That’s right, if you’ve ever thought about joining the heroes of Paragon City in their fight against criminal masterminds, giant monsters, alien invaders and the forces of chaos and darkness, now’s the time. NCsoft has teamed up with some of Europe’s biggest PC games magazines to offer a special 14-day trial of City of Heroes to their readers - for free! You won’t even need a credit card to register.

Potential heroes in the UK should grab a copy of Issue 150 of PC Gamer, due out on 9 June, which will come in a rather snazzy (and easy to spot) red package (pictured to the right). Both the DVD and CD Editions will feature a unique 14-day trial code with which you can start a City of Heroes account. The DVD Edition also features the full City of Heroes client on the DVD, while the CD Edition includes the Updater, which will allow you to download the client.

Spanish players, on the other hand, should nip down to the shops now and grab Issue 125 of Micromania (pictured to the left). As well as a unique 14-day trial code, the full City of Heroes client is included on the cover-mounted DVD.

To help you get started, you can download a PDF version of the game manual here. For more help and advice, check out the Official Message Boards, where there are plenty of experienced players willing to point a new hero in the right direction.

(French gamers should click here for details of the PC JEUX trial offer, while German players can read all about the PC Games trial offer here.)

We tend to make life hard for magazines. With City of Heroes continually changing and updating, those pieces of print tend to look old… well, pretty much by the time they’re printed. So, it’s a rare special treat when a magazine re-reviews a game like City of Heroes, as PC Zone did recently to coincide with the release of Issue #4: Colosseum.

The resulting review boosts City of Heroes like a hastily popped Inspiration from 77% to 86%, netting us the nifty PC Zone Essential award you can see here. And here’s what Paul Presley had to say about the Arena:

Does it work though? Emphatically, yes. Duelling with super-powers is, forgive the pun, a blast. Certain abilities are tweaked to provide balance in the arena, which results in ultra-competitive matches. No-one feels undervalued, including the oft-maligned Controllers who come into their own here, and the combat is fast-moving, spectacular and raises the whole City of Heroes experience exponentially.

And as for the other major Issue #4 enhancement, the new costume options, Paul had this to say:

Already one of the best out there, you now get to choose from a wealth of new clothing options… as well as make specific changes to your alter-ego’s physical appearance - nose length, face shape, arm width and so on. And yes, you can also adjust female chest sizes. We know you were thinking about it.

Us? Never. Pick up Issue 155 of PC Zone before it goes off sale to read the whole review, or visit PC Zone.co.uk.

From the ruins of the Rikti invasion, Statesman put out the call for a new generation of heroes to dedicate their lives to defending mankind. Over the last year, these new heroes have fought to push back the dark forces arrayed against them, and grown strong.

But soon, the heroes of Paragon City will face their greatest foes.

A whole new generation of super-powered villains is gathering on the Rogue Isle, adopted home of Statesman’s nemesis, the despicable Lord Recluse. Villains like no others, with a staggering array of new powers and abilities, each dedicated to chaos, destruction, and their own twisted ends. Villains controlled by… You!

To find out more about City of Villains, the upcoming stand-alone sequel to City of Heroes, head on over to the brand new official site at http://eu.cityofvillains.com/

Launched at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in LA this week, the latest cinematic trailer for City of Villains has been wowing people on the NCsoft stand - and now you can see what everyone’s been talking about for yourself.

Head over to our Movies section to view this fantastic new movie, which sees the Freedom Phalanx racing to recover a mysterious crystal before Lord Recluse and his lieutenants can grab it for themselves - and hints further at the relationship between the mighty States and the scheming Recluse…

Over in California right now, the LA Convention Center is hosting the biggest event in the games industry calendar, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3. This year the guys from MMO Radio are broadcasting live from the show, and have organised some interviews with Cryptic’s very own Statesman (Jack Emmert, Cryptic Studios Creative Director and Lead Designer of City of Heroes and City of Villains) and Lord Recluse (Dave ‘Zeb’ Cook, Senior Designer of City of Villains)... 

The Official City of Heroes European Forums have been expanded with two new boards today.

The Creative board is the place to show off anything that City of Heroes has inspired you to, well, create. Fiction, artwork, comics, movies, desktop wallpapers… If you’ve come up with anything based on City of Heroes, this is the place to share it with your fellow players. All submissions will automatically be entered into a monthly competition to win a 60-day Game Time Card and a unique forum title.

The Arena board, on the other hand, is intended to compliment the major new game feature added in Issue #4: Colosseum, offering an ideal spot to organise Arena matches and discuss PvP tactics and builds.

Both new boards are available now, so pop over to the Official City of Heroes European Forums and check them out.

This update to the game makes numerous changes to powers, both in PvP and normal play, and we strongly recommend that all players take the time to familiarise themselves with the release notes, which can be found on the Official Message Boards: Issue #4 Release Notes