Posted this over on the CO beta forums, so C&Ping it here:
Ok, got a good couple of hours in, so heres my thoughts on the game so far. Just want to say that I recently started playing CoH too, so I have high hopes for this game.
Firstly, the Pro's:
Character creator is awesome. Actually managed to get the two heroes I created to look better than their CoH counterparts. Lots of options, but not too overwhelming. Thought there may be a few more, but adding capes/wings/back slot stuff from the get go makes up for all that
Combat is fast and fun, even with the perceived dullness of spamming an endurance builder. I chose Force for my first powerset, and really enjoyed the fwoomphyness of it. Love how you can run around while spamming Force Bolt.
Controls are good. Started with keyboard and mouse, which is run-of-the-mill mmo stuff tbh. Then switched over to a 360 pad, and was pleasantly suprised how much more fluid combat seemed to become. I kept switching back and forth between K+M and pad over the 2 or so hours I played, and found myself leaning toward the pad. Only gripe with it is the tool tips that pop up don't correspond to the actual buttons, but I expected that with the lack of pad support.
Died a few times, but overall didn't find the experience too taxing or to simple, so thats good. Enjoyed some of the humour of the missions (Furley anyone?) and also though the voice acting was very cool for some of the parts of the tut and later Canada. I got my main to level 9 with no real effort, and tbh, I didn't even watch the XP bar, so every ding was a suprise, which was always good. Also, performance was ok for me, despite it being a Wednesday patch.
Ok, now the con's:
My biggest, and probably only gripe with the game so far, is the instancing. Having to be asked to choose an instance everytime I zone started to niggle me, and I see this getting even more annoying as I continue to play. Now, I appreciate that this is required for having one server, but I feel it destroys immersion to a degree (lord, can't believe I just said that!), and I can't help but wonder how this will effect the community in terms of hanging around and chatting with other players, as mmo players are wont to do (Atlas Park, Org/IF/Dal etc). Also, how will I know where to find my bro's toon (who is also in the beta) or some of my guildies? Make sure we synch our instances over vent?
The only other annoying thing was the character creation screen popping back to the previous step whenever you make a change, but I'm sure that bug will get squashed soon enough.
So, basically, I suffered no bugs while playing, had a thoroughly enjoyable time (apart from the above con), and will more than likely be buying a lifetime sub in the near future.
Hope some of the above helps
