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City of Villains

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7.7 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 40 critic reviews
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Based on 31 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: NCsoft

Developer: Cryptic Studios

Genre(s): Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

Players: Thousands

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: October 27, 2005

Summary

City of Villains, the sequel to "City of Heroes", provides players with a chance to play the bad guy in the comic-book inspired world created by Cryptic Studios. Take on the role of super-powered villains and create your own character using thousands of power and costume options. Then battle heroes and become a true menace to society while plotting your way to world domination. Turn the tide on all the heroes and heroines and lead your crime syndicate into battle in the impressive 3D backdrop of Paragon City. [NCsoft]

Also On Metacritic

GAMES: City of Heroes

Cheat Codes & Hints: Cheat Code Central

Also On The Web: 1UP Preview Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

GamerFeed

This is the game we've been waiting for since the day we learned we could pull on tights, don a mask and fight crime with powers we could only dream of! Now, we get to finally let our dark side run rampant through the streets!

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RewiredMind

All in all, I’m very impressed so far – City of Villains is fun, there’s consentual PvP and there’s base construction, but the best bit is that if you already have "City of Heroes," the monthly fee will also cover you for City of Villains.

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Eurogamer

An exquisitely constructed expansion pack for anyone who liked City of Heroes, which also acts as a new entrance point into the world for the uninitiated. And the uninitiated really should, as it remains one of the finest online multiplayer games in existence.

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Boomtown

A brilliant game – not only because of its amazing gameplay but also because the game combined with "City of Heroes" creates a complete comic book universe with heroes and villains.

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GameSpy

Like Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Moriarty or He-Man and Skeletor, though, City of Heroes and City of Villains need each other in order to be complete. Having the whole package makes the City of... games what they were always meant to be -- one of the best massively multiplayer online games available today.

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Worth Playing

Perhaps one of the most positive things about the additions in City of Villains is that it seems that the developers have every intention to carry over the successful elements to City of Heroes, giving a good game a needed boost, and hopefully attracting new and old players to both games.

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GameZone

City of Villains has a detailed world with rich stories, wonderful plot lines, engaging game play, and all the makings of a successful MMO.

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My Gamer

Players of all skill levels will enjoy mastering every facet of their superpowers, all while facing increasingly challenging foes and learning new more powerful abilities.

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Game Informer

This is by far the most extensive character customization available in any MMO I've encountered. [Jan 2006, p.153]

PC Format

All the joy of "Heroes", with sinister eyebrows and crooked hats. [Christmas 2005, p.100]

ActionTrip

Good changes to graphics engine, interesting play on the CoH world, welcome emphasis on SGs and new focus on inter-game PvP.

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Gamers' Temple

Even though there is repetition to the missions, you’ll still look forward to jumping into your next one. Building a supervillain and carefully configuring his or her power set will keep you logging back into the game again and again.

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1UP

Those expecting a wildly different gameplay experience will be disappointed. Those who expect to play City of Heroes with a darker setting, evil looking characters and a meaner narrative will love it. It's good to be bad.

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Pelit (Finland)

A fine action-oriented MMORPG, but a lot of the promise in the game is still just promise. Fun on its own right, but hopefully the integration with City of Heroes will be successful. [Dec 2005]

Cheat Code Central

It's a fun game that will sometimes have you rollercoastering between "this is awesome!" and "this sucks!" but generally if you love all things comic booky, you're going to love spending time with these bad boys of science fiction.

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GameShark

It is an easy game to hop into and play, so people of all ages can join in.

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Computer Games Online RO

And even though it’s not as complex as other MMORPGs on the market, the Destiny’s Manifest update (which should be launched this month) will resolve a lot of the drawbacks that the game now has. And face it, it’s really fun being the bad guy for a change.

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Play.tm

By concentrating solely on the bits people who want to play superhero games are most interested in, namely superpowers and character abilities, rather than any of the more involved economics of other MMOs, COH/V manages to deliver a pair of finely focused games that understand what their audience wants and aren't ashamed to provide it by the bucket load.

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Game Chronicles

It's good to be bad. That's the core idea behind City of Villains, and although it doesn't let you be as wicked as you might like to be, it remains a very good game.

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GameSpot

When played as a companion game to the original, City of Villains closes an obvious open loop in NCSoft's MMO world of heroic do-gooders and dastardly deeds, and remains a very fun game in the process.

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Computer and Video Games

It might not be the super-villain game of our dreams (that was probably "Evil Genius"), but given the nature of MMOs, it's probably the best we're going to get until someone decides to really push the online genre to its very limits. [PC Zone]

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Computer Games Magazine

It doesn't reinvent the original, but it's a very solid and worthwhile addition to an already successful game, especially at the two-for-one monthly subscription fee. [Feb 2006, p.77]

BonusStage

I was looking at City of Villains to fix many of the problems that plagued last year’s City of Heroes. Unfortunately it was not able to do so and as a result, many of the positives and negatives of that title transferred to this.

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AceGamez

Though the super hero genre of MMORPGs is definitely a deviation from the usual medieval or fantasy styles that we've become accustomed to, whether or not you'll enjoy this game is largely dependant on whether or not you cared for "City of Heroes."

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GamerNode

With the various missions, archetypes, street-fighting, and PVP, the gameplay is very lengthy and can go as long as the player chooses to go.

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Computer Gaming World

Fun... but you'll forget which side you're on until the police drones zap you. [Feb 2006, p.69]

Gaming Illustrated

As a standalone game, it has enough features to reward serious players, but with several features that make it the ideal MMO for the player who only has a couple of hours a week to devote to it.

