Spiderman, Daredevil, the Hulk, Ironman, the X-Men, the Fantastic 4. Super heroes have always fascinated, both youngsters and adults alike, in part because they always managed to save the day and defeat the bad guys, in other because of the incredible powers that they wielded. I honestly can't think of anyone (especially the boys) who didn't imagine at least once in his childhood that he was one of those superheroes he was watching on television or read about in comic books. The increasing number of movies and games that have invaded our PC's, consoles and cinemas in the past years stand testament to the ongoing success of comic book characters, almost 70 years since Superman's first appearance in Action Comics #1. Realizing the potential of a comic book based game, cumulated with the undeniable success of massively multiplayer online games, like Asheron's Call, Ultima Online or Everquest, Cryptic Studios decided that the company's first title would be a MMORPG. This time however there would be no elves, dwarves, dragons or orcs. This time, super heroes where going to be the main characters of the game. Thus City of Heroes (CoH) was born. Released in the summer of 2004 in the United States, CoH was received very well, both by the gaming community and the game press alike, thanks to it's quality gameplay, new universe in a market over-crowded with fantasy MMORPG's and the lack of most problems inherent to newly launched online games, like bugs, connection problems and such.

     Despite being a comic book inspired game, City of Heroes doesn't rely on a Marvel license, like Spiderman or The Hulk did. Instead, the producers decided to create their own universe, which gave them incredible freedom regarding the back-story, story arcs in the game as well as the characters that you will meet or fight in your adventures. And unlike other MMORPG games, which give players the chance to explore huge continents or entire worlds, CoH's action revolves around only one location, Paragon City, which is slowly recovering from the devastating invasion by a race of inter-dimensional aliens called the Rikti. Since nearly all heroes died in the war saving humanity, the new generation of justice fighters will have to face brutal gangs vying for power, mystic creatures and evil masterminds who are determined to take control of the city using any means necessary.
     But before you start bringing wrong doers to justice, you will have to create a hero, which will represent you in Paragon City. The character creation part of CoH is one of the most complex I’ve seen in any MMORPG to date. First, you will need to choose an archetype: Blaster, Controller, Defender, Scrapper or Tanker (there are also two unlockable archetypes, Peacebringer and Warshade, but you need a level 50 hero to be granted acces to them). The names are pretty self explanatory, but for those new to the genre here's a quick description for each. The Blaster prefers to attack his opponents from a distance, using ranged attacks. He can deal a lot of damage, but has low hit points. The Controller focuses on weakening his adversaries and dominating their minds, being able to turn them against each other. His role is primary for supporting a super hero team, just like the Defender, which specializes in healing and buffing nearby allies (or himself). The Scrapper and the Tanker are the melee characters. They can take quite some damage, like the Tanker, but they can deal a lot of pain, especially the Scrapper. If you like playing solo and doing things on your own, one of these two archetypes is your best bet. After you've selected our hero type it's time to determine the origins of your superpowers: scientific, technological, natural, magic or mutation. Your superpower origin will determine the type of enhancements you will be able to use to upgrade your powers (more on that later). Each newly created hero will start with two powers, one from a Primary Powerset and one from a secondary Powerset. Again, the choices are varied and for all tastes and styles of play: will you choose a defender which can slow-down and weaken enemies, or one which can heal his allies and protect himself with a force field? These choices however will seem like a piece of cake compared to the last part of your character creation: the costume design. This is done after you select the gender of your hero as well as the physical type: tall and athletic or short and sturdy? Your call. Once this is done, it's time to outfit your hero. The possibilities are nearly endless, and the chances of meeting a hero that will closely resemble your in the game is very, very small. From medieval knights to elegantly dressed macho-men, from attractive female characters with tight costumes to cyber-organic brutes, there will be a huge assortment of characters that you can create or meet in CoH. As a result, beauty contests are periodically organized, in order to decide who's the best looking hero (or heroine) in town, with some substantial rewards for the winners.