Champions Online
We could be heroes!
The appeal of superheroes is universal. Whether you're a comic book geek or not, chances are you'll have a favourite unless you're completely devoid of imagination. It's the age old question too - if you could have any superpower, what would you have? Well, with Champions Online - the spiritual successor to City of Heroes - you'll be able to apply the answer to that very question with your own bespoke spandex clad superhero. Taking the licence from the pen-and-paper RPG of the same name, Champions Online is an MMO that gives you unprecedented freedom to create the wildest character you can imagine. The wealth of options on offer is staggering with hundreds of different parts to choose from. From capes and cowls to horns, tails and claws, every possibility is catered for whether you simply want to produce a lame superman clone or come up with the maddest, most improbable superhero possible.
Stopping by Atari's HQ in Hammersmith, we got to go hands-on with the game starting from scratch to create our own crusader. Immediately struck by the depth of available customisation options, we quickly set about building a surreal yellow nightmare based upon the mysticism job role. There are other roles and origins to choose as a basic template for your character, but it's in the powers and costume that your creation really springs to life. With a loose origin story planted in our head hinted at by our chosen character class, we set to work in making an otherworldly space demon, with sci-fi gas mask, gigantic horns, wrist mounted cannons and steel armour to accent his canary yellow body suit. Adding the finishing touch of huge dragonfly wings completes the look, although we have to sacrifice the big katana blade to make them fit. All of this takes us roughly ten minutes, which is testament to how simple Champions Online's character creation system is to use.
Loosely based upon Hero Games' HERO System ruleset, Champions Online is an MMO where pretty much anything is possible. Getting to go hands-on with the game, we're instantly plunged into a full-scale alien invasion on the streets of Millennium City, which is plagued by pulsating extraterrestrial egg sacs that hatch into evil marauding insectoid creatures. Talking to nearby police and the central computer acts as the game's tutorial, providing you with all of the details you need as and when you need them. The game is incredibly simple to play, yet rushing in and attempting to pummel seven shades out of whatever moves is a bad idea and will get you killed quickly. Your hero starts with fairly limited capabilities, so those expecting to immediately be able to fly around and rain electric death upon the enemy can forget it. You have to earn those abilities by completing missions and levelling up to gain experience points. Enemies level up along with your character to keep things challenging, so you'll always have to stay on your toes, even when taking on the smaller bad guys.
There are 900 missions in total, spread across five distinct regions, one of which we're shown by ex-Flagship alumnus, Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo man, Bill Roper who is also executive producer on the game. The location in question is Lumeria, an underwater settlement, which Roper tells us is filled with vast ancient ruins and temples to discover. Next we're shown Monster Island, a sprawling, uncharted jungle inhabited by hostile creatures. The clue's in the name really. Other environments include Snake Gulch, which is an old, abandoned Wild West theme park overrun by cowboy robots and a Canadian desert with an underground prison stronghold included to placate Cryptic Studio's Canadian lead designer, Randy Mosiondz. Each of the locations are completely different to one another and will hold a whole host of different objectives to complete, presented to the player through emergent events, NPCs running towards you pleading for your assistance and the trusty mission computer terminal. However you access the missions, there's always plenty to do in Champions Online's bold, Technicolor world.
Champions Online possesses a striking, cel-shaded art style in keeping with the four colour comic books that act as its main source of inspiration. More detailed and less flat than the usual flat cel-shading we've seen in countless other games, Champions looks truly eye-popping, with bright colours and bold environments lending the game a genuinely unique comic book style. Beyond the unfathomable customisation, colourful visuals and hundreds of missions, the game boasts three styles of both PvP and PvE action, generating limitless appeal with ranked five-on-five battle arenas, wherein victory earns added rewards such as extra costume parts and new powers. You can even form your own guilds with in-game bases being introduced as a downloadable add-on shortly after the game ships on July 14th.
Cryptic have an amazing property on their hands in Champions Online, and this is something for both PC and Xbox 360 owners to excitedly look forward to in the coming months. Our hands-on with the game revealed an immersive and effortlessly compulsive game that was unremittingly fun to play, although playing using the mouse and keys proved somewhat clunky. Use a control pad though, and you're looking at what could well be the most involving and intricate MMO you'll play this year. Although it's a shame that Cryptic were forced to drop their Marvel Universe MMO, it's heartening to see that we've gained something even more exciting to make up for it. Roll on July.
Comments
Sounds truely epic, and I'll be counting the minutes
untill I have a chance to play!
Fantastico
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