first impression of the game. let me sum it up its 2025 this game is stuck in 1999, Combat system sucks. auto att is so mobile. felt like i was playing a trial from the 90's you had all this time to rework your system and update it to modern times. I guess they felt like this was the system to use for ever. i honestly think devs are so out of touch with the player and their communities and in touch with their bank accounts to notice anything. This game is 100% pay to win.

Ah, Champions Online...in another universe, you would've been one of my all-time favorites, if not outright better than City of Heroes, but alas, between the insane amounts of wasted potentional, greed, and ♥♥♥♥♥♥ game design, CoH will always be on top, even with all of its issues and it being in its current Homecoming-rules-all state. With that preamble done, let's get into the nitty gritty, starting with the stuff I do like:


This was (and still is) one of CoH's strongest aspects, and thankfully, it's one of the very few things Champs does better. Not only do you have way more costume pieces to work with (varying in quality as they may be). but you also have in-depth body sliders too, allowing you to make just about anything. Want to run around as your favorite Marvel/DC hero/villain like the unimaginative normie you probably are? You can do that. Muscle girls? Yep, those too. How about a janky flying mech? If the pieces are there, it is very possible. The sky's the limit...and your wallet. Once your done battling that beast, you'll be dropped into the Qularr invasion tutorial, so let's move on to


You can move and use powers at the same time and pick up things to throw at foes depending on how high your strength is (oh, and lunges exist, even if they're all identical stats wise). Yep, that's it for the objective improvements. The rest of it ranges from sidegrades to downgrades, i.e, the shoulder rocket launcher power takes four ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ seconds to activate and gets interrupted even if a Lemurian's rogue hair follicle touches you as an example. As the title says, the overall more fast-paced nature of combat makes me feel like I'm in Frostfire's office throughout the entire game with how often me and the enemies slip and slide all over the place.

Sure, CoH's combat system is old, janky, and can be slow during the early to mid game. Sure, you get often locked in place for most powers, but here's what CoH's combat system has over CO's:

• Eight more skillbars to work with compared to CO's rather restrictive two
  
• An inspirations system that doesn't require you to run around like a headless chicken
  
• Temp powers that don't force an artificial recharge on you 'cuz you wanted to use a rez while down (also actually
  good temp powers and not the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ device ones]
  
• Guns that fire instantly and aren't required to be charged up to do the most damage like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ JO Crystal
  
• Weight
  
• Attack chains (and being able to use my stronger powers right off the bat)
  
• Is also honest about what it is instead of trying to be some horrific mish-mash between World of Warcraft and
  Devil May Cry like Champs is (and failing at it)

I could go on and on, but you (probably) get the jist. Targetting enemies is also painful since they simply glow red and their targetting info disappears when they're behind something. In CoH, you got a pretty helpful target reticle, and it stayed up even if a mob was hiding behind something. Targetting objects is also actual cancer, since you have to click on them, no tab-targetting them like in CoH. Now that's out of my system, let's move into


Picture this: You've recently downloaded this game, for whatever reason that may be. You start to create a character, only to be greeted with a bunch of locked off options. You might think to yourself "Man, this company is greedy as hell", uninstall it, and never touch the game again. But let's say you power through that, and you pick the kung fu archetype. You either stick with the default outfit or make your own OC, you play through up to reaching the point you get your final attack power, and it pulls out a dragon from nowhere. If your kung fu master is superpowered or magical or something, then you might like it, even love it. If he or she is otherwise just a normal dude, you might go "wtf, why???"

Which leads into this: I utterly despise how ATs are handled in this game. Back in City of Heroes, you had a few ATs that had a good amount of powersets to pick from. While the quality of said sets and ATs varied, it had something for everyone, from punching baddies with electrically charged fists to freezing them with icy-cold blasts, and everything in-between. See a power you don't like? Just skip it or get a pool powerset. Hell, you can make a character that's nothing but pool powers.

Champions, on the other hand, throws that out of the window and replaces them with strict ATs that force you to larp as the developers' favorite Marvel/DC character instead of making one your own. Oh, you still can do that by going with the Freeform AT, but be prepared to shell out some dosh if you want to, and even then, there are some powersets that are missing. No elemental melee, no staff combat, no poison, ♥♥♥♥, no radiation powers outside of the Irradiates in the desert and Gigaton. You can train anywhere, so ig that's a plus, but to me, that's a sign that Champs is all but abandoned ala TF2 since you can use it right off the bat instead of having to earn it first.

I am also not a fan of the gear system. Kvetching over what piece of armor gives me a bigger brain, thus bigger recharge. Yaaaaaaaay...I'd rather deal with CoH's standalone stats than this scaling nonsense. The stat system is also ♥♥♥♥♥♥ in general. Low Dex, Con, and Int? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s7uKaAx0Qw This review is getting quite rambly, so let's do a lightning round before ending it:

Most missions are just generic WoW/FFXIV-esque quests with a few exceptions, most factions are either boring as hell (Gadroons), a repeat of a CoH faction (The Red Banner Cult is just a great value Tsoo, for example), a pain in the ass (VIPER, ARGENT, and those Elder Worm followers), or literally some dev's AE faction that got repurposed into an official one (Hunter-Patriots, all those generic demons, Manimals, etc, etc). It has dinosaurs, so that's a plus (minus the Teleiosaurus, I hate that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing so much). If you love RPing, are a furry, or both, then you'll love this game despite its myriad of issues. The graphics look butt ugly for the most part and most character models look like low quality clay golems, and the "haha aren't we quirkeeeee" golden age proto-MCU style of humor heavily kneecaps any sort of serious storytelling.

There's a few other ♥♥♥♥♥♥ things (The entire blocking mechanic being janky as hell and demolishing some character concepts like Incarnates did for CoH, powers locked behind lockboxes, and you have to pay for the ability to unsheathe your weapon for screenshot/RP purposes, something City of Heroes let you do for free), but I think it's time to end this. Unless you fall under one or more of the following criteria:

1. Are you a roleplayer?
2. Are you a furry?
3. Are you puppeteering a former player's premium account, Weekend at Bernie's style?
4. Do you have friends playing it at the moment?

Avoid this game at all costs and just stick to City of Heroes. Any server will do (yes, even HC), or even make your own.

The costumization of this game is immaculate, my main draw to play the game.