Four weeks ago, I was deployed from the Monkey Labs for spec-ops beta tests. I told you I would review these games when the NDA lifted. This is one of those games.

Now, the story of how the old pen and paper RPG Champions got turned into a MMO is an interesting one. I know what you’re thinking, “Abraxas, you know the latest trend in gaming is to turn anything and everything into an MMO rather than a single platform closed game. How is this surprising?”

I didn’t say surprising, I said interesting.

And, that’s because in all of MMOdom there has only been one MMORPG built around the idea of being a comic book superhero, and that singular entry was City of Heroes. Now that probably doesn’t sound too neat, but keep in mind that there are three MMO’s built around the idea of having sex.

That’s right, three of them. And the only point is to have sex with other players. You can research those on your own time, and be 18. With a credit card.

There are umpteen million MMO’s built around a rip-off of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, there’s even a directly licensed Lord of the Rings MMO. Endless space MMO’s, there’s ones about being a spy, an anime ninja, a pre-pubescent wizards school, and just about anything you could imagine- it’s there and in multiple forms.

Except being a super hero. There has been only one. With me so far?

Okay, in 2007 Cryptic, the studio that built City of Heroes, sold all its rights to that game for what is known in the industry as a “suitcase full of money.” And went to work on building Marvel Online for Marvel Comics.

Which Marvel promptly pulled the plug on. I guess they wanted to spend that money on decent movies rather than decent games.

So, there Cryptic was, looking like a fat girl at the dance with nothing to do but stand by the punch bowl and sway to the music. With their suitcase full of money and a half-assed built super hero game. Like any company in America with some money to spare, they threw some of that money at the problem and bought the old Champions pen and paper game; lock, stock, and barrel. Most importantly, all of the pre-generated Intellectual Property that did not infringe on Marvel or DC’s trademarked characters.

They scratched out all the parts in the game that said Marvel, wrote in Champions, and set about releasing a game to be the only competition for the other game they built, City of Heroes. Interesting, right?

I have to say, grudgingly, they did an alright job.

Which is not to say this game doesn’t have problems. It does. There are issues with leveling too slow at the early game and far too quickly in the late game, ability and power balancing, along with a lack in end-game content.

Those are pretty common with just launched MMOs.

Graphically speaking, Champions is no great shakes. It demands a lot in terms of power displays and frames per second, but to see it you won’t be bowled over in terms of awesomeness.

But.

Champions is doing a few things really right.

The first is the character creator. The standard for MMO’s is to have some selection for the character models but for every hour you spend making the character look just right, you’ll see the exact same look on another player within 15 minutes in the game, and they hit random.

That’s not the case with Champions. The selection and ability to make your character look exactly the way you’ve always wanted a character to look is truly staggering. Want to be a midget that is wider than he is tall with hands bigger than his head? No problem.

Want to be an 8 foot grey alien with glowing blue eyes? No problem.

Beefed-out muscle man wearing speedos, boots, and a cape? No problem.

Teutonic Knight covered in fire? No problem.

Chubby robot that’s constantly on fire? Got one right over there.

Like I said, the character creation process is huge. They have said they will continue to add to it. I have a good feeling they’ll do so, as that’s exactly what they did with City of Heroes.

One of the other things Champions is doing right is the character classes.

For the home schooled: in MMO’s there is something known as the Holy Trinity. This comprises the three core playable jobs or archetypes in a game. Those archetypes being Fighter, Thief, and Spellcaster. This Trinity comes out of the very founding of role playing games, Dungeons and Dragons. Just about every game offers variations of those three jobs- some fighters do more damage while others can absorb more damage. Some thieves are better at sneaking while others are better at stabbing their friends in the back. Some spell casters are better at healing while others are better at blowing up city blocks.

You get the idea. Those three archetypes are in just about every MMO out there.

And Cryptic flushed all that down the toilet like a New Jersey prom queen trying to vomit 5 pounds off her fat ass after dinner. No more stuck in the same damn role from game to game. Seriously, I can only make so many assassin classes that stab their buddies in the back before even I get bored with killing my friends and teammates.

You decide what your character can do, what powers they have, and even what they look like in terms of color splash. You want your midget to be invulnerable, super strong, and shoot lightning out his eyes? No problem.

Want your antler wolf-head dude to be able to…you get the idea.

There’s a lot of customization to be had at Champions Online, and frankly, it’s a good thing.

The third thing Cryptic got right is the Nemesis system. Aside from providing a stock array of bad buys and super villains to fight throughout the game, Champions has added the ability to create your own personal arch-nemesis. That’s right, you get to make your own Joker to hunt down with your Batman. A Lex Luther to your Superman. Which is great. After being made, the Nemesis will randomly appear throughout the game to spoil whatever plan you had, they will send emails to taunt you; they will attack your friends.

That’s right. Your personal enemy will randomly show up to fight your friends whether you’re there or not, in an attempt to strike at you. The arch-enemy you created for your character shows up to wipe out your friends when you’re not online. You get to grief your friends when you’re not even on!

How cool is that shit?

In the end, if you’re looking for a grind-free game, keep walking. While there isn’t much in the way of grinding in Champions, it’s still an MMO. Grinding is a root part of the whole idea, and it’s not going anywhere any time soon.

If you’re tired of playing your level 70 Draenei shaman and want to try something different- give it a whirl.

If you have no idea what I mean by Instance, Grind, Ninja’d, Lewt, or any of that crap- don’t buy this game. It’s not for you. Instead I want you to deposit $15 a month into my paypal account.

As always I am ignoring all your comments at abraxas@cybermonkeydeathsquad.com