Wobulations_EU

As some of you have surmised, yes, I am coming from a long WoW playing period.

There are really quite a few fresh game mechanics I am enjoying here:

Character creation is brilliant. I can see myself wasting hours upon hours tweaking everything. It's like a game in its own.

I really, let me stress that, *REALLY*, like the whole powerset/pick your own powers idea. WoW annoyed me in that I had the exact same powers that did the exact same thing as everyone else.
And even if someone else picks similar powers I still have the option of modding them via enhancements to the exact way I like. I give this two thumbs up only because I don't have three.

The only thing still putting me off right now is that I just don't feel sucked into the game world. I am intimately aware that I am just controlling an avatar on screen.

That was the reason I brought up the audio bit. I think proper background music, non-annoying ambience, and great combat audio effects really do a whole lot more for a game than visuals. Witness WoW which has out-dated visuals yet the combat sound effects still make it engaging.

So far in CoH I am getting put off by the simplistic, repetitive swooosh, swooosh noises that seem to make up 90% of the combat.

I'll report back after I get to level 10.

[cross-posted from US forums since I set up an account there first and recently came over here]

Well, I downloaded the trial and am testing out the game in anticipation of the release of the Mac client. Been playing for a day or two, and my first impressions are:

The good
=======
Graphics are very nicely done

The character models and animations are *excellent*

UI is very well done

The bad
========
Combat seems to be too slow paced for me. (I'm not comparing this to FPSes, but rather other MMOs). I just stand there waiting for my powers to recharge, which takes quite a few seconds, then use one of them and stand around waiting some more.

Same with the mobs. They attack real slow, and frankly they barely make a dent on my HP, unless I take on high-level mobs.

Seems weird to have 4 mobs beating up on me and my health not budging, while I just stand around waiting to press 1 or 2, every few seconds, to slowly kill them.

Another complaint is that I can't move during attack animations. Since the animations are rather long, you get multiple timespots in which your avatar is not responsive to your keyboard commands. It would be better to have movement stop whatever animation/action is currently underway. It would give a more fluid feeling.

The UI is sorely lacking in a "In Range" indicator. Why do I have to guess if I am close enough for my Blaster to shoot? I am getting annoyed at the 'not in range' messages. Just have the power icon signal if I am in range before I use it.

UI also lacks any form of 'you are now in combat' indicator.

Game seems to be low in population. Not many people around...

The UGLY
========
Sounds. Wow, just wow. This is so bad it is almost game breaking:
Combat just feels so disjointed and unreal, since there are barely any sounds. Just the slow 'swooshes' of my or my enemies attacks, and weird sci-fi noises on the use of powers.

Where are the grunts and moans? The visceral combat effects that let me know I took a hit, or made a critical. Why can't I hear my enemy moan when I hit him? Why do they just crumple to the ground w/o a noise when they die?

Also, clicking on NPCs really should evoke some kind of auditory response. Why can't Ms. Liberty say 'Hi hero!' or something to the effect when I begin talking to her?

It might seem like a small matter, but its this kind of fit and polish that separates AAA titles from the also-rans.

Also, the game has barely no background music. All I hear is an endless and annoying cacophony of city street sounds such as cars, police drones etc., and only once in a blue moon do I get 5 seconds of background music.

Background music should be on all the time and should pick up in pace greatly once combat begins. Again, give me that visceral gut-feeling of combat.



Summary
=======
All-in-all an interesting game, with some nice, novel, ideas. I'll certainly give it few more days' trial, but the slow combat and utterly [censored] sound/music in the game really spoil an otherwise enjoyable experience.