Champions Online Reviews

Cryptic’s Champions Online has been getting some more review treatment lately, so I thought I’d round up the latest critiques for your scrutiny.

PC Gamer gives it a 7.4/10 via CVG:

Champions Online is an unusual game. It’s quite broken in many ways, but it quickly grows on you, and becomes surprisingly endearing. It doesn’t always make itself easy to like, and it’ll die on the vine unless it gets more areas to quest in and endgame content pretty damn soon, but it’s a fun break from the normal MMORPG template, and even with its problems, worth checking out.

A.V. Club gives it a “B+”:

But in a game of nearly infinite choices, not all of them are created equal. After completing the tutorial, players get to pick from a variety of travel powers. But if you choose to web-sling while your buddy flies, you’ll have a hard time getting where you want together without attracting the attention of every enemy along the way. There are clear winners and losers in terms of travel-power convenience, with teleportation trumping all others. Casual players not interested in grinding will find that they feel pretty tough at any level, with characters able to take on small swarms of minions without real danger. Play also feels interactive, thanks to a blocking system that requires players to press a key when they see an enemy targeting them. Champions Online currently has some pretty ugly bugs, but hopefully as it goes forward, the rough edges will get smoothed, and it will become the great game it has the potential to be.

The MMO Gamer gives it a 3/5:

If I had to make a suggestion I would say that if you’re not a big ol’ comic book dork like I am, you’re probably best to wait a month or two while things settle down and the biggest changes are rolled out.

If, on the other hand you’ve got a hardbound copy of the (Demon in a bottle) arc on your shelf somewhere, you will probably find your inner Spandex Fancier in Champions Online.

Crispy Gamer gives it a “Try It”:

Champions Online is currently somewhere between greatness and mediocrity, and I hope that in another month’s time Cryptic will eliminate all the issues that early adopters have had to endure. If you are interested in the game, I encourage you to try it out for a month — that should be just enough time for you to reach the level cap (40) and see some of the high-level content. But bring some friends along, or make new ones — you’ll have an easier time of it in the long run.

And Games32 doesn’t give it a definitive score:

While some may look the other way when you try to tell them about a comic book superhero game, I urge you not to. Champions Online is a class game, offering great gameplay and cool character customization. It had some launch issues, some have been resolved, some are still there… but if I had to make a top of MMOs I had most fun with, CO would certainly be a part of it. But before you do a lifetime subscription, try it for a month first…