I've been playing this Superhero-based MMO game for almost a month now, and I think it rocks the socks of City of Heroes/Villains (CoX, Cryptic's previous creation). There are similarities, and because its new, Champions Online (CO) is actually not as big a world as CoX is now, but the advantages of a newer graphics engine, and improvements made over the earlier model are quite obvious here, not to mention the upcoming expansions that will add even more depth to the game!
What I like about CO:
1) You can choose almost any power from any power framework in the game for your hero. This means a Might-based character (think melee destruction of the Hulk), does not necessarily have to only take Might powers, he can also dip into the Fire framework in order to pick up some ranged flames attack (like the Human Torch) for instance. This means, from all the existing power frameworks, you can actually create a toon (the name for a creation) that can embody the exact powers that you want to fit into a concept you may have in mind! I'm not a very creative person, but I found great joy in creating a Space Marines Champion from Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 franchise. He has a chainsaw gauntlet, and several knockback powers, just like a Force Commander from Dawn of War 2. Only thing lacking from the concept is a giant sword or hammer to swing about. He even looks quite like the real thing. There're definitely powers available to make a Dr Strange all the way to a Zoids Liger Zero, if you so fancy! Casual players can just go for the recommended frameworks powers, while min-maxers get to have a real good time here.
2) The costume creator is much more varied than CoX's which is a pretty mean feat, considering the creator in CoX already has more options than any of your normal MMOs in the market right now. I've seen really cool-looking gorillas and wolfmen running around, apart from the standard cape-wearing superheroes. If you can't get over your World of Warcraft addiction, try making a Night Elf Driud or Orc shaman, I've seen antlers, bear skin costume parts (no morphing powers yet though) and robes in the creator.
3) It can be a pretty casual game for casual players. I can login for 10 mins and get that sense of relief I need from mashing a few henchmen around, or even get a quest done within that time. No need to sit around forming a team for 10 mins only to find out that your allotted free time from household chores is up. I've also sat in front of the PC for entire weekends already, and mind you, I've been playing solo mostly. The content is definitely varied, for the first run through. In time, I believe more content will be added and it'll be even better for your 5th character or so.
4) The Powerhouse lets you try out your power before confirming your choice. And you can use resources to "undo" power selections to get better ones too! This way, you can set up a fight scenario (scaling difficulty) and test out available powers that you feel are suitable. you don't have to do a task force or a series of quests in order to get a respec or retcon to replace a poor power pick! The cost of undoing gets higher the further you progress in levels of course, but I made heavy use of this function prior to lvl 17 in order to get the build I really liked.
What I don't like about it:
1) Although the quests are imaginative and there're definitely more varied than what you get in CoX, they're ultimately about killing X baddies at XYZ or collecting Y objects in area ABC. The grind can get to you.
That said, its not all the same grind - at level 17 there is the Fight Club quest, you have to defeat a series of villains, ala Royal Rumble; and at level 23, there's the Infiltrate Project Awakening quest. You actually get to apply Arms skill (if you chose that) to have an easy win, or use a little strategy with the walls circling the Master Villain of the lair. Stronghold quests gave a fresh breath of cool air into the desert at lvl 24-25! And there's still Lemuria and Monster Island to unlock, not forgetting the upcoming game expansion that adds a new area - Vibora Bay.
2) It being a new game, launched in Sep 2009, there're still plenty of bugs that creep in. Occasional tearing from certain powers/costume parts cause lines to form between toons sometimes. Some citizen door quests text are headed with "Entry_text" as its heading. I've read of some powers' advantages not functioning. However, the game still has lots of polish and I personally am not bothered by these bugs as I believe the dev team are constantly working to get them fixed in time.
3) The Auction House isn't quite like a real trading house. First of all, searching for gear/items in the AH isn't very intuitive as you need to have the exact name of the gear you want before you can find it. Randomly trawling through the thousands of named gear for the stats you want will drive you nuts. Its a seller's market as there are only seller's prices on the items, and you have to hit the offer as there's no queuing of bids. This means that there's no low-balling on items at all. There's no fee for listing items, so everything can get sold. And finally, there's no history, so you can't check what the last few transactions were for the items/gear you wanted. This was the one feature of the game I really found QUITE lacking. Gear/item drops in-game however are so common, you are hardly ever in need of an item that you must spend resources for it. Perhaps this is something only for the level 40s and their purple gear.
So anyway, this mini review is just an excuse to inform you, that there is a huge discount offer at Atari's website now - you can get Champions Online + 1 month free subscription for just US$9.99! Presently there's already a Free Demo available for the game, so do try it from the Champions Online website, then when you think the USD10 is an easy jumping in point, drop your email address in the comments section for a referral from me!
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