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Champions Online: PC Review
Is this MMO ready for consoles?
November 6, 2009 | 9:02 AM PSTIn case it isn't clear just looking along the top bar, Kombo is a console-focused site. So why are we reviewing Champions Online? Other than just wanting to, I wanted to take a peek at a PC massively-multiplayer game that lists a console as its next destination, see what works, what doesn't, and take a look at its prospects for making the jump to consoles. Though I won't be giving it a traditional review score, I'll review it in the usual Kombo format.
What the Game's About
Champions Online is the newest MMO from developer Cryptic Studios. Taking notes from their first outing, City of Heroes, they've returned to the Superhero genre once more in hopes of perfecting the formula. Licensing a classic pen-and-paper RPG, Champions Online brings the characters and stories of Champions to life for players to experience firsthand.
What's Hot
Champions Online does a lot to break out of the MMO mold from which it was cast. When you login for the first time, you'll notice that you don't have to pick a server. No more grumbling about how your high school friends are on StormRend and your college friends are on RavenCrown, or whatever. Instead, Champions Online uses instances of the same zone that you can switch between at a moment's notice. If your buddies are in another instance, just hop over and team up.
And if you don't want to team up, Champions Online is friendly there, too. While there are some missions that require (or at least strongly suggest) two or more heroes, much of the game is quite playable on your own. Especially with the lack of death penalty in the game — unless you consider being zapped back to the nearest checkpoint a penalty — playing alone is a more viable option than it has traditionally been in MMOs.
Getting ready to infiltrate Cobra, I mean Viper's base.
Another thing that keeps soloing interesting is the extensive efforts Cryptic has taken to prevent grinding being a necessity. Player mileage seems to have varied a bit, but personally, I have not needed to cruise for nasty monsters without a quest asking me to do so. The majority of your experience comes from quests.
Of course, the biggest features of Champions Online are the character and power customization options. As I said in my preview, you can make anything from a short fuzzy guy with metal claws to, if you really want, The Watermelon Dynamo. Options ranging from knight to ninja to bug to werewolf keeps characters looking different (with the exception of the 47 iron man clones chilling around the base at any moment), and the decision to allow multiple heroes with the same name keeps the illusion alive.
In addition to making your character look anyway you can dream up, once you pick a power set, you're not limited to that set. Different powers have different prerequisites but you're never limited to a specific power tree. You want to be an ancient samurai with mind beams and heal bots? Go for it. Better yet, since the launch of the game about a month ago, Cryptic is already to work introducing a new power set.
One of the things in the big MMOs is that magical time known as Patch Day, when the overpowered characters whine about being nerfed, the longtime players complain about their past achievements being meaningless, you know the drill. Well, with Champions Online every day is patch day! And this is not a bad thing. This means that a bugged quest might be fixed the next day, that the power nerfing might go away with sufficient outcry, in just a week or two. So far the daily patches haven't been annoying, though can imagine a slower internet connection might change my tune.
Lastly, and this is the big one for me, is Xbox controller support. To my knowledge, Champions Online is the first MMO to natively support the Xbox 360 control. When you plug it in, the menus in the game automatically change to show you what buttons to press to get things done. When it comes to combat and movement, you can do just about anything on the control, and after a bit of training it's very easy to do. I did find, however, that some menu functions are more difficult to reach with the controller and are better given the mouse treatment. Again, though, Cryptic has been making incremental changes to the game, improving controller usability.
Cool effects accompany all your hero's moves.
What's Not
Despite the constant patches, Champions Online is still a buggy game. Some missions went untouchable for a few weeks before receiving treatment. When I finally got to venture to the third zone later in the game, my first mission there bugged out, leaving me fighting a five-man battle alone for a while before realizing what happened. With the continual patches this should improve over time but so far the bugs have been as noticeable as probably any MMO.
As much as I like the art in the game, I have to say that the sound design is not so hot. The voice acting is downright horrible. It's "Hey, intern, we need a voice actor! …Go find the custodian!" bad.
The trouble with MMOs — and this is a paragraph you're going to read in any MMO review — is that they're always works in progress. The first few months are always bumpy. Even the monstrous World of Warcraft suffered from bugs and server queues in its first few.
Final Word
With native support for the 360 controller, Champions Online is better suited than any MMO yet to make the jump to consoles. Provided they can break out of the red tape Microsoft likes to wrap MMOs in, the transition will be easier than most. I especially like the controller support because, well, I'm a console guy. I even play my shooters on consoles. I prefer a controller over a mouse and keyboard. Additionally, it's saved me a lot of back and arm pain, talking as someone who played a few MMOs just a little too much during college.
Even though Champions is in good shape to make the jump, it isn't perfect yet. Some user interface changes would be necessary to make the game work, but it's not impossible.
Hanging out with Spawn and The Green Goblin
I don't think this superhero MMO is going to steal anyone away from WoW, but comic fans and City of Heroes vets are going to love the game. It's a fun, fast MMO with a much more casual approach to the genre. However, it is still an MMO. It's time consuming and you'll spend a lot of time collecting 10 of Item X for Person Y. If you're looking for the MMORPG that breaks all the conventions, you'll have to keep looking, but this one does what it can to keep things fresh and interesting, and is worth picking up if you're just looking for a new MMO to try out.
