For me, what makes this game so great, is its versatility. I'm not talking about how fully customizable the heroes you create are, from height, build, skin tone, hair style, hair color, costume, powers, etc. What I mean is you can play solo, doing missions given to you by contacts (police detectives, reporters, snitches, etc.), patrol the zones looking for criminals (muggers, arsonist, vandals, etc.), or simply collect badges. Or, you can join / form a team to take on harder missions ie higher level villains. The missions themselves vary, from timed, rescue, defeat all the baddies, prevent an escape, to locating items, etc. There are tunnels, caves, warehouses, secret labs, sewers, etc. The different zones of the game are easily navigable and offer their own unique look, back story, and resident villains.
Another fantastic reason to play this game is that NCSoft could have stopped there, as they already had a winner. Thankfully they didn't. They continue to update the game, offering more zones, costume and power options, and most recently "Veteran Rewards" which are in-game rewards based on how long you have subscribed to the game. About a year ago, they introduced City of Villains for those who would rather cause the mayhem. You can play both games for the single subscription price of just one, in addition to unlocking additional features such as accessing your secret base if you've joined a super-group.
NCSoft's developers also work hard to bring seasonal events to Paragon City. This past Christmas, for a couple of weeks, for instance offered gifts scattered throughout the zones. If you were naughty you were rewarded with a couple of snow-beasts to fight, occasionally getting the Winter Lord himself (think 50 foot tall snowman that requires many people to take out). If you were nice you were rewarded with temporary powers such as jet-packs for flight, debt protection for when you fell in combat, and mystery inspirations (temporary boosts for health, accuracy, endurance (mana), etc.)
They also offer various contests from time to time. The most recent being a halloween contest where players were encouraged to dress as one of their created heroes or villains and submit in-game screenshots of their character in addition to photos of themselves out in public in their costume. The selected winner got a pile of prizes including:
- One (1) BFG AGEIA PhysX 128MB GDDR3 PCI Physics Accelerator Card by AGEIA Technologies, Inc. (Retail Value: $299.99)
- One (1) Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card by Creative Labs, Inc. (Retail Value: $129.99)
And, since this is a super-hero game after all, there's a monthly comic-book by Top Cow (Image) too. This used to be mailed to your home monthly, but is now offered online for free. You can still have the comic mailed to you for a $1.99 an issue fee. The story-line frequently corresponds with new game features or features coming.
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