Champions Online Game Review

People loved Cryptic’s first foray into the world of comic book superheroes City of Heroes so one would expect there sophomore attempt to compete with heavy-hitters like the Marvel Universe to be build on that framework and become something truly spectacular.  While Champions Online does fix many of the annoying kinks players found in COH, it also brings with it its own crop of niggling disturbances that keep gameplay from becoming truly epic.


Heroes & Powers

One of the most refreshing abilities in Champions Online is the near complete freedom you have in creating your own hero.  Unlike many MMOs where you have a few choices to pick from and a couple of variations to tweak, Champions, like COH before it, offers a stunning array of options from visual tweaks to power choices that make it easy to create and intricately detailed character that feels uniquely your own.  You’ll find a staggering amount of buttons, knobs, and sliders during character creation that may make you feel as if you’ve accidentally loaded a Sims game but fear not, when the superpowers come out there’s no comparison.

Another unique quality of Champions is the ability to choose any powers you want from all of the available choices.  There are classes in the game but placing your character in one does not limit the choices you have.  Also, the moral orientation of the powers you choose really has no bearing on your character.  Opting for a grittier approach to heroism, your good guys are free to use darker powers and vice versa. 
Unfortunately, all of this creative freedom may lead to some issues when you have to weigh uniqueness with practicality.  Although developers had promised that the power trees would be fair and balanced, many players find themselves using avatars who are completely overwhelmed simply because they chose the road less travelled.  If you do so, expect to get a healthy pounding from characters using the standard superhero sets of powers (flight, laser beams, electricity, etc.)


Nemesis, Combat & PvP

You’ll also be granted the ability to create your own custom nemesis, something every good superhero should not be without.  However, this only happens once you’ve reached level thirty (the current cap stands at level forty so you do the math.)
Balancing the distribution of new powers and abilities and quests is something that Champions really struggles with.  To start off, you can only initiate PVP battles after you’ve reached level 11.  Ostensibly this is to give noobie players time to learn the ropes and develop a character hearty enough to survive in the chaotic world of Champions.  However, being denied access to extra cool loot and the ability to pummel other live players is kind of frustrating.  You’ll also find yourself cursing the upgrade system as some powers you really want may not yet be available but ones that you feel you should have (such as regeneration effects) are before you at the moment.  This leads you to make a tough decision:  do you follow the beaten path and choose the boring old health regeneration or do you hold out for some cool and unique power that would really set your character apart from the crowd?

The combat mechanic is really what set this game apart from COH.  Not only were the attack charge times made passive (they occur while you’re performing other actions not just while you’re holding a button with your avatar standing still wearing a big red target) but the movement is incredibly swift.  It feels quite liberating to move and fight in real time rather than simply waiting for your character to do something after you clicked the mouse button.

And the battles can be truly epic.  PVP battles take place in one of three modes.  The first, Ultimate Tournament of Champions is a one-on-one battle that takes place without outside interference.  Bash is a one-on-one fight that occurs in a chaotic “free-fire” zone in which you may find other enemies and NPCs jumping into the action at any time.  Apocalypse is a rather cool 5v5 mode where players team up to compete in doomsday scenarios for the fate of the Champions universe.  All of these battles (and those on the standard quests) look great.  The effects are spot on and though the cell shaded artistic style may take some players a while to get used to, everything really just looks good.


Kryptonite (Weak Points)

However, one of the biggest weak points in Champions is the number and variety of missions currently available.  There really isn’t a huge amount of individual quests and those that are available consist of go here, kill this or go here, collect that type bore-fests that perpetually haunt MMOs.  You do have the option of teaming up with up to five other heroes to form a “super group” but there’s no real incentive to stay together once you’ve completed whatever specific mission you’re on.  Part of this is because developers designed Champions so that a single player could wade through 90% of the game by themselves.  While this is cool for those who choose the path of the “loner” it makes the MMO experience a bit weaker for those of us used to Warcraft.


Final Verdict

The ability to create a custom superhero will always be cool and the fact that Champions is not hardwired into an existing universe such as those created by Marvel or DC allows for a tremendous amount of freedom.  However, Champions does fall into a few traps that nearly every MMO fails to avoid.  Unique characters are almost always the weakest while those that choose the “safe” power sets are almost always rewarded.  However, the striking black mark against an otherwise solid entry into the MMO game is the lack of substantive missions and side quests. 
Fortunately, most of those weak points can easily be fixed with patches and updates.  If the game truly takes off and Cryptic stays behind it (as they have with COH and City of Villains) Champions Online may be poised to wrest the crown away and take the title of best superhero MMO.

Pros:  intense combat, immersive creation system, open world environment which promises to become a vibrant online community.

Cons:  balancing issues, paltry number of quests, a few launch hiccups (such as lag and down times)


Overall Score: 7/10


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