Champions Online: Appealing to true fans and newcomers alike

ThomasN7

We recently had the opportunity to play the opening section from Champions Online, the spiritual successor to Cryptic’s City of Heroes/Villains. Announced shortly after Cryptic’s cancellation of the Marvel Universe MMORPG, the game now uses heroes and villains from the universe established in the comparatively unknown HERO System role-playing ruleset.

 

What will initially strike players about Champions Online is its first-rate production values. The menus and game user interface are all designed with a 60s four-colour aesthetic in mind, and the “comic shading” effect that outlines your characters is one of the best examples of Cell Shading we’ve yet to see, implemented to varying degrees on all individuals and landscapes. Though Champions does not have the established mythos that DC’s upcoming online rival will, there are numerous homages and references in the loading screen art and character/environment designs that prove just as much fun to spot. The character select screen, which resembles a stack of issues from metaficitonal publisher Cryptic Comics, is just one of many neat little touches.

 

Champions drops the Archetype class system of City of Heroes for an Origin and Framework based structure, which allows for far more flexible character creation, though the virtually endless possibilities available to you are overwhelming to say the least. But creating the look, class, abilities and origin story of your hero, be he/she based on an established personality or original hero is so much fun, with a huge assortment of costume components and accessories, that you’ll likely want to spend some time here, splicing brawlers, commandos, aliens, paragons or whatever takes your fancy. While many gamers will embrace this feature, creating all varieties of super powered beings, it would be nice to also have the option to adhere to one of the classic archetypes, if only to quell the “kid in a candy store” dilemma that indecisive comic fans will suffer. A word of warning though: if you fancy equipping your vigilante with the ultra-cool dual katanas, be aware that one-in-three other players will be thinking the same.

Whereas most MMORPGs ease you into your epic journey by pushing you through several dozen chores of the “dig me up 8 carrots” variety, the tutorial section of Champions Online immediately drops you into thick of an alien invasion. The Qularr, an advanced insectoid species, are attacking Downtown Millennium City (think Paragon City from City of Heroes) and your whippersnapper vigilante must heed the guidance of veteran heroes Socrates and Silverback, who communicate to you via holographic projections. The level of detail in Downtown Millennium City is incredible; gigantic cannons fire at passing assault ships while alien fleets soar beyond a city-wide forcefield overhead. Military and police forces hold fort against Qularr drones as civilians trapped under debris cry for your help. While the earliest missions are numbingly simple, within an hour you’ve been enlisted into a full on retaliation against the extraterrestrial invaders, including the rescue of fellow crimefighter Kinetik (located via the radio transmission from an abandoned police car) and the destruction of a network of communications consoles.

These minor undertakings soon draw you towards your first Open Mission, ‘Battle of the Ironclad,’ which is similar to one of World of Warcraft’s instances but is balanced difficulty-wise for both groups and solo players. This required the aiding of a (good) alien NPC in the restoration and protection of the enormous Ironclad defence cannon. The finale to this section featured the liberation of the Champions HQ alongside the chivalrous Defender, who sounded more than a little like Adam West – The Champions are essentially Millennium City’s equivalent of the Justice League or Avengers, and the headquarters’ interior was ornamented throughout with trophies and ostentatious projections of the team’s most prominent members. Our battle culminated in a face-off against the mammoth Black Talon, a mechanical villain who looked like Iron Man’s Iron Monger but with bigger cannons. With this boss beaten and four terminals restored, the Ironclad cannon was able to blow a chunk from the belly of the massive Qularr mother ship up above, spelling a temporary triumph for humanity.

