City of Heroes ups customisation

By Oli Welsh Published 17 September, 2009

Issue 16: Power Spectrum launches.

NCsoft's long-running superhero MMO City of Heroes has released its 16th free update, Issue 16: Power Spectrum.

The update includes the long-awaited ability to customise the appearance of your powers, improvements to the character creator, new difficulty options, the opening of more powersets to more character archetypes, and enhancements to the side-kicking system that allows low- and high-level players to play together.

City of Heroes no longer stands alone in the land of the spandex MMO; original creator Cryptic launched its rival, Champions Online, this month. Many of the Issue 16 features reflect the design of Champions Online. Will the 2004 game be able to stand up to the new contender?

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (10) Latest comment 2 years ago

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  • Dizzy #1 2 years ago

    "Will the 2004 game be able to stand up to the new contender? "

    Nope...

    All my old CoX guildies have moved to CO.

    CoX had a good run BTW. I enjoyed my time there immensely but CO is a much better game in most areas.
    Edited by 1 at 17/09/09 @ 09:05

  • Freki #2 2 years ago

    And I am enjoying CO much more than CoX. Combat is faster paced and there are more options for customising.

  • login_name #3 2 years ago

    If CO is a much better game in most areas I have to wonder what kept you playing CoX. Don't get me wrong, I'm enjoying what's on offer at the moment but it's extremely limited and I'm already starting to tire. They need to add or fix a lot of stuff to make it a worthwhile, long term investment of my time. There's a total disconnect with my characters and the game world.

    So far, the only feature of CO keeping me entertained is the character creator, which I have to admit is superb, but not also without its issues. I do love seeing my creations brought to life; I just don't know how long the novelty will last.

    Edited due to lack of coffee and bad spelling - twice :(
    Edited by 2 at 17/09/09 @ 11:04

  • Dizzy #4 2 years ago

    "There's a total disconnect with my characters and the game world. "
    and
    "I do love seeing my creations brought to life"

    ???

    So what is the problem with the game world?

    BTW CoX was fun in small bursts... easy to team up and easy to kick ass. It is not a game that you will play for 2h a day for 2 years (like WoW). That is actually what I loved about it.
    Edited by 1 at 17/09/09 @ 11:04

  • login_name #5 2 years ago

    So what is the problem with the game world?

    It's a soulless theme park. It feels very sterile, like Disney World. Basically, you're playing in a series of huge instanced dungeons, without an overall world connecting them. It would be like playing WoW without Azeroth, just the dungeons on their own, with a drop down menu to switch between them.

    Guild Wars had a similar problem, however that was helped somewhat by superior story telling and generally better visual and audial design, making it at least possible to get a feeling of connection.

    Also, to enjoy seeing my creations come to life is not the same as connecting with them.

    *Edit* I would like to stress that I am enjoying what is on offer at the moment, I just don't see much life in it. Like you say, it's good for a quick blast, but it's not something I could justify paying a continuing sub for.
    Edited by 1 at 17/09/09 @ 11:37

  • Bodd #6 2 years ago

    I played CoH on and off for five years, but it died for me with Architect. Playing a game in which you play a superhero, great; playing a game in which you play a superhero playing a game in which you play a superhero, less great.

  • McBradders #7 2 years ago

    I would like to agree with all the comments here. I just cancelled my CoX subscription of 4+ years with the intention of moving to CO and a fresh start. The lack of connection just to other players is fucking maddening enough. No fucker talks in that game. Isn't that half the point of an MMO, the social interaction? There's nothing there at all to facilitate it whatsoever.

    I haven't put my code it post the head-start :(

  • Dizzy #8 2 years ago

    "It's a soulless theme park. It feels very sterile, like Disney World. Basically, you're playing in a series of huge instanced dungeons, without an overall world connecting them"

    The overal world is our real planet.

    You want a world map with their locations on it?

    And no.. you can't walk from Canada to Monster Island.... they are 8000 km. apart.

  • login_name #9 2 years ago

    The overal world is our real planet.

    That's great, only, I can't play my heroes in our real planet.

    You want a world map with their locations on it?

    Actually, it's small things like this that help to realise the world.

    And no.. you can't walk from Canada to Monster Island.... they are 8000 km. apart.

    Walk? Why walk when you can fly? :p

    At the end of the day, it doesn't matter the reasoning behind it, for me it does not create an immersive environment. Especially combined with the invisible (black and white) walls that surround each zone, some of which are very close to quest locations and even spawn locations, such as the one behind the helipad in the Desert zone.

    The shard system also contributes to this since I can just skip to an alternate Canada whenever I feel like. It doesn't even sync the time of day across shards. I can enter a shop in the day and come out at night. Total disconnect from the world.

    Add to that the sterile, pre-made "theme park" feel of each zone and the illusion of a consistent world is broken.

  • Silvervein #10 2 years ago

    Myself, I like city of heroes better than champions. There are several reasons for that, for example story content, art style and combat, to name the few.
    Different people have different tastes, but art directions in champions rubs the the wrong way. And the combat itself isn't my cup of tea either, feels like something out of console arcade game remake than proper mmo.
    Not to mention that some combat animations in champions (dual swords for example) are not really that good. Compared to city, which is an older title. Talking about going backwards.