Champions Online

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Release Date: September 1, 2009

Champions Online Review

What's the final verdict on the superhero MMO?

Champions Online has been out for two weeks now and, after nearly 50 hours of punching robot cowboys, smashing valuable alien technology and tossing cement trucks at petty criminals, we're finally ready to offer our review. One of the main issues in evaluating any MMO is how well the content meshes with the design. In applying the MMO to a superhero setting, Cryptic capitalizes on many positive elements, offering up lots of unique character options and plenty of dynamic combat. With only a few rare exceptions to the power set and visual appearance, it's truly possible to be exactly the hero you want to be. On the downside, the progression of your character, both through the story and the evolution of his or her powers, lacks substance.

First, tremendous credit goes to the robust character creation tools. Five minutes spent in any of the player hubs will convince you that the visual variety of the characters is unparalleled, beating out even City of Heroes' robust range. It's true that we'd like to have made at least one fat superhero, but that aside, the sky really is the limit. The appearance of your characters makes you feel like you have a very specific and unique identity within the game world, which is a great change of pace from most MMOs where your character looks pretty much like every other character.

You can be any hero you want, even a super-powered manatee.

The ability to mix and match powers from different archetypes provides even more flexibility, but this also opens up the possibility for tremendous imbalances. You may want to create a Might-focused character, but unless you're willing to investigate the potential of the Invulnerability power from the Power Armor set or Regeneration from the Sorcery set, you're going to have a very short, frustrating experience. Most veteran players will be comfortable with selecting their powers a la carte, but even they will be flummoxed by the game's refusal to explain important terms. Just knowing that the Defiant power applies a Defiant buff isn't really enough to go on.

One of the downsides though is that Cryptic doesn't really provide any visual way to express the evolution of your character over time. Sure, there are new costume pieces you can pick up and, yes, you can visit a tailor to change your overall look, but your character will look pretty much the same way at level 25 as he or she does at level 1. You can get upgrades to certain powers, of course, but there's little that serves the vanity of players when it comes to expressing how powerful they've become during the course of the game.

Thankfully, the power system allows for a number of upgrades and additions as your character progresses, so you'll gradually find yourself delivering more powerful punches and more lively lightning blasts the further you get into the game. The addition of unique power advantages, like adding damage debuffs to your sonic arrows or extending your psionic healing over a larger area, helps you become a more powerful (or at least more effective) hero but, as with the costumes, some players may find that there's just not enough of a visual cue to let other players know just how awesome you really are. For some players this may not matter. They have a hero in mind and it's enough to see that character evolve in terms of power.

Fights are full of frantic, four-color fun.

The loot and crafting system is an attempt to give players a way to further customize or empower their character. While I was initially against it at first, I can accept that heroes throughout the world are constantly scavenging mystical artifacts and bits of alien technology to improve their abilities. Strangely, characters who use hand-to-hand attacks are a bit left out of some of the power boosts, but they can still benefit from the stat increases.

I have a harder time accepting the quality of player created boosts relative to the skill caps. The trouble is that players have to reach a certain level in order to unlock more powerful blueprints, but in the course of obtaining that level, they'll have looted stuff that's far more powerful than anything they can create at a crafting station. Maybe it's just that I'm behind the curve here and more powerful recipes will eventually become available, but it hasn't happened yet.

I also felt that the PVP system is a bit tacked on. Rather than creating a system that gives players a motivation and lasting consequence for fighting with each other, Champions Online falls back on one-off duels and disconnected arena matches. Yeah, the Hero Games angle is a cute nod to the source material, but the whole PVP system feels like a throwaway. And when you add in heroes who are invulnerable, regenerate and can fly, teleport, or run at super speed, PVP is even less attractive.

That said, the combat is genuinely fun across all levels of the game. Despite the presence of hotbars and stat-based results, combat feels very action-oriented. You'll have a blocking ability, a basic energy building power and a number of more impressive powers that you can charge up to deliver loads and loads of damage. You'll also find yourself facing multiple enemies at a time, which makes you feel like a real hero, and even in the later levels, you'll have plenty of enemies you can take down with one shot, which makes you feel like an even more awesome hero.

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Game Details

Published by: Atari
Developed by: Cryptic Studios
Genre: Persistent Online RPG
Release Date:
United States: September 1, 2009
UK: September 4, 2009
Australia: September 7, 2009
T for Teen : Blood, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes
Also Available On: Xbox 360