Champions Online is quite simply one of the most fun MMORPGs of the last decade. It's not necessarily the very best of them all, but moreso than any other MMO, Champions places fun as its first priority and does away with most of the aspects of an MMO that don't inspire glee in their patrons.

Most notable is Champions unique lack of focus on leveling. Leveling up plays a big role in the game as it's how you gain new powers and abilities, but at all times Champions is absolutely determined to make sure you're having a blast. Most other MMOs make you slog through 6 months of boring fetch quests (and subscription fees) before you can have some fun in the end-game content. Champions, like its forebear City of Heroes, makes sure that the player is having a good time from day 1.

Players will start in the utterly amazing super hero creator where you'll craft every single aspect of your character to your liking. If you've never experienced the City of Heroes/Champions Online hero creator then you're missing out. It's practically worth the price of the game on its own. Players are (almost) literally limited only to the bounds of their imagination in the creation process as the program includes literally thousands of items to craft your hero. In Champions you play as a completely unique character and the influence of that on gameplay and the player's desire to level up cannot be underestimated. Your character will look like no one else's, which is more than any other MMO on the market can boast.

Once gameplay starts, Champions is no slouch either though. It features an all-new super-fast paced combat system that is not only an innovation in the field of MMOs, but also much more fun to play than any other MMO I've experienced. In essence, it's not entirely different from the combat in most other MMOs, but the cooldowns on abilities are much faster which makes random battles much more intense and quick.

Questing is another area where Champions Online reforms the classic experience offered by its massively multiplayer predecessors. As mentioned before, most other games will make you slog through hours upon hours of doing fetch quests and running errands for random NPCs for gold and experience. While the concept of many of the missions remain relatively similar, the packaging is much different. Each new zone you enter in Champions is an epic storyline that plays out similarly to a comic book story arch. Most of the time you'll be making preparations for the final, big fight against the mastermind. Until then, you'll be battling his lieutenants and taking down his thugs. The quests themselves aren't revolutionary, but the continuity of these quests are certainly innovative. Hardly anything is isolated, most of the quests are there to advance your goal of taking down the super villain. This makes everything much more exciting and purposeful.

But storylines and incentive would mean nothing in this game if it wasn't for the characters that you create yourself. The very best motive that players have to push forward is to advance their character, and flesh them out more fully. In a fantastic move, the developer chose to give the player their transportation power (flying, superspeed etc.) almost immediately at level 8 (only a few hours into gameplay. To say that these powers are “fun” to use, would be a gross understatement. You can choose from any type of superpowered-travel that you can think of from underground-tunneling and rocket boots, to flaming-flight and superjumps. Or your character could rip a piece of the earth from the ground and fly on that like a surfboard.

Graphically, Champions takes the visual style first set forth in City of Heroes and takes it to the max. Cel-shaded visuals perfectly match the comic book setting, and further establish the comic setting. It's about making things look and feel as much as possible like the adventures we all read growing up, and it succeeds beautifully. 

To top all of these amazing complements off, the highest praise that I can award Champions is that it's launch went off without a hitch, and servers today are still almost entirely bug free. For an MMO this is a truly monumental feat, and it's an achievement that will help ensure that Champions has a long and healthy future ahead of it. Games with buggy launches die extremely quickly (Tabula Rasa, anyone?) and games with relatively bug-free launches generally become very successful (World of Warcraft.)

If you're even the slightest bit interested in this game, I urge you to try it out, because you'll have an absolute blast. For anyone who ever loved comic books or superheroes, this game is a gift from heaven.

Gameplay: 9.0
Totally fun all the way through. A fast-paced combat system mixed with the thrill of seeing your own personalized hero grow and become more powerful is one of the best combinations in years.

Graphics: 8.8
Champions Online has adopted a heavy cel-shaded aesthetic that is pretty much a no-brainer for an MMO about super heroes, and it looks great. Although it will require a decently beefy system to run at high specs.

Sound: 7.9
Sounds effects work very well, and the game includes a unique soundtrack featuring many different styles of dramatic music. From heavy metal to orchestras with choirs, Champions offers a great listening variety.

Difficulty: Medium
Some quests are surprisingly hard and will force you to team up with others to complete them. Champions is really only as hard as you want it to be since you can team up with anyone.

Concept: 8.9
The concept of a superhero MMO hasn't lost any of its wonder since City of Heroes released five years ago. Champions Online expands on the formula with great results.

Multiplayer: 8.3
Joining up with other players is quick and easy, though there isn't that much content out there specifically for groups. Champions is just as good alone as in a group.

Overall: 8.4
Champions makes sure you're having fun right out of the gate rather than having to struggle for two months through boredom to level up your character. It's a solid MMO that will serve as a good diversion from WoW, but only time will tell if it has the depth of content necessary to keep people around.