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Game Developers Conference: City of Villains, Issue #7
Cryptic Studios put their next issue on display, Jon Wood reports
Mayhem missions will be incorporated into the quests that are generated randomly for players through the game's newspaper. Not only do these missions give players a chance to interact with their surroundings in a way that was impossible before, but they are also a new and unique challenge that must be overcome. First of all, the missions are timed. The original countdown is short, giving players very little time to complete the mission. Bonus time can be earned by completing side-quests that encourage players to make use of their new abilities, wrecking the environment, defeating the newly introduced Paragon City Police Department, and causing general havoc. These new missions add to the immersion factor and make it far more believable that your character is indeed the paragon of evil that the game's storyline would have you believe. Watching the character on the big screen, smash cars, phone booths, barrels and fire hydrants and then play with the pieces made it feel less to me like a second City of Heroes, and more like a real City of Villains. Jon's Opinion: Flat out, I can't wait to try these things. For me, it's this kind of mission that finally sets City of Villains apart from its predecessor. I also think that any time that a game introduces a new type of mission, something that we haven't seen before, and puts it out for free, it's a plus. I should also mention that I like to smash things, it just feels good. The one down side to these newfound evil powers are that while you can attack and manipulate the citizens, you can't flat-out kill them. There are a thousand reasons why NCSoft could have made this decision, and I can understand that, but having them run away in fear just isn't the same.
Jon's Opinion: I was impressed with the look of the new zone, and feel like they combine the elements of game play with the ongoing character story. This is something that I've been a bit concerned about with this game up until this point. The look, while impressive, just hasn't seemed to be all that it should have been. It's not that it wasn't nice. Something just didn't ring true for me in terms of an area populated by villains. One of the selling features of City of Villains and City of Heroes has always been the ability to fight the super-powered players on the other side. Issue 7 will see another layer added to that. A battleground has been added that gives a real purpose to the fighting. Players on both sides will now be competing for waypoint pillboxes, the goal being for your side to possess six of the seven valued points. As one side or the other takes a waypoint, the visuals of the area will change to reflect the new owners. Let's take a statue of Atlas as an example. If the villains happen to take the pillbox near to the statue, the image will morph and show Lord Recluse holding the world on his shoulders. Flyers can also gain control of "heavies" that will follow them around, jugernaughts of destruction that you can fully control. The goal of this area and the new and exciting mini-game is to "keep players immersed in the game play". Rewards can be earned in these areas that players can carry outside of the zone and into their regular gaming.
Jon's Opinion: I'm a fan of real, competitive PvP. I like to have a reason though. I don't like to go out and randomly kill people. This feature gives me a reason to try out the game's PvP, and I honestly can't wait to take down my first Phalanx member. There are lots of other things that stand out about Issue 7. Supergroups will be given new base features that will allow a level of customization and interactivity that we haven't seen from the game as of yet. New classes will become available, new costumes are coming, and they are also introducing something called "patron powers" that will allow players to choose a specific major villain and gain some of their unique powers. Also, as a treat for players who play both CoH and CoV, costumes will be fully interchangeable between the games as hero costumes and elements will appear on villains and vice-versa. Issue 7 is an extremely in-depth updates to the game. It's no wonder that players are excited about the new challenges, and new abilities that their characters will gain. The developers, in my opinion, seem to be making the game, both inside and outside of instanced mission, more immersive for the villains that will play it. Jon's Opinion: This battleground-type "mini-game" certainly has my interest
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GDC: Issue 7
