Champions Online
If you loved City of Heroes and City of Villains, Atari has announced Champions Online that should satisfy your MMORPG superhero craving.
Based on the award winning Champions setting from the HERO System of pen & paper role playing games and powered by the groundbreaking Cryptic Engine Champions Online taps into the rich universe of heroes and villains with unparalleled intrigue and adventure.
Take the jump for the full description, plus a boat load of screen shots. The game arrives in September.
Press Release Information
Cryptic Studios, already a leading developer of massively multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPGs), has taken the genre to new heights with Champions Online’s fast paced, “real time†action combat, character customization tools, and supreme nemesis system. The story of Champions Online is constantly changing, continually evolving. Villains are defeated. Heroes rise and fall. Cities transform. Your actions may decide the future!
Product Features:
The First True Action MMO
Hi-Octane Excitement: Champions Online delivers furious, fast-paced encounters previously reserved for action and fighting games. No more boring auto attacks and lengthy recharge times. Champions Online combat is instantaneous — and electrifying!
Brains required: Every enemy and super-powered threat in Champions Online has its own unique abilities and combat specialties. Use your head — or wind up dead!
Bring friends, make friends: The Champions Online universe will be jam-packed with thousands of heroes, facing thousands of threats. Join up with other heroes, create your own superteam, and prepare to take on the ultimate threats!
Be the Hero You Want To Be
Your powers, on your terms: There are a multitude of astonishing powers to choose from in Champions Online, and its flexible character creation system gives you total control over your hero’s abilities. You can even pick the appearance of your powers. Do you want purple force fields? Green fire blasts? Jet black claws? In Champions Online, you decide!
Total customization, at your fingertips: Choose from thousands of different costume pieces, colors and body types to create your character’s one-of-a-kind costume and look.
Keep your enemies close: Every hero must have an archenemy. In Champions Online, you design your character’s supreme adversary, choosing a name, powers and costume for a super powered foe to bedevil your hero throughout his or her career.
Bigger and better: Vanquish evil, and your successes will be rewarded with costume pieces to enhance your powers and abilities. Then customize the appearance of those rewards to your vision of your hero’s look and abilities!
Vast Universe
Endless exploration: The battle against evil in Champions Online rages across the world. No other MMOG offers players the chance to explore such diverse realms — from the shining skyscrapers of Millennium City and the frozen wastes of Canada to the the hidden underwater city of Lemuria.
Evil most foul: Battle supervillains, aliens, giant monsters and secret, sinister organizations. Doctor Destroyer is launching new plans to conquer the world. VIPER lurks in the shadows, seeking chances to strike at humanity. The ancient Lemurians are plotting a return to power. Can you stop these heinous threats to humanity?
via Atari
5 Comments
I ran a long running (5 year) Champions pen and paper campaign back in the day. The system was one of the best at the time (it was the hardcover edition with a Perez cover.) I LOVED that system and still wish I could find a copy of that hardback. The campaign ran the gambit of starting the heroes off as low-level street heroes that eventually evolved into cosmic heroes. Damn good times.
This is the rpg that makes me want to buy a new computer and actually pay fees. It was originally announced for the Xbox 360 also, but that version has been delayed it seems.
From what I read, I think this originally started out as the Marvel MMORPG, and then Marvel dropped it. Good to see the work was not wasted.
Trying… so hard… to get job at Cryptic…..
I have never wanted to be a villain so I am okay with that. The diversity of costume and power design sounds good though.
The alterable game world (based on character actions) sounds intriguing. If it is done well from a technical standpoint this will provide a great level of realism. I would have to see how well this plays out over thousands of characters with thousands of hours of game time though.
Looks awesome, but I refuse to pay “monthly fees” for gaming, so this will sit on the shelves without me buying it until well past Ragnarok. :) One thing that seems to be an implicit difference from DCU is that you MUST (based on the above info ONLY, so I’m possibly wrong) be a ‘good guy’.
Quijibo. Nice obsucre simpsons reference.