This victory led my hero to his first UNTIL unit, which allows players to unlock one from each of the four ability categories. In addition to the expected stat bonuses and new special moves, you must choose one from a series of Travel Abilities, which include temporary flight, super speed, and even the ability to web swing. Again, there’s so much choice in the way of customisation that whatever route your character takes, you’ll regret not having tried another. The tutorial came to a close with my character being greeted outside the Champions HQ by a Star Wars inspired victory ceremony. After having to choose between assisting one of two heroes, Witchcraft or Ravenspeaker, I was guided to a nearby chopper and flown to the government’s Project Greenskin in an unnamed Desert region; opting to help the other hero would have directed me to the more intriguing Canada Crisis area. Here in the green tinted irradiated Desert your hero is introduced to arms, mysticism and craft trainers for the first time and...

Alas, here my oh-too-brief time with Champions Online ended. If you’ve made it this far through the preview, then it’s probably pretty clear that Champions is more than a little action-orientated. One thing that players unaccustomed to City of Heroes will notice is how few numbers litter the screen. One of the major criticisms aimed at that game was Cryptic’s decision to hide the majority of statistics from the player’s GUI, but the developer has boldly stuck to their convictions here. Whether this will agonise stat-obsessed players during the games later levels, as it did in City of Heroes, is yet to be seen, but during this tutorial section of the game it made the game a far more engaging and casual-player friendly experience; one that isn’t bogged down with figures. Death is also relatively painless; instead of incurring an XP penalty, your equipment upgrades slightly deteriorate with every respawn.

Cryptic went to great lengths to simplify the MMO experience with City of Heroes and Champions only furthers this strategy, playing like a hybrid of conventional online RPG and a sandbox superhero game such as Spider-man 2 or Hulk: Ultimate Destruction. The ability to block, an action usually absent in other MMOs, forces you to watch your opponent closely, rather than routinely tap at the same number keys. Anyone who has played Final Fight or Streets of Rage will certainly feel a nostalgic warmth as they clobber Qularr drones with post-boxes and park benches, or unremittingly pound away at the hulking Bugkeepers and superior Invasion Leaders – that is, if you choose to play Champions as a beat ‘em up. Depending on the character you’ve created, the gameplay may lean towards that of a third-person shooter, or indeed the more traditional ability-based MMO that we’re all too accustomed to.

This third-person action tends to play equally well with a controller, though the interface is navigated purely by mouse. While the control options are extensive, with the opportunity to switch between MMO/Action/Shooter presets, the game’s frantic pace does currently make it difficult to fight an onslaught of enemies while picking up items or selecting special quest items. Most PC players will instinctively opt for a keyboard/mouse setup, but it would be nice if Champions’ dynamic challenges could be played entirely by controller. Presumably the Xbox 360 version, with which the PC edition will have cross-platform gameplay, will work in this manner.

I should confess that my time spent with Cryptic’s original City of Heroes was relatively short, and my time with City of Villains non-existent. But this looks set to change with Champions Online, which doesn’t drastically develop upon its predecessor so much as tweak and furbish the MMORPG structure beyond the unapologetically static grinds of its contemporaries. Though I obviously enjoy MMOs, I often feel that even the best of the genre offers a monotonous gaming experience hoisted up by the possibility of large social gaming events. While Champions doesn’t break the mold in any particular way, its persistent, action-orientated gameplay made Downtown Millennium City’s tutorial section one of the most entertaining MMOs initiations I’ve ever played. The superb score, which foregoes any degree of subtlety for Hollywood grandiosity, also deserves a last-minute mention.

Cryptic is going to have to work hard to overshadow Sony’s upcoming DC Universe Online, simply because that game has the license – and comic fans will want to coexist with established characters such as Batman, Superman and the Flash in familiar cities like Gotham and Metropolis. But if you’re interested in spending countless hours in a spandex-infested cityscape, don’t let Champions Online’s lack of recognisable properties put you off. Cryptic already has one successful superhero MMORPC under its belt, and if the first few hours of Champions is anything to go by, their level of acquaintance with the genre has produced an online landscape that feels as deliberated and refined we could possibly hope for.

Review by Carl Doherty

 

Source: www.alltern8.com/library/mmo_games/review/champions_online_hands-on_preview/l-4058.html