It’s pretty plain for most readers, Cryptic Studios let me down severely with Champions Online. Little content, a horrible microtransaction shop and incredibly repetitive (and unbalanced at launch) combat dragged the quirky writing and insane character customization to the recycle bin. I pre-purchased six-months of Champions Online expecting the beta to be beta. It ended up being the launch product. The debacle left a horribly sour taste in my mouth, ultimately causing me, a junior Trekkie, to skip Star Trek Online and view Neverwinter with much trepidation.
I’ve had my fill of CO. I gave it weeks before launch and months after. I am done playing the game. That doesn’t mean I can ignore the title though. I have a responsibility to you, the community of readers, to entertain and report on the MMOG industry. So although a free week of Champions Online doesn’t get me spamming clicks looking for the client, it might get you in a tither. The character creator alone can entertain most people for a few hours. I mean, look what my non-gaming girlfriend spent almost an hour “creating.”
To celebrate the 1-year anniversary of Champions Online, Cryptic Studios is giving everyone who registers a week to try out the game. It doesn’t matter if you’re a previous subscriber, or someone who has never touched a retail (or digital) box. If you register, or have registered previously, you can login, download the client and play from September 1-7. During this time there will be numerous other festivities and the woefully expensive C-Store has a 20% discount on nearly everything.
I’ll live vicariously through you. Let me know how it goes.
I gotta say, when I play CO, the character creator was the most fun for me.
That, in all pretense, is very very sad. Sure, I made awesome character’s. But like you said, with a clunky combat system and repetitive content, I got bored in 3 day’s.
It’s so disappointing that every single mmo to date has been such a failure.. most anyways i guess guild wars 1 is decent but i myself couldn’t stand the controls.. GW2 is looking like it has potential but then again its not out so it might be a whole different story when it gets released but i’m hoping it at least can turn me away from wow for abit. If it keeps me interested for a couple weeks at least i say its doing a good job.
http://gamescom.gamespot.com/video/6274233/?tag=videos;title;3