it's (and the world's) entire history on the City of Heroes website. Amazingly enough, it reads like the 20th century done through the eyes of a comic book hero. After war, pestilence, organized crime and aliens have basically destroyed the world, its up to the heroes to rebuild and reorganize. And that's where we come in.

We were first taken through character creation. From character creation you choose HOW you got your powers - through science, as a mutant, through magic, technology or nature. This will determine the origin of your powers and give bonuses to certain skills that best fit that origin. I asked at that point how would I, who just opened the game, know what power set to choose? I was assured there would be tutorials with suggestions and tips.

Next you choose an archetype. Your archetype helps determine your skill set. You could be a Blaster - lots of offense, little defense; Defender - the stay-in-the-back and protect the group guy; Tanker - just what it sounds like; or a Scrapper - somewhat like a tanker but better at hand to hand.

From this archetype will come your primary skill set, what you specialize in. You also get to choose a secondary skill set. At each odd level you get to choose a new power. There's also a set of "odd" powers that everyone, regardless of archetype can choose from - say flying, or detective. Every even level you can add a specialization to your skill and even combine those specialization for stronger powers - assuming you don't destroy them completely.

Ok...we've decided our origin and our archetype, now what shall we look like. You can be female, male or well...Big. Really really big. Then you have LITERALLY trillions of combinations of how you and your costume can look. (Don't worry, when you get tired of the pink spandex with purple fins you can change your costume later). You could spend hours creating the perfect costume or just use the random button. Some come out quite nicely...others, ugh. Last is registration - your super-hero name (above your head) and your nickname (for chat).

Then off into the world!

The world is zoned. Certain areas are petty crime areas, where you get your feet wet. Others are war zones. You'll want to spend time getting to know "friends" in the starting areas - these could be newspaper reporters, police chiefs, etc. There are levels of friendship. You go from acquaintance to friend to confidant - at which point they call on YOU to come complete tasks.

We attacked a group of muggers while in the starter area. It was interesting to see some of them run away. There's a fear factor that comes with your character - or a fame factor to the good guys. (They could eventually build statues in your honor).

Knowing the rank of your villain will help you determine if you can defeat it. You can take three minions at a time, but a lieutenant you can bet on an even fight. A boss will require 2-4 heroes to take down, while an arch villain will require group cooperation. We of course, stuck with the minions.

The interface was fairly straightforward and customizable. Grouping can be done up to 8 (for those arch villains). And what do you do in a world where there's no loot? Well, you gain specializations you can add to your skills or inspirations that are short-term boosts.

PvP will be available in an arena-like setting at release but to play an arch villain you'll have to wait for a few monthly updates or an expansion. We asked why that was and were asked, "What do you do when you're a villain and you're not fighting the good guys?" In other words, they need game play.

Next stop for us was the sewers just so we could see Jack's favorite bad guy, the Cadaver. They're rather nasty creatures that well, vomit on you for their attack. Each time one was hit I saw little red flakes flying off and asked if there would be a no-gore option (I can just see my trying to stop my 6-year old from playing this). First, I was told those were flies (oops) and second that because this was comic book style there was no gore. Taking a suggestion from another game that made game play a blast for said son I asked why they didn't have the Oofs! and Pows! and Smacks! like in the old Batman TV show. Jack got very excited and said that would be PERFECT for this game. And that based upon producer Chris' smile, we could expect to see it. I sure hope so.

Last but not least we talked about ongoing storyline. Each month the game will update with an ongoing storyline and new quests. Supergroups will have formed by then giving you the option to change your costume and visit other parts of the city.

Oh, and what happens if you die? Well, you never die. You're a super-hero. But, you can be defeated at which point you're whisked away to the hospital for recovery and incur and xp debt you've got to repay.

In a world so full of elves, dwarves and space-races, I look forward to the fun of City of Heroes.

Make sure you look at some of the great images we received in our Image Gallery and for a great explanation of character building get the Quicktime Movie from the City of Heroes official website.