City Hero

City Hero takes a while to arrive. The build is large, and on our connection the download bar under the cover art crawled past the three-minute mark before the title screen appeared: a muscular hero in a red and blue suit swinging from a cable past glass towers, a cash counter reading 1000, a green gem counter, and an orange Play button. Once you are in, a Daily Bonuses window greets you with the first of seven escalating rewards.

The setting is Vice Town, a 3D city you can roam freely. The defining move is the rope: fire it at a building, swing through the air over the traffic, let go at the top of the arc and fire again before you hit the ground. Chained together, swings are far faster than running, and they also take you to rooftops, from which you can see where the next fight is. On the ground you can sprint, jump, punch, switch to a firearm, or pull a driver out of a car and take the wheel.

Most of the structure comes from missions against the street gangs that run the town. Clearing them pays money, which goes into better blasters, melee gear and new suits from a weapon bag and shop. Separate from the city is the Zombie Arena, a wave survival mode where an undead crowd closes in from every side and, after enough rounds, a heavily armoured giant robot appears as the boss.

On a computer you move with W, A, S, D, aim with the mouse, attack with the left button and swing with E. The provider documents an on-screen joystick and buttons for phones and tablets, but expect the long download on mobile data. Sessions here run longer than in most browser games, so it suits an evening rather than a coffee break.