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Yahoo! Games

Maybe being a villain isn't all that the brochure promised, but those giddy early levels and powerful later ones just might make the middle slog worthwhile.

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GamePro

As a conversion, Villains doesn't feel finished. As a sequel, it's simply not enough. But judged alone on its gameplay and design merits, it's a rip-roaring blast.

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IGN

In the long run, City of Villains will appeal to those who still play "CoH," but it won't pull you in if you didn't like the first game. The novelty of evil eventually wears off, and what remains is the same gameplay we had before.

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Xequted

You can't play City of Villains without thinking that Cryptic could have done much more. Given the relatively free-roaming landscape style of MMORPGs, more effort should have gone into actually making you feel like a villain. Instead you are left feeling like you're playing "City of Heroes", just in a different world and in a slightly darker pair of spandex.

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PC Gameworld

A fun, engaging experience. If you loved "City of Heroes," you’ll certainly love what Villains adds to the whole experience.

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Play Magazine

It's accessible, customizable and has all the tools necessary to build communities. [Dec 2005, p.76]

Gamers Europe

Sound rocks. Literally. Whereas City of Heroes had an inspirational wide reaching soundtrack, City of Villains sounds like a rock festival with a few heavy metal bands. You’ll like it, and if you don’t give it a while. Then you’ll like it.

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G4 TV

A competent massively multiplayer online RPG, but not a radical departure from "City of Heroes."

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Detroit Free Press

Perhaps the most fun in terms of new additions is the ability to fight good superheroes that other players have created. You can even create supergroup hideouts to attack and wrestle away from one another.

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PC Gamer

An excellent extension of "City of Heroes" with a too-mild mean streak. [Jan 2005, p.80]

Gamer 2.0

If you liked "City of Heroes" but grew bored with its lack of complexity, you might enjoy the romp, thanks to the new setting and superior story arc. Just don’t expect anything remarkably different than you’ve already experienced, nor should you expect to feel particularly evil.

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netjak

The game definitely takes its place in the halls of infamy as one of the single most thrilling MMO experiences out there now. The raw catharsis of robbing banks, kidnapping innocents, and basically acting naughty in a virtual world while dressed up as the result of getting Jack Kirby and Stan Lee stoned-- there's little out there that beats it.

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Games Radar (in-house)

The big selling promise was that you could be a villain, but the worst we could manage was to kidnap ... villains from other gangs. That's not a dark side, that's a shade of gray.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 31 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Anthony S. gave it a9:
This game is really good. If you like Guildwars then youll like this, its orth the fee all the way the costumes are awesome and just walking around the city is a blast, but its has its bugs with my ati video card but i asked ncsoft and i got the problem cleared fast.

Objulen gave it a9:
I liked CoH, but the closest character I could make to my ideal was a dark/dark defender. With CoV I get undead pets and the dark miasma power set as a secondary, along with much different style of game -- CoV supports soloing much more than CoH with the villain archetypes. For example, Dominators (the Controllers of CoV) don't have a buff/debuff secondary power pool, but a damage secondary power pool. All in all, if you like CoH, or got bored with CoH, giving CoV a shot is probably a good idea. If didn't like CoH at all, then you probably want to avoid this game, unless the big turn off was a lack of a pet class -- CoV is a different flavor of CoH with some tweaks.

Alodarn gave it a7:
More, but diffrent, a solid addtion to an already sucessful game. However I just don't feel "evil" enough, kidnap missions feel more like a rescue. You always end up stealing from some group of thugs that have already commited the original theft. And apart from a bit of wanton vandalism that seems to be it so far.

Lonnie W. gave it a3:
I admire the attempt of coming out with an expansiion but they fell short. Very disappointing...same powers with a few exceptions. Very laggy and very buggy code. If you don't mind jerky graphics, buggy content, and frequent disconnects then this is your game. The content gets just as old as it did in City of Heroes. Very disappointing.

Nick H. gave it a9:
The game City of Heroes should have been to begin with. Whereas CoH became monotonous and banal, City of Villains is fresh and frentic. Never once - so far - have I found myself bored. Maybe it's because I'm getting to be evil. Not evil in a sadistic way, but evil enough to cackle and steal candy from children. It's too much fun - robbing people, kidnapping, all good times... beating up cops, yeah. This game is also relentlessly addictive - my first night where I could play the game freely I found myself still playing at 2:30 in the morning. Did I mention the fact that this game looks great, sounds great, AND handles great? I'm sure you could have infered that by now. Sadly, however, upon my casting this vote technical problems have shown their ugly faces. The game's a tad laggier than normal and there's this odd "Mapserver Disconnect" error that shuts you out of the game when you attempt to enter missions (you'll have to restart your computer if you encounter it - there's about a 50% chance of this happening). So currently, this game is a 7.5 (now), but once all these problems are fixed it should be back to a 9.3 (later)! Good times, good times.

Amy R. gave it a10:
CoV and CoH have got to be the best MMP ever. fast paced and not another mee too orc fest. but you already know that. you cant beat the fact this game is a stand alone product, but its also an expansion for CoH. But the best thing I like about CoH is the new archetypes. On the surface they seem familiar, but make no mistake, they play entirely different.

Heather H. gave it a10:
CoV/H is probable one of the BEST games to date. Everything got an update from powers to new areas. I can't see anything wrong with it. CoV is an Expansion if you have CoH. CoV is a standalone if you don't have CoH. FAR better then the other MMORPG's out there. Closest other GOOD game is Everquest II. Well worth the $70 or $50 for the non DVD version.

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City of Villains

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