City of Heroes Meta’s Verse: Citizenship

This week the player base of City of Heroes got some pretty exciting news about stuff to come. As a thank you, and present for the seven year anniversary of City of Heroes going live, we the players are in for a big treat. A little something new, something old and maybe the best and most talked about gift of all, a sneak peek at things to come.

The New

The first part highlighted in the announcement was the creation of a new chest symbol which consists of seven stars. It is stylish and a great change from the other star options already available for use. Using that same seven star design we have a new badge that will also be available to us. Its titled The Constant. Along with the newly designed badge and chest emblem we will also have a new emote which shows off our alignment. There are four of them in total, each one featuring the alignment circle. These don’t seem to be available for Praetoria unfortunately. Though at the same time this is understandable. Going around Praetoria showing off your Resistance pride is a good way to get yourself thrown into the Behavior Adjustment Facility.

The Old

Easily the largest part of the rewards is the release of the Vanguard Pack. What is this pack of which I speak? Well its all the Vanguard costume parts, including the weapons which you can buy with Vanguard merits already along with the Vanguard costume change emote. This will leave only a few things for you to buy with the Merits. Though I would argue that they are more than enough to keep the Merits alive and well. They include everything from extra storage to the Gr’ai Matter Component for the new Incarnate system and a power core for the Heavy Vanguard Assault Suit (HVAS). Which leads me into the last part of the Vanguard pack. Included in the pack will be a Vanguard noncombat pet. I can only imagine the MVAS will be the most adorable thing ever and everyone will be wanting one. I certainly want one!..

Sneak Peak

The most talked about part of this announcement is the sneak peek at some new animal costume parts. Is this a peek at the new animal booster people have been asking for? Is this a peek of the “wild” things to come that were mentioned the Producer’s Letter? Is it both? Either way I think its very exciting and the official boards are showing that the people agree. In the pictures of the alignment emotes the last one shows a snow leopard in it. This is a new head and a new pattern to put on clothes. There are also rumors that the feet of the dragon creature in the third picture are new. This isn’t something I know much about as I’ve never played a reptile. Even though I’m currently pondering over an idea for a sewer monster. I just can’t convince anyone to join me.

So now that I’ve told you all about what will be coming for our seven year celebration I’m sure you’re wondering how to get it. It’s a fairly straight forward loyalty based reward. Just keep your account active from February 1^st 2011 until April 18^th 2011. If you do that then on April 28^th the Vanguard pack and all the new things will be unlocked on your account. As is the nature of people some just aren’t satisfied. Some people are saying that while this is an amazing reward it should only be available to people who have been loyal to the game for the full seven years. I do agree that at some point a small reward of some kind, maybe an extra badge should be available for those (crazy) people who have played since City of Heroes went live. On the other hand I have only been a loyal minion for three years now. And if a thank you of this size was only given to that very small group of people I would feel like my time has been unvalued. I can only imagine how others would feel. Those friends who have played so long they’re only missing one veteran reward. I can only imagine they would feel outraged. So to those people crying out for rewards for life long loyalty I say: “I hear you but it isn’t going to happen”.

Oh…wait, you’re still here? Yeah, I’ve said everything there is to say about the anniversary rewards. But now I have a bit of an update on an article from a few weeks ago. You may recall my article at the start of December about Real World Hero. The charity drive being run by fans of City of Heroes.

Well now the totals have been added up, and the announcement has been made. The charity drive for 2010 raised just over $12,000. This is up from last year by a couple of thousand of dollars. The top raising server was Virtue. Each of the four charities received over a thousand dollars, Child’s Play getting the most at $4,380. The auctions themselves raised over three thousand dollars.  I’m truly amazed at how generous  this community is, even during these tough economic times. I can’t wait to see what 2011 has in store for us.

Meta’s Verse is written by Meticulous Meta who lives in Atlas Park with her dog Snuflé

Under The Wire: Freedom Force
Neil Kewn (Murxidon) – OnRPG Journalist

In a new column, Neil Kewn trawls the archives for the obscure, underrated and forgotten role-playing games from yesteryear. 

