Champions Online is hands down a breath of fresh air for the MMORPG genre. The game concept is slightly different from the one we are used to seeing in the genre, although only in some details that genre newcomers might not even notice.
Champions Online is now three years old and the developers have worked tirelessly to improve game play, include new content and resolve the bugs which were abundant on the initial release. Perfect World bought this game and Star Trek Online from Atari for over $50 million dollars and the new content is coming in at least twice a week. Taken at face value with all the included changes, its the most diverse, hero customizable, and tight community you would want to be a part of! It's now free-to-play, they still offer lifetime memberships as well as monthly accounts for extra perks. Graphics are great and support DirectX 11 -- posted tweaks on Steam to make them even better. The game play is fast and action oriented, the new alert system puts you in the action instantly, the characters are customizable with character points in addition to powers, you can create your own nemesis which appears in the world. It's worth travelling back to Millennium City to see the improvements -- for free!
There is always room for more improvement in this game but as it is I give it at least 10 out of 10. The graphics don't kill your eyes, the missions are fun, getting a group together is fun and the power customization is good. That being said it needs things like player hideouts, earlier introduction of a nemesis, more customization options(You have enough when people complain about there being too much).
Champions Online is unfortunately not able to give the impression of depth to 360 degrees, and to enthuse those users looking for a real alternative to addiction to games as World of Warcraft or Lineage II. Unlike the novice player who could find in this title a good way to start, knowing that after a few months with their super hero, they could feel the need to try something more complex and satisfying.
With the customary spit and polish the engine will receive over the next year, Champions Online certainly has the potential to turn into the best superhero MMO out there. For now, that mantle still belongs to City of Heroes, but having played both games throughout beta and release, this is certainly a more daring title in the initial stages.
City of Heroes evolved into a new kind. Comic-book fans who overcome the chaotic preamble will be rewarded by public quest lines, strong PVP potential and truly exotic adventures. [Nov 2009]
As it stands, Champions Online is not meant for the elitist MMO player, who craves for a lot of sudden changes of situation and coherent universes, but rather for your everyday consumer, who can escape work in the gross quantity of perks (read Achievements), in the mini-series heroes (read Vanity Pets) and in the overall lack of sense. And that, of course, only if their personal computer can handle it. And only if the producers will put a lot of effort into keeping up with the (still) growing community.
Champions Online too often feels like a professionally assembled Second Life module, where character creation is king and the thrill of being superhuman wears thin once you realize that everything else just feels off. Whether or not future patches can set some of the more glaring flaws right is anybody's guess.
I've been playing Champion Online since launch and while it may have started of a bit on the weak side but over the last year its went from strength to strength. During the last year there has been many changes made to champions with to major balance passes carried out on powers one on melee based powers that greatly improved how melee based characters perform and another on pets which again has greatly improved there use and made them into viable power selections. with both these passes the developers have showing a willingness to listen to the player base beyond anything I've seen in any other game even going so far as to delay the pet specific parts of a patch so that they could do further work on the pet powers based on feedback they had received on the public test server.
This same willingness to listen and delay releases also extends to content where they delayed the latest adventure pack daemon flame so that they could further polish it based on feedback they had received from the previous adventure pack serpents lantern.
Of course where Champions really shines is the character creation and open power selection which allows a great deal of freedom in your characters creation. Best of all costume unlocks are now global so if you get a costume part on a character that would doesn't soot them but would look really great on one of your other characters its no problem to load that character up head to the tailor and select that cool new costume part .
All in all champions Online is well worth picking up and giving it a try best of all the box can now be picked up for a low price and you get a full month of play time included.
The main advantage of this game is that you are a super hero. The very cartoony style of this game is what makes it special, and considering it's free to play, let's not be picky.
Hours of fun with friends, lots of missions too, and you can without any problem enjoy yourself without spending money on it. The different ways of travelling are a nice detail (flying, running, jumping..), and the customization of your character is well developed.
It is indeed highly suggested to not invest money in this, as you can't do a lot more once you've bought it. More slots, a nicer cape, and some special quests, that's all. The cap level at 40 is pretty low, you get bored pretty fast after that.
Conclusion : It's free and fun, have a go !
It was good. It was worthy of maybe 7/10 in the past. But today it's been entirely taken over by a company that doesn't much care about the source material, and has converted the game into a Lootbox Simulator overflowing with microtransactions, lootbox keys, currency conversion, obsessive grinding (for in-game currencies), and pretty much everything else that is horrendously manipulative and exploitative.
It's a nightmare to see a game where creativity was the core game mechanic, turned into this disgusting excuse for catering to people who can be manipulated to buy bytes and pixels for cash.
Give it a try if you want, it has probably the best character creator of any 3D game developed, ever, and being able to select your own superpowers has its pleasures. But steel yourself in preparation for artificial barriers that will continue popping up, encouraging you to hand over more of your time and money than this game deserves.
Do I recommend this game? I hate answering "No". I really do. This game was my life for years. The people, the community, they've stayed with me. But the game has fallen behind, dragged down by the weight of its new, corrupt, cash-grabbing nature. Such a heart-rending a shame.
The successor to City of Heroes yet it does nearly everything worse than CoH. Yes it has more costume options and in some ways more power variation.. but that doesn't compensate for the childish gameplay boss ninja-ing and constant re-spawning that makes careful planned preparation that some CoH/CoV builds allowed. It also fell away from the CoH instancing model which also detracts. I bought a lifetime subs to this hoping to see an updated improved version of CoH.. but alas got a childish click fest instead. a waste of my money.
SummaryEarth's first and best line of defense is its heroes. For generations, brave men and women have answered the call to protect the world from the villains who threaten its safety and security. Today, organizations such as VIPER, ARGENT and PSI use both superpowers and super technology in their dastardly plots to control the world. Creature...