Champions Online Reviews

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Written by BuckGB on September 22nd, 2009

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On the scale of MMO launch issues these are all pretty typical, but are going to make for disappointment until all the wrinkles are ironed out. At the moment, Champs is a good MMO with the potential to become a great one. Meanwhile, I'm more than sufficiently entertained making guys with smiley faces in place of eyeballs and running around throwing dump trucks at anyone who thinks that's funny.

Champions Online is by no means a bad game. It's all there, and it's all working to a competitive standard. You will create your first character all the while only seeing about 5% of what the character creator has to offer. You will take part in some pretty epic encounters by MMORPG standards, and will combat enemies and explore places not seen in any other game of the same genre. It's polished, it's impressive, and it works. But I think we're long past the justification of why MMORPGs are worth playing anymore. Is it for the large environments? No, they would be equally as possible in any single player game. Is it the selection of missions? No, they're generally all pretty repetitive. Is it the stories and the progression? No, I have never felt less immersed in any other game type (roleplay servers not included). Is it the communities and what they make of the game? No, most of them would rather PvP you than loan you 1 gold so you can pay for your orc daughter to go to a different school where she doesn't get bullied by fat-eared elves.

Champions makes sure you're having fun right out of the gate rather than having to struggle for two months through boredom to level up your character. It's a solid MMO that will serve as a good diversion from WoW, but only time will tell if it has the depth of content necessary to keep people around.

Aesthetically, Champions is an amazing looking game it feels like playing a comic book. The game could certainly use some improvements, but the framework for a fantastic experience is there. It offers a modern, fast-paced alternative to the aging City of Heroes games, and all the small details come together to make the game feel cohesive and immersive, as well as fun to play it's certainly worth giving it a chance. I could really go on for another eight or nine paragraphs and not even touch any of the other features in the game, but if you're looking for a new MMORPG game to play, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Champions Online.

Champions Online feels like a far more casual version of MMO-play than the usual ultra-grind-fests. It's easy to get into, very accessible and customisation is absolutely enormous. That being said, there's a solid amount of content for the end-game, and good incentive to progress higher up to level 40, the level cap (level 25 in particular is a highlight, as you create your own arch-nemesis). The only problem is that for the more hardcore players, the content could be blitzed through in no time, so the lastability of Champions is questionable when it comes to the hardcore. Nonetheless, the quality of Champions is certainly evident and Cryptic have done a fine job of creating an accessible and fun world to fly around in with your spandex-wearing heroes. Let's just hope they add more content soon for the hardcore soon.

There is a lot to like about Champions Online; the character creator is deeply satisfying, the missions are well written and entertaining for the most part and the combat is an absolute blast. But outside of that there is not a whole lot of substance to Champions Online. Some features, such as PvP, the crafting and even the gear players can use, are weakly implemented or seem rushed. The fact is that Champions Online is an unfinished, unpolished MMO with a real lack of content. It is true: the fun factor cannot be ignored - and Champions is a whole lot of fun and there is a lot of potential with this game. Unfortunately, bugs, balance issues and a lack of content may cause players to lose interest long before the game gets on its feet.

In the end, if you are a super hero nut or slightly enjoyed City of Heroes/Villains, you will overly enjoy this game. It is a bit sad that this could have been Marvel Online and not Champions, but not sad enough for me to complain further than that. It has so many option and I have had nothing but fun with the game since I started playing back during the Closed Beta. Well outside of the overheating issues. But in any instance, I totally recommend you pick up this title and join the good fight. You will be sucked in from the start and won't be able to break free. Time to go play some more.

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