| Champions Online by
Cryptic Studios. |
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OVERVIEW:
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Champions Online is a new superhero MMORPG created by
Cryptic Studios. Cryptic is the development house
behind City of Heroes and City of Villains. They
licensed the Champions name from one of the original pen
and pencil RPGs.
Champions Online has both it strong points and
weaknesses, we shall discuss the state of the game upon
release.
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Like many of the MMORPGs of the past few years,
Champions Online is trying to copy potions of the
success of World of Warcraft. This is a shame as
nearly all other MMOG's are doing the same and they are
failing at it. It would be wiser to let Blizzard
do what they are good at, and instead develop ones own
niche and design.
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POWERS:
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The strength of Champions Online is in its powers.
They have a vast pool of abilities with an incredible
amount of variety. Champions uses an ARAC (all
races all classes) variant which allows the player to
choose virtually any power available, without being
limited to a specific power set or theme. Power
Sets are provided, but they are merely guidelines,
players can choose any powers they qualify for.
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The powers are strong, visually striking, and useful.
Champions allows you to respec easily and provides an
in-game area to test out powers before you choose them.
Players can often spend an inordinate amount of time
testing out all the powers available, nearly as much
time as that spent fighting villains. The amount
of powers is such that it is common to see others using
new powers never experienced before
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Champions even goes a step beyond other MMORPGs and
lets you alter the color and emission point of many of
the abilities. Your ice powers don't always have
to be blue, you can change them to red, or orange, or
even alter them to shoot out of your fist instead of
coming from your head.
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An example of the variety of powers available can be
seen in the travel options. Cryptic did not create
just 3 or 5 different methods of locomotion, but instead
created 13 different ways to get around. Each has
strengths and weaknesses, and balance was forsaken for
variety. You can be a web-slinger or agile
acrobat. You can tunnel underground to get to the
end of a dungeon without fighting your way through.
There are a variety of flight mechanisms along with
teleportation and superleap. They are not equal
but they are fun to play around with. |
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Once you gain a power you can optionally enhance that
power in a variety of ways as you level up. You
can typically choose to make the power hit harder, or
alternatively enhance the power in a multitude of
fashions, such as striking multiple targets or providing
a damage buff when it is used. The choice is up to
you, and effectively provides an even greater variety of
powers available. |
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