Gotta Love those Travel Powers (Review)

Laserwolf

I started before the open Beta and so I never really had too many problems with the patcher. I did have to restart it more than once, but I knew it was Beta so I shrugged it off and did other things. Anyone who is whining about Patching during a Beta needs to have the crap kicked out of them.

Initially I didn't like the character creation at all. Of course this was because of the fact that I was only using around 1/5 of available options and didn't realize I had many many more until my second character. Once I found these I can easily say that this game has the absolute best character creator than any before it. To be fair, most MMOs don't allow for costume customization so it only makes sense that this would beat out both AoC and SWG, but it still easily topples CoX as well. When you can pretty much recreate any game/move/comic character imaginable, you know you have a great character creator. My first day of playing I came across two people that were the absolute spitting image of Buzz Lightyear and Woody from Toy Story. I mean absolutely identical. Unfortunately I didn't think to take a Screenshot with the NDA still going on, but I did snap this one here of a guy I ran into in Open Beta:

Also make sure to choose your "Hero Stance" before you exit the creator. The four options are Average, Heroic, Strong, and Beastly. The last two might be slightly mis-named but I think they are right. This determines how your character stands and runs for the most part. Average is upright and similar to most MMOs, Heroic is more of a hand on hip sort of thing with a cocky running stride, Strong is sort of bent in a Hulk kind of way, and Beastly is pretty much on all fours(very cool option).

Ok, with the character creator out of the way I'll address the game itself. First off, it is very important to adjust your graphics as soon as you are able. Initially the options were very few and I could either have a laggy game or an ugly one. Luckily many more options are now provided and I can have a smooth and very good looking game with just a few tweaks here and there. These are things I turn off even in games I can run very smoothly at highest settings so I'm not sacrificing anything here at all.

Gameplay itself starts off a little rocky. The default control system is certainly different than most MMOs like LOTRO or WoW, but just takes a little getting used too. Combat can actually be very very fun with the right power set. I had an absolute blast with swords when I had never planned on using melee. Using guns, a bow, or power armor rockets can also be very fun, but be aware that elemental powers(especially Ice) will start off a little dull until you can work them up. However, later on these may be the ones you have the most fun with so don't discourage. It's hard not to feel all powerful and I sometimes would just run around throwing trash cans, lamp posts, or police cars at enemies just for the thrill of it. Blasting away at enemies with duel pistols while strafing is also pretty fun for an MMO.

Someone else mentioned that the item and reward item system is confusing as hell and he is absolutely right. To start off with just ignore it and pick up anything and everything. Once you get to Canada or the Desert at level 5 or so you will get to learn crafting and will get much more information on how to use items. For the most part I just broke them down into components so I could build useful things (Like new Weapons which I'll explain shortly) or larger item pouches.  You can also sell them later for credits that can be used at Costume editors and other vendors. Don't discourage if you find that your character is too short or doesn't look quite the way you want him/her too, you can alter almost anything(except gender I think) after you finish the starting area.

Now once you finish the starting area and get the choice of heading to either Canada or the Desert, things do get a lot better. If you had any lag at all you will notice quite an improvement with much more open environments, and most importantly, you get to train up including the absolute best part of Champions: The Travel Power. Once you first arrive in either location you will be on a Heli-Pad next to a teleporter looking device. Step into it to be quickly teleported to the entrance of the power training/danger room type instance(Powerhouse). It is only an instance because more than 20 or so players will interfere with you being able to try out your new powers before locking them in by leaving. Here you can choose a new superhero power, some stat increase options, and finally the Travel Power. Once you train up you will find multiple rooms to either test your stats(trigger lasers to shoot you to test damage), powers(Moving and non-moving drones to attack), and travel power(tall large room with platforms to scale in various ways). My advice is to try every one of the powers, and I advise you to remember that most all of them are 5X better once you leave this area and enter a open map without ceilings. My absolute favorite is the Swinging Power which works almost exactly like the one in Spiderman 2 letting you fire each individual swing shot(From a rope gun thingy) and control where you swing or at which point you let go of the swing to gain or lose elevation. It takes a lot of practice to master making it certainly one of the most fun and engaging travel powers. All of them are worth trying and Respecing before you leave the Powerhouse. I would also like to point out that the acrobatic travel power is extremely fun outside the Powerhouse while only slightly interesting inside it. You really need a large area to get a feel for how fast and just plain cool it is to flip and leap across long distances.

As far as crafting, I'm just now beginning to get a feel for it. I chose the "arms" skill branch which then branches into three or so more branches including ordnance(which I chose) and two others I can't remember right now. The other two main branches are Science, and I think Supernatural(something like it anyway). I wasn't too thrilled with it, but it did allow me to craft a Flintlock Pistol item which, when activated, turned my duel modern handguns into flintlock pistols(think Pirates of the Caribbean) with different firing animations and sounds. I assume this is how you can eventually change your duel or single melee weapons into axes or maces and such, because you have to start with swords to begin with. The good news is that these options become available at level 5(some do) so no harm. You also get to customize your weapon's style and color through the tailor npc which gives you about 5 style options per weapon, not including any crafted weapons. The bad news is that the Beta apparently won't allow you to see the weapon images in the menu as you tailor them so it takes a lot of trial and error to purchase changes, shoot something to view the changes, then go back to edit some more. As a gun user I already had an assault rifle and a shotgun to use by level 8 or 9. I could have also chosen grenades, smoke grenades, a mini-gun, or a machine gun if I had wanted. Lots of options and a new gun animation for each one. Quite frankly CoH lacked big time here(not sure if they ever got rid of the big multi-gun in future releases or patches).

I think I touched on pretty much everything. As far as my overall opinion so far, I would state that the game is too easy. I rarely died, and when I did, all I lost was a 5th of my damage multiplier which builds up over time. I also only teamed up once with one other person, and even then I don't think I really had to do so despite the quest being listed as a 3-man group quest. Being able to really tear into large groups of enemies including knocking them off their feet and such makes combat fun well past when it would still be so in other MMOS, but without even a slight sense of danger to the game, it can feel a little empty. Initially I planned to purchase this game pre-Beta. After closed Beta I had decided against it. During Open Beta I decided once again to purchase it, but now I'm back on the fence after cooling off a little from the last time I played. Right now I'll just wait and see what happens.