Review Score:

Metacritic lists the average critic score for Champions Online as 74. Scores for the game range from 40 (GameSpy) to 87 (Vandal Online). The GameSpy review is ridiculous. Not because I necessarily disagree with their score, but because the review reads as though they didn’t even play the game. And in fact, they barely made it half way through. I skipped the Vandal Online review and went straight to one from HonestGamers, where they award Champions Online a score of 90%, making me wonder whose ass they’re trying to crawl up.

With a name like HonestGamers, one might expect a review to be… honest. Clearly the author of the HonestGamers’ Champions Online review enjoyed their time in Millennium City, but I have to wonder if they are still playing the game two weeks post-review.

I don’t feel its fair to brandish it as a ‘WoW killer’ at this early stage. However, the game does provide a tonne of unique traits that should ensure its future survival – even on today’s cut-throat MMO market.

How ridiculous does one have to be to even use the words “WoW Killer” in a Champions Online review? The only things CO and WoW even have in common is that fact that they are both considered a part of the MMORPG genre. Yes, CO does have a lot of unique traits, because of its superhero theme, but its “future survival” is grim at best unless Cryptic releases one hell of a content update before the first month’s subscriptions run out. They do have plans, but as things stand, there are enough quests to run you [almost] through to the level cap once. Repeating the process would be nothing short of torture.

I assume many of you have played MMOs before. I’m a WoW veteran of 4 years myself. In spite of sticking with the game for most of half a decade, I only possess one maximum level character. Why? Because I’ve always despised the grinding process.

The [so called] HonestGamer likely did not make it to the level cap before writing his review. During the first half of CO, mob experience is non-existent and grinding would be futile, but I find it difficult to believe that HonestGamer did not have to grind at all during the latter half of the game.

CO’s levelling system is quite contradictory to what you may expect from an MMO. 3 or 4 enemies of higher experience can be taken on simluateously and health regenerates almost instantly.

This is assuming that you have done everything right in the game, that you have not made a single error in your power choice selections. Screw up once and it’s back to the drawing board, or plans to spend the entire game in groups where others can cover your weak ass. Champions Online is not an easy game. If you make uninformed decisions they will come back to haunt you at a higher level. If your intent is to purchase this game for your child, please think twice as you will shatter their little superhero dreams. Yes, they will get a very cool travel ability, such as flying, but they will get creamed in every battle beyond the tutorial. Champions Online is a very adult game, perhaps even of the mensa variety.

Players are no longer left to guess where the item they have to acquire drops or where the monster they must kill spawns. Completing these quests is rewarded heavily and within five minutes of playing competent gamers will have easily filled their experience bar.

Did he actually say that? So the highlight of Champions Online is that you know where your mobs will spawn. Great. Yes, completing missions yields the highest rewards in the game, but gaining a level within FIVE MINUTES of playing? Now I’m just angry. Perhaps from level one to level two, but beyond that, five minutes my ass. Not sure what he’s been smoking, but that is very much incorrect. And to add insult to injury, completing the missions is not the BEST way to go, it is the ONLY way to go. There is simply no other option. As I said earlier, grinding mobs yields little experience initially. The biggest problem with Champions Online is that it does not offer the player any options beyond character customization. There are enough quests to basically make it through the game, but that is it. If you want to roll another character then you must take the exact same path as you did the first time.

Upon achieving my first level I was given an opportunity to pick new traits. This works like a mix between Oblivion’s skill system and Final Fantasy X’s sphere grid.

Really? You got to choose new traits at level two? We must have been playing different games, because I didn’t get to choose new traits until I visited the Powerhouse in Canada or the Desert.

The control scheme for CO is without equal.

Disagree. I found all of their pre-configuration options to be awkward, thumbs down on control scheme.

Older interfaces were never designed with such innovations in mind, so trying to play as a traditional style makes for an awkward experience. Even setting up the camera properly can be a pain, especially when the movement keys don’t correspond to where my character is facing.

Hold up. Didn’t you just say that the control scheme is without equal? I guess you meant “equally bad”.

As soon as I stepped into the main city it became immediately evident that it took a lot of work to create such a lively environment. The colourful and detailed buildings made for an ideal backdrop while I spent hours fighting crime on the streets.

You spend hours fighting crime on the streets, yet earlier you clearly stated that a competent gamer could level up within five minutes. There is only so much you can do in the tutorial before having to move on from Millennium City. By your own estimations, you should have been in Canada or the Desert in about 25 minutes.

Conclusion: An almost-perfect addition to the MMO genre. I’d grade it a perfect 10 if it wasn’t for the odd repetitive mission and the wonky controls.

No information about the zones beyond the tutorial? Nothing about builds. Nothing about the lack of content or what happens once you reach the level cap. Nothing about the Nemesis system. Nothing about PvP. Nothing about the mission types. The list goes on. Clearly HonestGamer reviewed the game based on a brief stint in the Millennium City tutorial. A true douchebag move, but HonestGamer is not alone. As mentioned previously, GameSpy pretty much did the same thing to come to their 40% score.

Clearly a lot of work went into Champions Online. It looks good, it sounds good, and it plays relatively smoothly. But there is the issue of content, or the lack thereof. If you want to be truly objective about Champions Online then you have to admit that the game does not play like a MMO. In MMOs you have choices in the quests that you do, and in the zones that you start out in and play through. In Champions Online there is no choice, you must do every mission and play through every zone in order to reach the level cap. The thought of doing it against is so painful that I cannot bear to put much thought into it.

Champions Online is a great single player game, try it, enjoy it, and then put it away. Use your free month and get as far as you can, because chances are that your days in CO will be numbered based on boredom and tedium. In fact, I’d rather stab myself in the face repeatedly than play Champions Online again.

With that said, I did have fun at times. But the fun didn’t usually last long, it was always quickly replaced with intense frustration bordering on disgust. It is for those fleeting moments of fun, the decent sound and graphics, overall decent performance and the great travel powers that I give Champions Online any points at all.

Final Score: 5 out of 10.