It wasn’t the recent Batman craze or my interest in in the Marvel universe that attracted me to Freedom Force. My knowledge of comic books can be written on the back of a postage stamp, the majority of it coming from the blockbuster movies that rake in millions at the box office each summer. Spider-Man is my favourite superhero because I thought Toby McGuire was extremely likeable in the role, so I couldn’t tell you who the X-Men are or why Christian Bale’s Batman impression is so wrong. Freedom Force is a highly original and extremely funny tactical role-playing game. It doesn’t licence any of the characters seen in print, so it’s up to you to mould your own team of overly powerful physics-defying misfits.  

Although fallen by the wayside in recent years, Freedom Force received universal praise for its innovative gameplay and comic book inspired visuals. You take control of up to four superheroes and complete a series of missions in Patriot City, a crime-ridden urban centre infested with thugs and the odd super villain. The further you progress, the more characters you can add to your entourage and the stronger they all grow. Issuing orders to your squad is a breeze, and the game can be paused at any time to dish out orders to individual heroes and to contemplate your next move. It isn’t particularly difficult to grasp the main concepts of the game, and you will be more than comfortable controlling your heroes, issuing orders and using abilities less than an hour in.

Stopping Time In Real-Time

Combat happens in real-time, but you will often find yourself paused in order to keep afloat of what is happening. Often, your squad will be split up and pausing the action is a great way to control what each of your heroes is doing. The majority of your powers drain your hero’s energy bar. The more often you use powerful and specialist abilities, the quicker your team’s effectiveness is reduced in battle. It’s a challenge keeping your team alive, well rested and ready for the next wave of bad guys, as a low energy bar leaves your squad vulnerable to more powerful enemies. Cleverly you can set the intensity of powers whenever you use them, giving you complete control over your team’s strength, helping you to plot the best course of action to take in any given scenario.

There are a large number of abilities that can be assigned to each of your superheroes, each having a profound effect on how battles pan out. It’s up to you to pick a well-rounded team for each scenario, as it’s not hard to become overwhelmed with enemies then watch helplessly as each of your heroes is picked off in quick succession. There are powerhouses who can lift cars and sustain large amounts of damage, smaller heroes who can get from point A to point B quickly and members who have specialist abilities that can change the course of confrontations. How you spend your Character Points to level up your squad is an important decision after each level, and you can truly customize how each of your rogues fight, manoeuvre around the world and what role they play in your team.

The visuals in Freedom Force are inspired from traditional comic books. Terms like “POW!” and “BOOF!” emanate from your enemies after each crushing blow, and cut scenes consist of beautifully drawn comic panels. A comically overexcited announcer narrates each of the games missions, which themselves tell a typically over-the-top comic book storyline about justice, aliens, magic and world domination. The visual style will be an absolute treat for fans of the medium, and it does a great job at creating a sense of style and humour throughout the game.  The game’s insistence on harking back to classic comic books, even parodying it at times, hammers home the over-the-top slapstick tone Freedom Force has.

Holy Level of Customization, Batman!

Whilst you have a plethora of wacky superheroes to construct an almighty team with, the option to create your own genetic freak is a notable and welcome addition. You can either choose a pre-made character to edit or import a skin of your own (or choose from the many created by others). From there, dishing out stats and assigning numerous superpowers is all that stands between you and a custom hero ready to expel justice. You can even write your own backstory for the character, if that kind of thing appeals to you.

The amount of variety when it comes to designing and levelling each of your characters means that no two levels will play the same. Each mission can be approached differently, and the amount of interaction with the levels themselves means that sneaking up on a group of thugs in one play through can be replaced with a scene of car-throwing, traffic light wielding carnage the next. In addition to the single player campaign, Danger Room is a skirmish mode enabling you to replay previous missions with a team of your creation. Deathmatch multiplayer is also available, bolstering the replay value of Freedom Force (not that servers are populated these days, leave multiplayer for groups of your friends).

A sequel, titled Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich, was released in 2005. The game catches up with the heroes as they travel back to World War II to take on the Nazis (naturally). Although pretty much a carbon copy of the original, it offered the same excellent, addictive gameplay and customization options that made Freedom Force such a great RPG. Comic book fanatic or not, Freedom Force is an excellent addition to any video game collection.