Perhaps one of the most important issues when talking about a MMORPG is this: will it have major lag? Will the servers hold up during heavy traffic? Will gameplay move at a snail pace during critical battle scenes when the screen is flooded with alien warriors and killer robots? It is awe inspiring to realize that "lag" was a high priority for NCsoft; and while the occasional slow down is to be expected, the experiences are too few and far between to ever pay much attention to them. In fact, with solid graphics, a decent soundtrack, excellent sound effects (from the life-like punching effects to the firing off of shotguns and pistols), this is a well polished coal that in the process of time, may one day became a diamond.

Perhaps one of the most important issues when talking about a MMORPG is this: will it have major lag? Will the servers hold up during heavy traffic? Will gameplay move at a snail pace during critical battle scenes when the screen is flooded with alien warriors and killer robots? It is awe inspiring to realize that "lag" was a high priority for NCsoft; and while the occasional slow down is to be expected, the experiences are too few and far between to ever pay much attention to them. In fact, with solid graphics, a decent soundtrack, excellent sound effects (from the life-like punching effects to the firing off of shotguns and pistols), this is a well polished coal that in the process of time, may one day became a diamond.

Innovation and originality are the keys to any ground breaking success story in the interactive entertainment industry. City of Heroes, as many have heard, is the very first and only superhero oriented MMORPG in the history of video games, a millstone that may not be soon challenged. The ability to create your own hero-customizing his powers, his costume, his name, and even his origin-is an exciting experience comic book fans have been waiting for. Whether you want your character to have six claws, to be big green and mean, soar through the skies, or blast fire from his hands, the hero of your dreams is only a click away.

One thing that stands out about City of Heroes more than anything is how easy it is for anybody to just jump right into the action. You don't have to read a four thousand page manual, take a course in advanced Latin, and speak in six different languages before you can actually understand how to make your character jump. From combat to communication between players, the gameplay is straight forward and in some ways, simplistic. Want your guy to whip out your stone mallet and pulverize the bad guy? Then click on your stone mallet button and watch the bad guy get smashed. With the click of the button you can teleport your guy across the screen or leap into another city altogether. This means that fighting is in real time, which I believe really draws the gamer closing into the action and realism of what is taking place.

What if your character is level four and your buddy is level twenty-six? While such a situation would be a problem with your typical MMORPG, City of Heroes tackles the problem, leaving it swiftly defeated by introducing the side-kick system. Your high level buddy can simply become your mentor and now your guy is fighting at the same level he is at. The game also consists of super groups (like the Avengers and X-Men, or some might call guilds, super groups are composed of about seventy-five heroes who have come together under one banner) and task forces (teams of eight who unite to complete specialized operations). If you're not in a super group or on a task force, it is not a problem. If you need help with a mission (and most missions are designed for more than one player in order to finish it), simply send out a signal asking for some teammates, and usually within a couple of minutes you'll suddenly be surrounded by seven other heroes ready to pound on some enemies.

Of course, control scheme, sound, graphics, and even gameplay all take a back seat when it comes to storyline. If the game is just not interesting in terms of its depth, then it won't take long for people to get bored and sign off. The background to the game is that Paragon City has just come out of a ferocious war with an evil alien race that has claimed the lives of the majority of heroes who inhabited the once great city. Crime is rabid, people are struggling to rebuild, and it's your job to help keep the citizens safe and secure. While the background storyline won't go down as the greatest plot in the history of games, it is enough to get you started. The majority of stories from here on are wrapped up in the missions you receive from various contacts (police officers, news reporters, etc). Your contacts give you various types of missions whose storylines become more and more complex as you progress throughout the game. It is not long until you find yourself taking on Archvillians, rescuing hostages, and uncovering hideous plots to destroy all human life.

Of course, this is where the rubber meets the road. While there are various stories that you can live out throughout the game, will NCsoft be able to keep coming up with deep, original plots to keep gamers interested and intrigued? Is the simplistic gameplay going to be enough to stave off the ever increasing hunger of older gamers? When one thinks of superheroes, we are usually inclined to think of Wolverine, Captain America, and Superman. Without the licenses of DC and Marvel backing NCsoft (and with a rumored Marvel MMORPG in the making), will NCsoft not only have the backing, but depth of imagination to make this game the legend it has the potential of becoming? Also, why can't we play as villains, or walk about with capes draped across our bodies? Lastly, will people be turned off by the fifteen dollars a month charge to keep on playing once you have already forked out fifty bucks to buy the game? These are questions that can only be answered in the process of time, but for now, we can enjoy City of Heroes for the wonder it inspires to be, and for the greatness it has already become.