Champions Online

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Champions Online

by Aethyna Jan 1, 2015 | 2 Votes | 1 Played | 0 Reviews

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Genres:

RPG , MMO

Graphics:

3D

Labels:

Superhero , Modern Setting

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Cryptic Studios , Perfect World Entertainment Millennium City is in need of a hero, and it is time for you to step up and become that person. Create your own unique hero from a huge list of powers and customize your look in a fast paced action MMO Game. Play Now Similar Games Played Post a Review

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Community Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

From the developers who have brought to you the first superhero MMORPG, City of Heroes, Champions Online is guaranteed to be that ultimate superhero game that you’ve been looking for all your life! It ensures exciting and fast-paced combat, fun role-playing moments and a huge and diverse world for you to save! It also provides a crafting system so your hero can craft his or her own consumables and upgrades. There are so many supervillains – you can create your own nemesis too - and threats that will be glad to see the demise of the human race! Can you stop these heinous threats to humanity before it is too late?

Plotline

Like all superhero stories, the storyline in this game starts off with… what else? … a disaster!

The extraterrestrial race of insectoids known as the Qularr has unleashed a devastating attack on Millennium City, cordoning off areas by force field and launching a full scale assault. The Champions Headquarters was the first strategic location to fall. The Champions were taken by surprise and scattered, and the leader of the Champions, Defender, is nowhere to be found. Civic law enforcement has its hands full trying to keep civilians safe, even with the help of PRIMUS, the all-knowing Artificial Intelligence network.

This is Millennium City’s most depressing hour. If the city is to survive, it is going to need a hero. Fortunately, you just happen to be in the neighborhood…!

There are plenty of storylines scattered throughout the game that you will learn more about when you take up their respective missions, such as fighting radioactive mutants in the Southeastern deserts in North America or zombies and ice demons in Canada. Every story will bring along with it a new set of foes for you to defeat as well.

Gameplay

After signing up and getting the game installed, you will be sent to create your first champion in Champion Online! First things first, you will need to select a super power framework for your hero! There are up to 20 pre-set skill sets, including fire, martial arts, telepathy, archery, gadgeteering and power armor, that you can choose from (around half of them will require real money to use though). However, the best part, which is unfortunately locked from free-to-play players, is the freeform hero creation!

In a way, ‘freeform’ can be said as ‘the way the game is supposed to be played’. In freeform, you are free to mix and match any of the super powers in the game to form your own very unique hero! However, having a wider selection and freedom to create your hero super power framework brings another problem – some super power combinations will definitely be more superior to others and balancing so many powers would be near impossible. Nonetheless, it’s really cool to be able to create that fire power-wielding telepathic super hero that you’ve always dreamed of… even if he, or she, may end up being a ‘weakling’ among other much more powerful superheroes!

After choosing a super power framework, you will now be able to customize your hero appearance as well as costume! Champion Online prides itself for offering extensive hero customizations and thus, the game provides a huge reservoir of ways you can personalize your character. Feel free to change your hero’s body build, facial features, skin color and hairstyles to your heart’s content! And yes, if you do not wish to be a humanoid, you can customize your hero and turn him or her into an ‘it’!

Since every hero needs a costume to conceal their real identities and to, of course, look impressive to the masses of adoring fans, your hero will also need a costume! You can customize your hero’s first costume down to its finest tights… ahem, details. In fact, there are so many ways you can change your avatar’s costume that if you spend just a tad bit more time on it, you can even come up with costumes that look exactly like your favorite superheroes’ spandex outfits, like Spiderman, or even any other game characters (Someone even managed to recreate Tyrael from Diablo, can you imagine that?). However, like most free-to-play games, a lot of the customization features are restricted to subscribers only or will require real money to unlock, while some of them, the costumes, can be earned over (a very long) time farming instances.

Since you’ve spent such a long time customizing your character, you are surely itching to see your superhero in action. You’ll just need to name your super hero as well as write your hero’s background story (role-players rejoice!) and you can get started! After a brief storyline introduction in comic relief, your hero will be dropped right in the middle of a city embroiled in an alien invasion. Your journey as a superhero begins!

Movement controls are the basic WASD, with your hero skills listed in the row of numbers. Sometimes, you may need to combine keys like Alt or Shift to activate your hero’s abilities. Combat in Champion Online is the pretty generic MMORPG fare – you press tab or click to target the enemy and start your basic attack. You can then add in your hero’s super abilities from time to time.

Super abilities like might have some really awesome effects. For example, for heroes with super strength in-game, they can throw practically anything at enemies! So, go ahead and pick that cargo container or truck like it’s a toy and heave it at that flying super villain’s face! Oh and yes, if your hero has the flight ability, you can also fly in this game. However, super abilities consume energy and you can gain energy points that you’ve lost by doing basic attacks. So, don’t expect to spam your super powers non-stop and mow everyone down with your hero’s sheer awesomeness!

