Champions Online Beta Impressions

I have to hurry to write my first impressions of Champions Online, now that I got into the open beta. And I have to hurry because...I have got to back into this game. It's that good, and it takes a lot to impress a jaded gamer like myself. To sum it up, Champions Online is awesome. The snobs, discriminating critics and trolls will do everything they can to point out its flaws. But the incredible features of this game will shine through. The game is fast, action packed, and instantly gratifying. It's like a model for the MMO of the future. It gracefully combines the relative depth of a game like World of Warcraft, with the adrenal rush of action RPGs like Diablo.

Did someone call for a ninja?

I'm gonna try to save the most in-depth info for a formal review, but I'll touch upon what needs to be said now - Champions Online has the most extreme character creation system for an MMO...ever. For a creatively minded individual like me, this is worth the price of admission alone. For any gamer that's ever wanted to play as anything, it's worth the price of admission. I literally cannot think of a humanoid being that you can't play in this game. Or even copyrighted characters. No doubt Cryptic will crack down on these, but for now I'm enjoying the almost anything goes cosplay fest that is taking place right now.

I played alongside the Engineer from Team Fortress 2, dueled Dhalsim from Street Fighter, encountered King Leonidas from 300 and saw Captain Falcon from the F-Zero universe. There were even unconfirmed sightings of Mario himself.

Mektron wonders if it should impale the enemies in the ghost town below with his laser sword, or vaporize them with its experimental rifle.

This game is everything that City of Heroes should have been. It's not perfect, but what game in beta is? I have a strong feeling those who stay with this game will definitely be rewarded. The novelty value of it is hard to ignore. What other game would let you play a katana wielding, power armored, flying zombie? C.O. has a real crafting system, a full range of modifiable stats, equippable items, tons of power slots, a fully customizable classless leveling system and an immersive story world. It has its problems, but for now, I'm still just trying to take everything in. I'll be back with more coverage in the days to come.