City of Heroes/City of Villains Issue 12: Midnight Hour PC
Published by: NCsoft
Developed by: Cryptic Studios
Release Date: Out Now
With all of the MMORPG titles in existence and new titles continuously being released, it says a lot that one can manage to last four years and remaining popular into the bargain too. To have that kind of staying power in such a crowded market the game has to be both accessible, of a high quality and most importantly of all it has to keep on giving. City of Heroes/Villains (you can read our review of City of Heroes: Good vs. Evil Combined Edition here) has continued to keep things interesting for longstanding subscribers and it’s no surprise that the game has managed to keep a high number of players despite the constant influx of new MMORPG titles. Issue 12 Midnight Hour is the latest free expansion for the City of Heroes/Villains universe.
So what does this latest expansion offer then? Well quite a lot for those who have levelled up their characters quite a bit. For those who have characters that are levels 10-50, there’s a new zone called the Roman Cimeroran Peninsula, a zone that’s been inspired by ancient Greece and Rome. The Midnight Squad, who are desperate to rebuild their numbers after a devastating assault by the Rikti Invasion, are recruiting. They hold a secret that could finally put an end to the assault but they need your help to defeat the Rikti. Naturally this brings a whole load of new missions for you to undertake and provides new and interesting ways to develop your characters thanks to the Ouroboros crystal, which allows time travel to take place. Naturally you’ll come up against new kinds of enemies to fight against and you will have the benefit of unlocking Roman-style armour and costumes.
For those gamers who have really invested time into the game there are new Epic Archetypes that can be acquired. Villains will be able to get their hands on Wolf Spiders and Blood Widows. Both of these have their unique storyline, missions, costume sets, power combinations and branching powersets. There are also new primary and secondary powersets for every Hero and Villain archetype. Experienced gamers will appreciate the new improved Hollows Zone and some of the user interface adjustments that have been made. Power trays can now be configured and placed anywhere on the screen. Some improvements have been made to the text chatting process making it even easier to communicate with others. It’s also good to see that on levelling-up, your health and endurance bars are immediately replenished, something that I believe should happen in every RPG (regardless of whether it’s an MMORPG or not).
Suffice to say then that this latest free expansion, Issue 12: Midnight Hour, manages to freshen up the City of Heroes/Villains experience for those who have invested a lot of time into this longstanding MMORPG. The game hasn’t changed in terms of its deaf gamer friendliness, which is certainly good news. Aside from the new visual style of the additional zone that’s been included, the game hasn’t changed from a visual standpoint either which isn’t surprising and given how long the game has been running it’s also not surprising that it’s beginning to show its age. There can be no denying that City of Heroes/Villains remains an engaging MMORPG and it’s showing no sign of flagging yet and with free expansions like Issue 12: Midnight Hour helping to constantly add features and value to the game, it’s got a lot of life left in it.
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