Champions Online: Levels 1-20 Review [PC]

MMOs have been around long enough now for everyone to have figured out what's important to us gamers in this genre. One of the things right up there at the top of the list is that we look good.

Or we look evil, or pretty, or ugly, or however we want to look, and that's the point right there. It might sound flakey, but in games where you interact with others and invest so much into your characters, it's important for our online avatars to appear the way we think they should, and Cryptic Studios has gone all out to make that possible with Champions Online.

The character creator in Champions, a feature that many MMO gamers enjoy, is immense. Whereas other games, Age of Conan for example, focus on facial customisation, Champions' focus is firmly on the costume. Which isn't surprising, given its Super Hero theme. Having said that, full customisation of the face is also an option, but with the variety of masks, hoods, helmets and accessories on offer, character's faces are hidden a lot of the time anyway.

When making your hero, options range from the default humanoid in a tight spandex suit to an insect with fins and mechanical limbs, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are accessories for almost every body part, and even the accessories can be customised.

It may seem a bit daunting, presented with all these choices within your first few minutes of the game and many a player, myself included, has picked a feature or costume accessory that just didn't turn out all that great. Multi-coloured bat wings might've seemed like a good idea at the creation screen, but they just don't go well with that dual blade fighting style do they? So the fact that you can change your character at any point, whether it be one small thing or a complete redesign from the ground up, for an in-gem fee of course, is pretty darn handy. Also, at level 15, you get another costume slot, in which you can save a totally separate costume/appearance that you can switch to at any time. Fancy being a human one minute and a shark-man the next? It's possible. Later on in the game, more character slots open up, allowing even more choice.

So the costume, that's just a cosmetic, albeit important, part of your character. The other major decision players are faced with at the start of the game is what powers their character should be able to wield. This is where the giggles die down and brows become furrowed, as things get a little more serious. You may be someone who goes for the randomise option (yes, there is something for the 'lazys' out there!) when it comes to choosing your costume, but every Champions Online player can expect to spend a while going over the powerset choices. Including the new Celestial set, there are 19 powersets to choose from, including Ice, Archery, Fire, Gadgeteering, Single Blades, Telelpathy, Might and so on. Selecting one of these gives your character optimal stats for that powerset and a couple of starter spells. If you don't fancy any of them, you can make your own powerset by mixing and matching skills from the other sets and choosing your own stat set-up. My advice? Go for a pre-made powerset unless you're an expert, because the range of spells at your disposal, and their effectiveness based on your stats, is extremely important.

It's important that players choose a powerset that they're going to enjoy because, unlike costumes, the powersets, stats and talents can not be changed on a whim. The cost of a  'Retcon' is very high in in-game currency, however, it can be purchased through the Champions Online store for £7.50 GBP. Regardless of this, changing every spell your character is capable of after several hours spent learning the skills you had before isn't a very attractive option.

The first few levels are spent in a zoned-off portion of Millennium City, the Champion's home town. No boars or harmless Kobalds here, it's straight into the action against alien humanoid bugs that attack you when you venture too close, which is a refreshing change. A number of NPCs are also present to instruct you on how to move around and perform the basics.

The mobs here are easily vanquished if taken on two or three at a time, but if you end up with several attacking you, expect to find yourself in trouble. The death penalty in Champions is negligible; characters simply respawn at the nearest discovered spawn point, of which there are plenty. You do suffer from a slight reduction in combat and healing efficiency for a time until it builds back up, and if you die again before you've got back up to 100%, marked by a maximum of five starts on your character portrait, your efficiency will be further reduced.

At the end of the tutorial stage, after Champions' first public quest, you are presented with a choice of two destinations to continue your crime-fighting. Whichever zone you pick after the tutorial, one of the first things you'll do on arrival is visit the Powerhouse. This is where you get to spend the points you earn as you level up. Each level grants characters either a new power, power ranks or advantages which tweak and improve certain powers, or more stat points.