SOURCE: MMOHUT
Some of the facts may not be true anymore, since it was written when it was still pay to play.
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The first thing anyone will notice about ChO is the character creator. It’s the first thing you’re prompted to do, after selecting your two initial powers and starting stats. People new to super hero MMORPGs (of which there are only really two) will probably be completely overwhelmed by the character creator in Champions. There is nothing I can really say to someone to prepare them for this, except that just like playing the game itself, getting good at making characters in ChO takes practice. There are hundreds and hundreds of parts for every imaginable aspect of your character, from choosing eye types, sizes and gradients, to arm accessories, thigh accessories, leg types, tails, ears, nose or noseless, alien or demonic, it goes on and on and on! If you can imagine it, you can make it in this character creator. My main character is a tall, willowy techno-paladin from the future! She’s so awesome. Half the fun of a game like Champions Online is being able to create a character you love and then being able to play as that character. Of course, you can’t be complete without the proper powers…
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Pick a Power! Any Power!
In Champions Online, you can pick any power in the game for your character. The various powers are organized into frameworks (telepathy, unarmed martial arts, supernatural claws, etc.), which are then organized by tiers (you can access the various power tiers depending on your level and the number of powers in a single framework already selected), but it’s important to note that after a certain level (level 26) you are free to choose any power in the game, from any framework, regardless of tier. Do you want a martial artist dark sorcerer with a laser sword and a gun that turns people into teddy bears? Okay! Do you want a werewolf that attacks with claws and carries a gatling gun? Why not!
It’s this open system, combined with the character creator, that has drawn so many people to Champions Online. Although we can only get a taste of it in the trial version (level 15 being the maximum) we can quickly begin to appreciate it. It’s also important to note that within the trial, if you can get to level 14, you can potentially test out any power in the game (barring the special tier 4 powers, which honestly aren’t that great at this point in the game anyways) in the powerhouse. So within the trial, you can get a good look at the functionality and aesthetics of every single power in the game! That’s pretty cool.
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Supreme Stats!
On top of this, as if your customization wasn’t enough already, players choose two “superstats”, or characteristic focuses. At level 6 and level 13, you will be asked to choose a stat to focus on from the following list: strength, constituion, intelligence, recovery, dexterity, endurance, ego, and presence. Each stat offers unique secondary benefits, such as intelligence offering a power discount and cooldown reduction, or strength affecting your knockback strength and resistance as well as your ability to lift large objects. Whatever focus you choose, it determines how much damage you deal. So, this means that the character you’ve designed doesn’t have to be tied to a specific stat depending on your power choices; your powers are fueled by whatever stat you please. Does your gun-toting paladin aim their shots using a combination of intuition and agility? Go with DEX/EGO! Does your magician cast spells, but also have a ton of HP and super strength? Go with STR/CON. No matter what, any gear pushing up your two stats increases your damage. This, in my opinion, is super cool.
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Ground to a Halt
This is a review of the trial version of Champions, of course, so let’s focus on what you’ll be getting for setting up a trial account. The answer: not much. You can grind enemies to get yourself to level 15, but that’s terribly boring. The only reward you’ll be getting is the ability to fiddle with powers in the powerhouse, although as a long-time paying player of Champions myself, I find that’s about seventy-percent of my playtime, along with being in the tailor. Tweaking builds and perfecting costumes is just so fun! So think of the Champions Online demo as a kind of free-to-play superhero maker that you can boot up and play with at any time you like. The inclusion of the vast character creator is practically a game unto itself, for some people (like me!), but as far as actually playing the demo goes, you will be bored fast by the tutorial area. It’s often widely regarded as the most boring aspect of the game. Additionally, you won’t be able to hang out with anyone in the actual game world, being stuck in the tutorial instance for an eternity. I imagine having to play through the Champions Online tutorial over and over again is perhaps a layer in modern Hell.
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Final Verdict: Good
I’m being generous, here, because I happen to really enjoy the character creator and the power system in Champions Online. The creator alone is enough to entertain me for hours on end, and while I know this doesn’t apply to every hardlining, mob-smashing MMO player out there, this just happens to be one of the things I value! If you really like making cool characters and smashing giant bugs over and over, then the Champions Online trial really isn’t a bad time. If you have a high-end gaming PC, the graphics are delicious, also. Customization fanatics, enjoy!
Champions Online: Free To Play STARTED!!
