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After only 5 hours to play Champions Online, it’s a bit early to be declaring this the greatest MMORPG ever, but I’ve played a lot of MMORPG Beta Tests. They’ve all been buggy, and they’ve all had their technical issues. They’ve had varying amounts of polish and potential. How does Champions Online compare?

Come for the MMO, stay for the RPG.

From the beginning, Champions Online drops you right into the thick of things. Having recently re-read some of the Skrull Invasion and Green Lantern books, the tutorial alien-invasion storyline caught my attention immediately. And unlike most other MMORPG’s I’ve played, I actually read every single quest. I usually stop doing that after 10 or so quests.

Unfortunately, I only had 5 hours or so before I was unable to continue playtesting, and I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of what Champions Online could offer, story-wise. And interestingly, following in the footsteps of City of Heroes, Champions Online will feature user-generated content. This is a Good Thing™, and I would love to see how this plays out.

Combat: as twitchy as ya wanna be

World of Warcraft has more or less set the standard for what traditional MMORPG’s are supposed to do as far as combat is concerned, and while on the surface Champions Online seems very much like WoW in spandex, there are some nuances that make Champions Online a bit less twitchy and just a bit more tactical.

The main difference is that most powers are either “on” or “off”. Since there is an all-purpose endurance bar that fills as you deal and receive damage, you can activate a power and as long as you have enough endurance, the power will continue to activate as long as possible. So, you don’t have to be constantly clicking keys and mouse buttons to be effective in combat… although you CAN be if you want to as the endurance bar system performs a bit better if you optimize your attack rotation a little bit.

After you’ve killed something, the enemy will sometimes explode into little orbs that will either temporarily buff you or will even refill your health and mana bars. I love this, because one of my biggest pet peeves about WoW is that you are sometimes required to sit and consume food and water to regain health or energy. Why is is absolutely necessary to sit still for 30 seconds between combats? In Champions, if you get enough health orbs, you don’t have to pause at all, and you can just plow through the baddies. If you don’t get enough orbs, don’t worry, just staying out of combat will replenish your health in a few seconds.

Now, we are still a few months away from launch, and this is typically the period of time that most MMO’s are balancing and re-balancing the various mechanics of the game, so I would expect some aspects of combat could still change dramatically. Let’s not forget this IS a beta version.

“It must have good graphics!”

Most of the Beta MMO’s I’ve played have had horrible graphics and bland looking environments. While a bit glitchy and far from being fully polished, Champions Online looks pretty good, all things considered. The environments look, for lack of a better term, “lived-in”. The city streets don’t feel empty, with debris, smashed up cars, ambulances and other objects strewn about for good effect. And interestingly, many of these objects can be picked up and thrown if you’re strong enough, which is handy when you need to vent some stifled rage. This could be one of the most immersive environments for an MMO, to date.

At the end of the tutorial level, I purchased some rocket boots for my character and immediately zoomed around the starting zones. While looking beautiful, the zones do seem a bit small. I say they “seem” small mostly because these zones are on par with City of Heroes (I think) but the rocket boots allow you to fly so fast, I launched across them in a matter of seconds. I won’t be surprised if they nerf some of the travel powers before launch. But if rocket boots aren’t your thing (which is weird) you can choose super jump, teleportation, Spider-man style swinging, or even just plain ol’ flight. There are a several different travel powers to choose from so, there’s sure to be something for everyone.

WARNING: Major Geek-out imminent!

Which reminds me that I need to talk about the character creation process. Apparently, Cryptic purchased the rights to the HERO pen-and-paper RPG system and then licensed it back to the original publisher to publish the 6th edition. I’ve never played the HERO system, but apparently, Champions Online is loosely based on the HERO system, and you will be able to adapt your Champions Online character into a valid PnP RPG character using the 6th edition HERO system rules.

I know that PnP RPG’s are a bit of a fringe discipline amongst gamers, but this makes my little geek heart go pitter-patter. I’d love to be able to meet up with my guild for some PnP RPG action between endgame missions.

These bugs taste like Win

Of course, the game is not perfect, and it’s hard to find the problems after only one playtest session. With any MMO there is always a honeymoon period where everything seems happy. You feel like you could spend the rest of your life with this game. Admittedly, I am in that state with Champions Online right now.

However, I will say this (and you can shoot me later for comparing Champions Online and City of Heroes) but I’ve had more fun with Champions Online in this one session than I did with my first session of City of Heroes. After one session of City of Heroes, the compulsion to keep going just wasn’t there for me. With Champions Online… I WANT MORE.

Overall, I’ve had a good experience with the Champions Online beta, despite the bugginess. I hope this can be a relationship worth sticking with for the long-term.