City of Villains
- Platform: PC
- Published by: NCsoft
- Developed by: Cryptic Studios
- Release Date: Oct 31, 2005
- Genre: RPG
- Multiplayer: Yes
- Online: Yes
City of Villains Preview Continued..
-- October 7, 2005 by: Chris Remo
The addition most appealing to me, however, is base creation. No self-respecting criminal syndicate would be caught dead without a formidable base of operations, so supergroups (aka guilds) will now be able to design and build bases accessible through portals in the main game world. This too will be something available to both heroic supergroups and villainous supergroups, though as the content itself is contained in City of Villains, heroes who want bases will have to pick up a copy of the game. A base can be created when a group has obtained enough Prestige points, which will be accrued simply by defeating enemies, completing quests, and doing all the normal things you do in the game. The points earned by every member of the group are added to that group's cumulative total. However, individuals gain a very small number of points for the most part, so Prestige is best acquired in a large group that is fairly active. Prestige works just like currency; larger bases with more impressive facilities and decorations cost more points than smaller, less lavish constructions.
The actual construction mechanics are fairly intuitive. You are presented with an overhead view of your base, and you can add various types of rooms by selecting them then pointing and clicking in an area with enough space. To rooms can be added all sorts of furniture, lighting, wall decorations, and plenty of gadgets I didn't have time to fully explore. As with character creation, there is a huge array of different visual styles that can be employed in construction, and they can be mixed and matched. So while you may have a shiny black futuristic floor texture, your lower wall area could be clean white, your middle wall area could be brushed metal, and your ceiling area could be aging brick. I'm not sure why you'd want to do this, but the possibilities are there. After creating a base, which will probably be pretty small at first, your supergroup can continue to revise and expand it as more Prestige points are accrued. At launch, you'll only have one-story bases, but that may change in the future.
So what do these bases actually do? For one thing, they're cool places for you and your friends to hang out. In gameplay terms, however, they are defensive structures designed to protect your group's "items of power." Items of power are rare objects, such as books or crystals, which confer constant bonuses to your entire group as long as they are safe in your base. They are initially obtained through missions in the game, though they are apparently extremely difficult to acquire and will require plenty of teamwork and planning. The great part is that rival groups can attempt to raid your base and steal your item of power, and if the raid is successful that groups gets to keep the item in its own base and benefit from its buffs. Groups housing such an item will be required to have their base open for raiding for a certain period of time per certain period of time--it doesn't seem like it's quite been decided how frequently your base will be open, but the developers say it will be a reasonable limit. Your group picks a time when the base will be on the defensive, and during that time another group will sign up to raid it. 
During that timeslot, your item(s) of power will either stay under your control or pass to another group. It seems like a great gameplay idea, and the required raids are a great way to give any chance the opportunity to acquire an item. Plus, since you can choose when to be raided, you'll always be able to ensure that you've got enough players available to defend.
City of Villains is shaping up to be a great addition to City of Heroes, and promises to offer enough completely new content to draw in former CoH players as well as those new to the universe. NCsoft and Cryptic recently announced that subscriptions to both games will be included in one $14.99 monthly fee, so there's no reason for current heroes not to pick up the CoV box and try out the ways of villainy.
City of Villains will be released October 31.