Champions Online also offers a diverse number of areas that you can choose to explore! The world in the game is based off on the real world, but of course, the world in Champions Online is much more exciting and interesting. Levelling is not exactly zone-restricted since after saving Millennium City (your first ever tutorial mission) from aliens, you’ll be given the choice to either fight zombies and ice demons in Canada, or to fight radioactive mutants in the Southeastern deserts in North America. You don’t have to leave a zone if you don’t want to as well! There will generally be higher level enemies that you can fight in the zone you’re in.

Furthermore, your heroes are also given the option to craft new upgrades, consumables or power replacers at the crafting table in Champions Online. There are generally 3 main branches of crafting – arms (for the more burly heroes), science (gadget-based heroes) and mysticism (heroes that depend on supernatural powers). Each item you craft will require certain components. These components can be obtained by breaking down junk equipments or picking up caches that are scattered across the zone you’re in in fancy-looking containers and cylinders. Not to mention, farming crafting components is a very lucrative sector in this game as these components (particularly lower level Tier 2 components) can be crafted into collectable action figures. This makes them highly sought after by higher level characters. So, if you’re looking to get some quick Resources (in-game currency), you can start farming some of these stuff to sell!

In addition, like any MMORPGs, Champions Online offers a range of PvE as well as PvP instances. PvE instances in this game are called Alerts and they constantly change after a period of time. However, most instances are just grindfests for experience points, money or crafting components. If you don’t mind the grinding, they can be a great way for levelling really fast. There is also another type of Alert whereby you can farm for Questionites. These special ores can then be traded in at the in-game store for some real-money currency which you can then use to buy some really cool real-money stuff for free!

Like the idea of pitting your superhero against another? Then, head over to the PvP instance whereby you not only can test your skills against other players, you can get PvP points too! These points can then be exchanged for PvP gear or costumes. If you prefer something on a 1-on-1 level, you can try duelling instead! However, duelling does not award the victor nor the loser with any PvP points.

Champions Online even boasts of having a nemesis system for your hero! The nemesis system in this game basically means that you can create your own supervillain that is specifically tailored for your hero. As a matter of fact, the game integrated the system so flawlessly that your nemesis will even be the cause of a number of the missions that you get! How awesome is that, right?

The core aspect that made Champions Online such a success prior to the rise of other MMORPGs (even World of Warcraft) is definitely its immersion. The feeling that you get as you rush pass civilians or law enforcement officers and hear them talking about you or cheering for you is nothing short of amazing! Moreover, every mission you’re involved in has some of that cliché ‘superhero saves’, such as rescuing trapped people underneath large chunks of concrete by lifting the concrete up, that every superhero fan is familiar with.

The game even constantly reminds you that your character has a story that pre-dates the time when you had control of him or her. Unlike some MMORPGs which merely reward your character with +10 agility, for instance, because your character has leveled up, Champions Online is not all about stats or numbers… it’s about your very own superhero story! For example, your hero has excellent skills with the bow and arrow as well as being super agile, due to being a hunter for a large part of his life.

Another interesting part of the game is that all characters, no matter what type of superhero you have, have their own travel power! Every superhero gets a means of super-travel (up to 8 so far), such as flight, tunnelling, teleportation or even web-slinging! The game provides its superheroes with cool vehicles à la Batman style as well! They all contribute to the superhero immersion that Champions Online oozes out as you rush past mere mortals in some extravagant manner!

Community

The community in Champions Online is, admittedly, pretty small. However, this band of players that remained with the game after the release of other superhero-themed MMORPGs, like DC Universe Online, are some of the most helpful and welcoming people! The game is also designed in such a way that role players will have a really good time role-playing some of their favorite characters with other superhero enthusiasts.

Graphics/ Sound

Champions Online has absolutely awesome graphics that seem to teleport you into a comic book world as you play! Even the cut scenes, environment design and mission introduction has plenty of comic elements, such as line weighting, comic strip panels or that special font that you often see in comic books, in them. Furthermore, a lot of the animations and effects are vastly exaggerated in the comic book style. This means plenty of vibrant explosions as well as colorful hero skill effects and costumes. The character selection screen at the beginning of the game even puts each of your characters on their own comic book cover. Awesome, right?

The game does not exactly have a soundtrack or any background music, but it provides a much more realistic sound (as opposed to its very unrealistic and comic-like graphics) in the background as you play. For instance, in Millennium City, you can expect to hear police sirens, monstrous roars, explosions and gunfire in the distance, since it is supposed to be a city which is besieged by aliens. Overall, the graphics and sound in the game successfully adds to the game’s immersion, making the game very addictive to play.

Conclusion

Champions Online is a superhero-themed MMORPG that allows you to realize your childhood dream of being a superhero and to save a world in need! There are a ridiculous number of options for you to customize your ideal superhero and then, you’ll be promptly assigned missions after missions to fully utilize your superhero abilities for the common good! The game has a pretty robust crafting system for your superhero’s gear upgrades as well as a thriving trading system. The best part is definitely the game’s immersion. From the comic-like graphics to the background story of your superhero, you’ll never feel like you’re merely playing a game… you ARE the superhero! Thus, if you love comic superheroes, well, you should definitely head on over to save the world and make your mark as a superhero on Champions Online!