Metachronos overall score = 8.6 / 10
From the creators of City of Heroes
Positive
# It's about time someone let us play the bad guy
# Missions can be fun to solo, but the game shines when you're a member of a team
# Customizing your headquarters keeps your supergroup motivated
# Character creation tool is just as fun to tinker with as before
Negative
# Missions are very straightforward
# When things bunch up, the system bogs down
# You won't feel evil
You've tired of the pitiful battle cries of those self-righteous, meddling heroes of Paragon City. You'd like nothing better than to strap on your darkest cowl, tattoo your face with arcane symbols, and begin wreaking havoc on any mewling citizen that dares step in your path. Welcome, fellow fiend, to City of Villains, the sequel of sorts to NCSoft's City of Heroes, which was released in 2004. Considered as a stand-alone game, City of Villains delivers only a marginally different experience than its predecessor, though it includes, most notably, player-versus-player combat. When played as a companion game to the original, City of Villains closes an obvious open loop in NCSoft's MMO world of heroic do-gooders and dastardly deeds, and remains a very fun game in the process.
Much of COV's audio landscape is recycled from COH, especially the sounds of your powers. Superpunches and energy blasts still provide that same punchy shock, as do shots from your rifle and many of the enemy attacks; but there doesn't seem to be a lot that's new going on. Though it might not be practical from a gameplay standpoint, there's a perverse part of us that wishes we could choose a voice for our nefarious creations, in order to hear them speak their trademark battle cries in appropriately sneering tones. Of course, affecting that sneering tone, mowing down self-righteous do-gooders, and enacting insane plans for world domination is exactly what City of Villains' gameplay aims for. It doesn't always find its mark--you don't necessarily feel like much of a villain, and it's easy to get slogged down in missions that don't feel very different from City of Heroes. Still, if you're willing to commit to the spirit of the setting, City of Villains completes the circle of comic book adventure and makes it awfully fun to get in touch with your inner evil mastermind.