Champions Online Preview

You're asked to pick a travel power round about level five. I picked flight, of course.

Firstly, it helps you get around a lot quicker because you don’t have to walk. Secondly, it allows you to survey the battlefield from on high before getting into a scrap with NPCs. In a player versus player environment it’s incredibly chaotic – the PvP area on offer in the closed beta at time of writing is nothing more than a large cage in a cylindrical room – imagine trying to keep track of ten wasps in a glass jar. Keeping superheroes in your sights as they dart about is like trying to catch a fly with chop sticks. Daniel-san might be able to do it, but mere mortals might struggle.

Out in the player versus environment area though it’s great. It's simple, pure fun. Just flying about Millennium City, taking in the impressive vistas and, if you've got a decent rig, spiralling draw distances is oddly therapeutic. You can see why Superman spends so much time in space. This is what being a superhero is all about.

There are problems and concerns, as you’d expect. When creating your hero, the power set descriptions don’t give you a good enough idea of what you're letting yourself in for in terms of play style. Of course I can guess that a Might power set will be melee focussed, and probably a tank, but the game doesn’t explain that you’re able to take powers from any set as you level up. I only discovered this through online research.

In fact, confusion is one of the game’s biggest problems – at no point are you really told how it works. I went 11 levels unable to work out how to buy powers. I got to the point where I thought I was experiencing some kind of bug. It was only by chance – transporting to a new area via a gate – that I discovered where and how to do it. The crafting system is equally bemusing – my inventory is currently full with components I have no idea if I should keep or dump.

While the quests are so far underwhelming, CO is great fun.

Quests are another problem. Almost all I experienced were fetch quests or escort quests or kill quests. Only the instanced quest at the end of the Millennium City tutorial grabbed me. Quests look like the bedrock of the Champions Online experience, so hopefully there are some crackers down the line that make the grind feel of levelling worth it.

Perhaps most troubling of all is the fact that the game world is divided up into zones that need to be loaded individually. One of the best things about World of Warcraft is that you can pretty much go from one end of a continent to another without a load. Simple exploration, heading off the beaten path, discovering an area you really shouldn’t be in, marvelling at some giant dragon that’s so many levels higher than you, you can’t actual tell what level it is, is one of that game's strengths. From what I’ve seen you won’t be able to do this in Champions Online – travel is done by walking up to a chopper and pressing F to select your destination - and that’s a crying shame.

Still, you’ll probably be too busy gawping at the incredible superheroes other people have created to find flaws. Some of the heroes I encountered during my time with game were nothing short of mind-blowing. Thankfully the Superman/Spider-Man/Iron Man clones were few and far between (fingers crossed it stays that way when the game officially launches). For the most part, Champions Online is filled with astonishing-looking heroes that put Marvel and DC to shame.

In short, I haven’t had this much fun with an MMO since I did my first few PQs with my flatmate in Warhammer Online. Champions Online has the potential to be great. I haven’t touched upon the interesting Arch Nemesis system, which comes at level 25 (City of Heroes fans will know what to expect). And I’ve not tried grouping up in any meaningful way. As with all MMOs it’s impossible to cast judgement based on a playthough of just over ten levels with one power set, but it’s a good start. A very good start.

Champions Online for PC is currently in closed beta, which will run till August 16. We're giving away 200 closed beta keys, so be sure to get your key as soon as possible.