Champions Online

When a game promises to break many genre barriers in one go, my interest is immediately piqued. Cryptic Studios lead by Bill Roper intends to eliminate the ubiquitous character class system altogether, make advances towards more fast paced action, and give the players total freedom in devising their heroes.

Before I proceed with the review, I have to admit something. I've been playing Champions Online in both closed and open beta, and now, finally, in the retail form. Still, it feels like I've barely scratched the spandex surface of the game. Thus it is good to keep in mind that the review will mainly address the beginning of the game -- how it feels to tinker with the excellent character creation mechanic, and the feeling of cutting loose with your hero.

Many people don't realize that Champions Online is, in fact, a licence game. It's based on a roleplaying system, Champions, that was first published in 1981. As with its modern online counterpart, the players could devise their own superheroes to defend Millennium City. In addition to being inspired by the roleplaying game's mechanics, Champions Online has borrowed and expanded the rpg's vivid and rich history, four-colour comic book style heroes and villains, and epic battlefields.

The most original, sweet, scary and rewarding phase of Champions Online begins immediately after launching the game: the character creation. City of Heroes was a terrific precursor, but is now left way behind to bite the dust. The hero creation mechanics included in Champions Online are light years ahead of every single one of its rivals. The face area alone has about twenty sliders to adjust how the hero will look, and the body has two dozen sliders more. With freedom like that, tiny mousemen and tank-sized howitzers are indeed viable options.

The costume selection is simply stupendous. There's dozens of different types of chest armour alone. The menus are filled with cloaks, capes, hoods, cyberarms, sombreros, boots,... Everything one can think of. The players can opt that the gear they find during the game just alters the hero's attribute points, nothing more. In short, found loot won't mess with your carefully created design, which is a nice touch.

If you have an idea of a super hero concept, Champions Online can most likely make such a hero. Creating characters and gawking (or chuckling) at what others have accomplished never gets old. It's not a surprise that there are a lot of people who must have something wrong with their heads and/or colour coordination, but on the other end of the scale are the heroes who could easily belong to any high value comic book production.

The Nemesis system is a great addition to character creation. When the hero reaches level 25, the player can design his own arch nemesis, how he looks like and his power set. This arch nemesis will always be there to harass the character when he least expects it. The Nemesis system is clearly a great invention, and it really helps bringing one's hero and his fictional history alive.

Because character creation is so free form, there is a genuine concern that you may accidentally ruin the concept with one careless power selection. Although I can't say for sure how big a problem this potentially is, it is a valid concern: if after playing 50 hours you realize that your lion is a sheep instead, that tends to rattle one's teeth. With great freedom comes great responsibility towards your power selection. The developers have taken this into account, as there are special testing areas where you can fiddle around with different selections before making up your mind. Since the heroes gain new powers relatively slowly, this is a great way of keeping players happy. If a mistake is made, rearranging your whole power set is possible. It's expensive, yes, but also means that you can't ruin your character permanently, no matter how badly you spend your build points.

Customizing your character is not limited to mere appearances, for the insides of the game are also malleable. There are dozens of different power trees, each with its own style and theme. Included are pyromantic skills, telepathy, magic, power armour and so on. Specializing in one tree is useful but not mandatory. The hero can easily be an electrically charged melee monster with telepathic gifts.

The travel powers deserve a special mention, and perhaps a medal or two. One can fly in several different ways: on a tech glider, like a fire propelled cannonball, or by rocket boots showering sparks every now and then. If air travel ain't your style, you can jump tens of meters in one single bound, run at superhuman speeds, or simply teleport from one location to another. Depending on your travel power, one can do battle while hovering or jumping and flailing wildly. After all this, the lanky jog we've come accustomed to in every other game feels infuriatingly slow paced.

The game starts with the attack of the Qularr, an alien race of hostile insects. Repelling this assault serves as a tutorial for the game, and when the bugs have been done with, the player chooses whether to continue training in the arctic Canada or the torrid, aptly named desert of Burning Sands. Both areas help the player to grasp the advanced functions of the game, like item creation, grouping up, and gaining new powers.

After the tutorials the player is released into the world to join the fray with his colleagues and co-workers. In addition to the streets of Millennium City, other areas of the game include the terrors of Monster Island, secrets of an underwater Lemuria City, dangers of hidden temples, huge caverns, superhero bases, and so on. Players can even take each other on in separate Hero Games arena, where duels and full group mayhem decide who's the most super of all the superheroes. A quick test run revealed that although the chaotic pummeling of the arenas is a fun distraction from the bump and grind of monster mashing, how you fare in PvP is greatly dependant on your power set.

Graphics wise Champions Online is average. It's indubitably colourful and variety abounds, and it succeeds in creating a great sense of being a comic book hero. The characters are detailed, but some backgrounds are lacking in character. Many of the powers are extremely cool and stylish, and the fireworks of every combat is delightfully epic. Like with all MMO's that are fresh from the oven, small graphical glitches mar some surfaces and textures. Even if the characters jitter a bit, the glitches aren't interfering with enjoying the game, though, and it's more than likely that this, too, will be addressed in the future patches.

Sound effects, however, leave a lot to be desired. Simple and soft hitkicksmash-soundscape is simply way too lacklustre for a superhero game, and none of the game's music tracks inspire the flamboyant feel that the game should have. It's not the end of the world, but epic feel should come from other things than mere eye candy.

The combat system of the game feels more action paced than most MMO's provide, but it's not revolutionizing how battles usually are done. The most notable changes are active blocking, which requires the player to pay attention to what's happening and press a key to deflect an incoming hit. Another neat function is the ability to throw opponents against walls and ceilings. Characters also take up space in the world, so one can't just waltz right through whoever is in your way. Basically it's just all about timing things right. This takes MMO-battles slightly towards more tactical combat, although it falls far short from being what single player action games have to offer.

The mission design is very traditional kicking bad guys in the face and then looting them, and becomes repetitive very quickly. The best way to avoid the numb feel of grinding the same thing over and over again is to recruit a friend or two, and form a super group, Champions Online's equivalent of guilds.

Despite these slight failings, Champions Online with its free form character design and gameplay innovations is a game that really breaks the mould in several aspects, and is thus a game that every MMO-lover should at least try out. I for one fell head over heels in love with the freedom of bringing your wildest visions to form, and the superheroic feel of the game.