What the Game's About
Champions Online is the newest MMO from developer Cryptic Studios. Taking notes from their first outing, City of Heroes, they've returned to the Superhero genre once more in hopes of perfecting the formula. Licensing a classic pen-and-paper RPG, Champions Online brings the characters and stories of Champions to life for players to experience firsthand.
What's Hot
Champions Online does a lot to break out of the MMO mold from which it was cast. When you login for the first time, you'll notice that you don't have to pick a server. No more grumbling about how your high school friends are on StormRend and your college friends are on RavenCrown, or whatever. Instead, Champions Online uses instances of the same zone that you can switch between at a moment's notice. If your buddies are in another instance, just hop over and team up.
And if you don't want to team up, Champions Online is friendly there, too. While there are some missions that require (or at least strongly suggest) two or more heroes, much of the game is quite playable on your own. Especially with the lack of death penalty in the game — unless you consider being zapped back to the nearest checkpoint a penalty — playing alone is a more viable option than it has traditionally been in MMOs.
Getting ready to infiltrate Cobra, I mean Viper's base.
Another thing that keeps soloing interesting is the extensive efforts Cryptic has taken to prevent grinding being a necessity. Player mileage seems to have varied a bit, but personally, I have not needed to cruise for nasty monsters without a quest asking me to do so. The majority of your experience comes from quests.
Of course, the biggest features of Champions Online are the character and power customization options. As I said in my preview, you can make anything from a short fuzzy guy with metal claws to, if you really want, The Watermelon Dynamo. Options ranging from knight to ninja to bug to werewolf keeps characters looking different (with the exception of the 47 iron man clones chilling around the base at any moment), and the decision to allow multiple heroes with the same name keeps the illusion alive.
In addition to making your character look anyway you can dream up, once you pick a power set, you're not limited to that set. Different powers have different prerequisites but you're never limited to a specific power tree. You want to be an ancient samurai with mind beams and heal bots? Go for it. Better yet, since the launch of the game about a month ago, Cryptic is already to work introducing a new power set.
One of the things in the big MMOs is that magical time known as Patch Day, when the overpowered characters whine about being nerfed, the longtime players complain about their past achievements being meaningless, you know the drill. Well, with Champions Online every day is patch day! And this is not a bad thing. This means that a bugged quest might be fixed the next day, that the power nerfing might go away with sufficient outcry, in just a week or two. So far the daily patches haven't been annoying, though can imagine a slower internet connection might change my tune.
Lastly, and this is the big one for me, is Xbox controller support. To my knowledge, Champions Online is the first MMO to natively support the Xbox 360 control. When you plug it in, the menus in the game automatically change to show you what buttons to press to get things done. When it comes to combat and movement, you can do just about anything on the control, and after a bit of training it's very easy to do. I did find, however, that some menu functions are more difficult to reach with the controller and are better given the mouse treatment. Again, though, Cryptic has been making incremental changes to the game, improving controller usability.
Cool effects accompany all your hero's moves.
What's Not
Despite the constant patches, Champions Online is still a buggy game. Some missions went untouchable for a few weeks before receiving treatment. When I finally got to venture to the third zone later in the game, my first mission there bugged out, leaving me fighting a five-man battle alone for a while before realizing what happened. With the continual patches this should improve over time but so far the bugs have been as noticeable as probably any MMO.
As much as I like the art in the game, I have to say that the sound design is not so hot. The voice acting is downright horrible. It's "Hey, intern, we need a voice actor! …Go find the custodian!" bad.
The trouble with MMOs — and this is a paragraph you're going to read in any MMO review — is that they're always works in progress. The first few months are always bumpy. Even the monstrous World of Warcraft suffered from bugs and server queues in its first few.
Final Word
With native support for the 360 controller, Champions Online is better suited than any MMO yet to make the jump to consoles. Provided they can break out of the red tape Microsoft likes to wrap MMOs in, the transition will be easier than most. I especially like the controller support because, well, I'm a console guy. I even play my shooters on consoles. I prefer a controller over a mouse and keyboard. Additionally, it's saved me a lot of back and arm pain, talking as someone who played a few MMOs just a little too much during college.
Even though Champions is in good shape to make the jump, it isn't perfect yet. Some user interface changes would be necessary to make the game work, but it's not impossible.
Hanging out with Spawn and The Green Goblin
I don't think this superhero MMO is going to steal anyone away from WoW, but comic fans and City of Heroes vets are going to love the game. It's a fun, fast MMO with a much more casual approach to the genre. However, it is still an MMO. It's time consuming and you'll spend a lot of time collecting 10 of Item X for Person Y. If you're looking for the MMORPG that breaks all the conventions, you'll have to keep looking, but this one does what it can to keep things fresh and interesting, and is worth picking up if you're just looking for a new MMO to try out.
November 20, 2009
