Gameplay

Depending on which background you took, you'll get a different contact. These contacts act as stores (of sorts) and a hub for giving out missions. You can get a certain amount of missions from each contact before you move on to the next. One incredibly handy feature is that once you perform enough missions successfully for a contact, your relationship improves with them. It even improves to the point of being able to call them instead of seeing them in person, which is great for the times that your missions take you several city zones away.

Missions come in different varieties, and more than likely the first one you'll be assigned is a "beat up some thugs in your area” deal. This is, usually, an easy task since you'll want to beat up thugs in your area anyway. Each of the different villain types is associated with a gang or organization of sorts. So say, for instance, that you were assigned to beat up some Hellions, you would just wander around looking for enemies with the tag under their names. I would suggest just beating up all the bad guys, as you will certainly reach your objective that way as well.

Certain other missions will send you to a very specific place, such as an office building or the sewers. Once you enter the door/grate to where you're going, the game spawns an adventure area for you and your team alone. Though, not a new concept, this has to be the best implementation of it yet. The instanced areas are both interesting and large, but most importantly: they are filled with villains to trounce.

Depending on the mission and your level, some of these areas, by my count, have at least fifty guys in them, and some of them end with having to defeat a boss. A couple of missions I've been on require you to clean out an office building, complete with elevators to several different floors, of bad guys in limited time. Some of the missions in the game can be tackled solo, but it always helps to have a few friends along.

Teams can be formed much in the same way as many other games, but there is a definite advantage to them in this game. The experience level still stays pretty high, and when you bring a team to a mission it seems to up the amount of thugs present. This leads to some of the most satisfying combat in any game, especially a MMORPG.

The enemies in the game are very colorful and interesting. For instance, ever seen a man with a television set on his head? I have, and he tried to kill me. I've been shot by Nazis, vomited upon by zombies and punched in the groin by a few evil mages. Then I started playing City of Heroes! I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress!