MMO (massively multiplayer online) games have always been a niche market due to the players themselves being fans of the specific topic the game developers decided to create a giant world around. Most MMO games fall under the realm of either RPG, fantasy, or a mixture of both. Some of the more popular titles include World of Warcraft, EverQuest and Final Fantasy XI. The idea behind running games where data is stored on huge servers and players interact exclusively depends on the monthly fee of being able to play these forms of games. Now that the formality of an MMO is out of the way, let me tell you a little story about my first experience with EverQuest:
Picture it: The year 2000, the world hadn’t disintegrated into millions of tiny binary-fault instances and massively multiplayer online gaming is still in its infancy. I picked up EverQuest and the expansion pack: The Ruins of Kunark at the local Media Play (a store which sold primarily video games, books and compact discs which were the way many people listened to music before the current fashion of MP3 players and smart phones,) and went home to install and ultimately play the game my friend Steve was nagging me daily about playing. Everyone has one of those friends who tell you about the “greatest thing you aren’t doing that you have to do and I need to be the one to get credit for telling you to do it” type of attitude.
I installed the game and the aforementioned expansion pack, signed up with Sony to play the game (and my credit card information to start the $14.95 a month billing cycle) and logged into the game Steve swears will change my view on gaming. I create a wizard, walk into a city, click on a guard to ask for information who promptly kills me.
Alrighty then, maybe I did something wrong? I re-spawn naked, go find the guard, click on my body to get my robe and staff back, and decide to not click on the guard and leave the city. I end up getting lost in a forest somewhere and decide to start killing the local wildlife to try to gain some experience points since every game that is based on this model of game play used XP to judge level achievements. I find a rabbit – nothing remarkable about this rabbit – however a quick mouse-over teaches me he is also a level 1 creature. I smack him with my staff and he turns around and quickly kills me.
Mind you, I’ve been playing this game for two hours and the most I’ve been able to do is die by a city guard and small fluffy bunny with giant sharp teeth guarding the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch apparently. Now mad, I follow the little mini-map to find my body and attempt to get even with the rabbit.
Needless to say, I took the game back the next day and picked up something else. The rabbit proceeded to kill me two more times before I uninstalled the game and fished my receipt out of the garbage.
Thankfully, I didn’t let EverQuest get me down when it came to MMO games. I proceeded to play many other ones – ones that didn’t have raging homicidal level 1 bunnies, and in the case of World of Warcraft, I took much joy in running by level 1 bunnies in the starting zones and enacting my revenge.
Champions Online is altogether a different type of MMO since it doesn’t fall under the same fantasy-style of storyline or game-play – it falls under the comic book style. What I mean by “comic-book style” is the art, the text, the quests, and even little details such as fighting styles and movements are all true to the style one would easily see in a comic book.
The character creator is one of the most imaginative I’ve seen in any game, following the likes of City of Heroes more so than the anemic character building found in other games such as Warcraft. Champions gives the player more than 600 different options for colors, capes, robotic arms and such – so many options that one could (and my daughter has) spend more time in the character creator over playing the game itself.
Game-play is what one would expect for an MMO; starting quests explain basic movement and attack functions, and as you level up your character, the quests get progressively more difficult until you need groups to finish specific essential storyline quests. The ability to gain a “superpower” such as flying or super-speed at level 10-12 (depending on when you finish the starting quests) is a nice touch and a great mode of transportation.
My only beef with Champions Online is that once you leave the “starting zone” and are in the main city, there’s no real path to take. The first 10-12 levels are so intricately planned out for you, the main city with the open areas to explore is a bit much to take in and completely opposite from how the beginning areas were scripted. It’s a shock to go from one extreme to the next and reminds me more of the Conan MMO played where specific quests literally held your hand while others left you high and dry with no help whatsoever.
The difference between the pay-to-play and free models of the game are minimal at best – even for someone who knows what to expect in an MMO, I found it easy to understand some things are locked for the free players and open for paying subscribers. For example, the free player gets two character slots to create two superheroes while the subscribers receive eight.
It’s been said by others in the game chat that the free players are on more of a “permanent trial” of the game since the only benefit of being a paid subscriber are more options within the game such as more bag spaces, custom costumes and perks such as Adventure Packs.
Bottom line: it’s worth a play, even if only for the first 10-12 levels.
Rating System: (0-10 ranking)
Graphics:
Fits the motif of the comic book style perfectly.
8
Story:
It’s an MMO; the story is what you make it to be.
8
Controls:
Fairly easy to master the controls – similar to other MMO’s.
8
Sound:
Good sound effects and background music that pulls the player into the comic.
8
Kid Friendly:
The free version chat is separate from “main” which makes it only for new players. Also has a built in profanity filter, however the violence could be seen by some to be “teen only”
7
Replayability:
As with any MMO, the story follows whatever quest-line you choose, which means multiple storylines.
9
Value:
Since you don’t have to pay anything for it, the only thing you lose is time if you don’t like the style of play.
8
Cost:
It’s FREE!
10
Availability:
Downloadable from Cryptic’s website.
9
Fun: :
I enjoyed Champions Online more than two other free MMO’s, Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons Online
7
Total:
82 out of 100
-Chris Tallant
Article source: http://www.widescreenwarrior.com/game/cheap-ass-game-week-champions-online-free-all-3133
Incoming search terms:
- Published News Upcoming News Submit a New Story Groups sound effects downloads
- Published News Upcoming News Submit a New Story Groups realm
- Powered by Article Dashboard paranormal activity free online
- Published News Upcoming News Submit a New Story Groups play dungeons and dragons
- Powered by Article Dashboard final fantasy 11
- Powered by Article Dashboard famous optical illusions
- Powered by Article Dashboard online support groups homicide
- Published News Upcoming News Submit a New Story Groups how to play mp3
- Published News Upcoming News Submit a New Story Groups free sound tracks
- Powered by Article Dashboard online support groups