ONLINE GAMES Customization and teamwork make 'City of Heroes' stand out

The boring tasks of 'Lineage II' can't compete with this exciting game.
By MATT SLAGLE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"City of Heroes" and "Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle" have so little in common, it's hard to believe both new video games are published by the same company, South Korean-based NCsoft.
The new, T-rated online games for the PC each cost about $40, plus a $15 monthly fee. The similarities end there. While "City of Heroes" features teamwork and hours of engaging play, the medieval setting of "Lineage II" suffers from boring, repetitive tasks, creating an effect that gamers call "treadmilling."
Any comic book fan will instantly recognize the story behind "City of Heroes." The sprawling virtual world of Paragon City has been overrun with a host of evil menaces, including the Rikti aliens, the superpower-enhanced Freakshow gang and a shady corporation.
Your job? Eradicate the bad guys.
Designing a hero
From the start, "City of Heroes" is all about customization, creating a unique identity that'll stand out from the throngs of heroic wannabes.
You begin literally by building a hero. It's a process that's nearly as fun as playing the game.
Everything is adjustable: height, uniform, skin type, tails, antennae ... the list of customizations seems endless. Oddly, there are no capes.
From there, you choose a list of super abilities based on five origin and archetype powers.
Do you want to fly or leap over buildings? How about super speed that's quick enough to kick up a trail of dust? Would you rather fight using magic or fists of steel?
I went with the technology origin and the blaster archetype. It meant my diminutive silver robotic hero, "Ford Prefect," ran fast and shot energy beams from his hands.
I started out wandering the streets of Atlas Park in Paragon City, knocking out petty criminals and bullies.
Soon, I was joining groups of other heroes to undertake more formidable tasks: beating warehouses full of bolt-blasting robots, cavorting through slimy sewers in search of devious evildoers.
With thousands of players online at any given time, the game's real strength is its focus on teamwork.
There are plenty of quests you can do alone, but I never had a problem finding complete strangers who were interested in toppling the forces of evil together.
Like all so-called massively multiplayer online role-playing games, "City of Heroes" has no real ending. There are numerous story arcs, which the publisher promises will gradually unfold.
And like any real superhero, you never die. I was knocked out by foes several times, only to be fully revived in a nearby hospital.
"City of Heroes" is a great game, certainly one of the best of the genre, and I expect to be battling neer-do-wells with gleeful abandon for as long as it takes.
For once, it's fun to be the good guy.
'Lineage II'
"Lineage II," meanwhile, is set in a stereotypical virtual world of monsters, elves and orcs doing battle with each other.
You'll have to invest a lot of time and "adena" (the game's word for money) before any real fun starts.
You begin by choosing from five races. I selected the orc, renowned for prowess in melee combat.
From there, all I did over the course of several weeks was kill wolves and other critters outside the orc village of Elmore.
It's not because I wanted to. It's all "Lineage II" would let me do.
During one mission, I had to collect goblin heads. In another, it was wolf fangs. It's great fun the first few times -- but try doing it 40 times.
It's tedium ad nauseam -- by far my biggest complaint with "Lineage II."
I eventually reached level 10 status, meaning I had better weapons and armor than when I had started. But I still found myself stuck running in the same treadmill: collect goblin heads, return them for money and build up experience.
It's like a shampoo label gone horribly wrong: slash, hack, repeat.
"Lineage II" offers some unique features, including a "player versus player" combat system. If you're feeling especially tough (I never did), you can battle fellow players instead of working together, steal their loot, then move on to the next victim.
Unlike "City of Heroes," teamwork isn't really encouraged in "Lineage II." Most players just run around by themselves (collecting oodles of goblin heads, no doubt).
Unless you enjoy doing the same thing over and over again, and have a few months to kill, it's hard to recommend the mind-numbing rigors of "Lineage II."
With NCsoft's very own "City of Heroes," there's already a far more compelling way to spend time online.
I'll give "City of Heroes" three-and-a-half stars out of four, and "Lineage II" one-and-a-half stars out of four.