With all the emphasis and fuss on big, epic stories, teamed with the success of Lord of the Rings in the movies industry and World of Warcraft in the gaming industry respectively, it seems like every MMO these days just has to have elves and orcs or it won't appeal to anyone.

I guess this happens when a big title sets the trend and everyone tries to steal a bit of its thundering success afterwards.

But as we've seen throughout time, taking a greater risk can also pay off a lot more than following the greatest path to glory every time.

Champions Online is unique in its way. We've seen great things from its predecessor City of Heroes/Villains, and now with a brand new graphics engine and a more dynamic and varied gameplay style, the new Cryptic Studios baby makes its way to the crowded MMO market.

The first thing you will notice, and this is either black or white, is the new "cartoon stylized" graphics, done with the help of cell shading, a pixel shader effect you've probably seen in the latest Prince of Persia and should be making its way to your gaming stations soon in the new Gearbox Software game Borderlands as well.

Why a black or white thing? Because I've seen people put off by the graphics instantly, saying they will never play such a game ever. So, yes, not for everybody. But Champions Online's graphics has a unique charm, bringing a comic book world to life, and a lot of superhero "press" readers will be just extatic to create their favorite story characters and play them.

As we're used to by now from Cryptic, the character creation screen is one of the easiest and at the same time most complete you've ever seen in a game. There are just so many possibilities and it is just up to your immagination to build your hero. There is of course a small twist, in that in case you will create a copyrighted character like say... Superman, and someone chooses to complain, Cryptic will force you to change costumes. Eh, copyright laws, what can you do...

Passing by this - arguably the strongest feature of the game - I am really happy to say gameplay is for me one of the next top things. It's just so fun and dynamic. There is also some sort of balance, because every class uses the same resource to use abilities/spells - call them what you want. An energy bar, based on your Endurance stat, is available to you. A fast primary attack mentained unless you cancel it builds up energy, but doesn't cause much damage. It can also apply various effects like fear, or lingering flames.

Once you have enough energy you can use a more powerful skill in order to crowd control, do a big blast damage or heal. Every other ability except your energy builder consumes energy.

Most of the "long cast" abilities have a varying damage, and if you hold the button down longer you will do more damage, but in case you are on the run you can just release it at any time, for a portion of that damage. This applies for crowd control skills as well - the longer the cast, the longer the hold.

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A very important aspect in Champions is Area of Effect damage, perhaps more than in any other MMO. You won't be fighting a single foe most of the time, but packs. So getting rid of or controlling more mobs at once becomes a priority in PvE.

Everything interesting on "the market" lately materializes in some way or another into the game. For example public quests, although there have been some experience problems with that aspect early on.

While it seems Cryptic are commited to offer a good experience, fact shown by the frequency of patches and board messages, it is also true that the launch has been a nightmare even for some of the most devoted fans (and for me as well unfortunately).

First of all, the game had such low frame rates on some machines that was literally unplayable. It was more of a luck thing really, because some of the high-end, best systems to date were having major difficulty in getting over the 30 fps playable bar. In fact, some areas made frame rate drop below 5 frames, and of course, things got worse if you used travel powers.

A lot of complaints and submitted reports later, performance started getting better, and now the game is playable, though there are still hickups here and there. I just hope they straight things up till Star Trek online...

Another thing was the early launch scandal - even if their recommended sellers page listed options like Direct 2 Drive and other online stores as an optimal choice, buying the game "without the box" didn't include the 5 days head start option for some reason.

But wait, there's more! Even some of those who preordered the boxed edition and were entitled to the headstart didn't get code required to activate that feat. So most, unless they got a lifetime membership, were forced to wait five more days, even if they preordered.

Ok, enough bickering now, back a bit more to the gameplay. One of the strongest differences from City of Heroes is that now, with a bit of smart skill choosing, you can actually solo most of the way up to level 40, max in the game.

This can also be tricky, because you could make the wrong choice at any moment, as almost any skill can be picked at any time. I strongly encourage experimentation in the Power House if possible, the place where you train up. Once you've exited with a new skill, and don't really like it, you have to pay in order to unlearn it.

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Skills can be unlearned chronologically, with the most recent on top and cheapest to unlearn. But if you realize you skrewed up and need to go back to level 5 while you are 30, there's hardly anything you can do at this moment, because cost is so high that you probably can't afford it.

An economy rebalance patch just launched will sort out things in time, increasing items sell price by quite a bit.

Throughout my adventures in Millennium City and other areas of the game, I had a really great time questing and reading some really great story arcs spread amongst some quest dialogues. I recommend everyone to read as many quests as they can if they feel like it, because they will be missing out a lot otherwise.

Player versus player is another interesting aspect of Champions, and decently structured into teamed arena matches (size may vary) and free for all - a total chaos sometimes. It's fun for me that most of characters can hold out for long, so you cannot just one shot someone, it requires a little bit of team skill and coordination. We'll see of course how this evolves in the future, but for now, while people still figure out the game's tweaks it was a really great thing to do when I got bored of missions.

Did I mention you can queue up from anywhere, and get returned to that place once the arena finishes? You also get experience for winning, so you level up faster.

As a well known and respected superhero, don't be too surprised when random street people congratulate you, want to take your picture, or come to you with an emergency and thus a brand new mission - I know I was at first. This helps create a more beliavable world, if you could say that about a comic book superhero game...

Finally, saved for last, is the mention of your Nemesis. Yes! Finally someone thought of that! At level 25, using the police database computer, you get to create your own archenemy - customize it just the way you wanted, both his personality, minions, set of powers and looks of course.

From now on, he will bother you when you least expect it and offer you more missions. Nemesis is a fantastic addition, and we have a promisse the ideea will be explored and expanded further in the future.

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Conclusion

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...

Gameplay: 86

Probably the biggest mark of them all. I had fun playing this game, and I am hoping new stuff is added fast so that they get to keep most of their players, you know, with the wild competition coming up on the market. It's different, and in a good way. It works for me. Think about it - active blocking in an MMO - that alone changes a few things...

Graphics: 80

The new DirectX engine from Cryptic supports some of the latest technologies; I just hope frame rates are fixed in the future. Also, cell shaded graphics aren't for everyone I'm afraid. So I don't know. It matters if it's... black or white...

Multiplayer: 80

Fingers crossed, hope it will have a decent player base so you can at least try one of those public quests in the future...

Sound: 80

The music is suitable for a superhero game, and the seldom voice acting, even if not required or spectacular, enhances game experience by a bit. Sound effects for skills are cool.

Hardware: 69

Aiiii... please fix the horrible framerate issues... I'm one of the unfortunate cases that experiences those problems...