Anticipation abounds!

It always seems like at least once a year I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for some game or another. However it's been slow for me for a long time. There's been no mmo's upcoming where the concept just blows my mind and I have to have it ASAP for the longest time. The last game I can think of that had this effect on me was Darkfall Online which was a tremendous disappointment to me because of the rampant cheating going unpunished but that's another story.

However my excitement is born anew with the news about a game that has flown under my radar until this year: APB, also known as All Points Bulletin. With GDC 2010 having just wrapped up in San Francisco some new details about this game have been released and I like what I'm hearing. The game has in-game leagues and ladders so people know who the most bad-ass players are because statues of league-toppers are in the social area of the city of San Paro where the game takes place.

If I had to describe the game to someone who wasn't familiar with it I would say that it is essentially an MMO version of Grand Theft Auto. Players can choose to be criminals or enforcers (essentially police or bounty hunters) and their gameplay depends on that choice. For example criminals may get a job from someone to commit some horrible crime, and once word gets out enforcers in the area are assigned to stop this crime.

To say I love this concept would be a huge understatement because the idea of forcing players into direct conflict which is such a breath of fresh air from: "kill a bunch of these monsters which are so ridiculously weak that it's no challenge at all but you'll level so deal with it." Warhammer Online came close and while I love it I do not think it went far enough for a game toted as a PvP-centric game. When I say Warhammer came close this is because it had public quests that brought you into direct conflict with the enemy in competition which was an absolutely amazing thing at the time of it's release and still something I don't see often at all.

The sad thing is that we'll all have to wait for a while for APB to come out, there's mixed reports about what the release dates are and it's been pushed back several times. I can only hope that APB is exactly what I've been waiting for and that Realtime Worlds, the company who makes the game, doesn't make any terrible decisions near the beginning that can doom a game in the current climate.

And now for some related material!
A video I made of some GTA IV shenanigans
Youtube channel for APB Videos

Battle of the Heroes.

Statesman of City of Heroes and Defender of Champions Online

One question that I get a lot as someone who has played both City of Heroes and Champions Online is which game is better and believe me it is a very difficult choice.

The two games are direct competitors, both vying for a very niche (albeit large) market of a super hero MMO. The target audience is obviously people who grew up reading comics and I would say both capture that quite well.

When one has to compare these two games there are several things you need to keep in mind. Champions Online was released recently as opposed to City of Heroes which came out in 2004. These games when compared have some very typical arguments that come from comparing a new and old game.

Champions Online boasts an impressive engine that allows you to do things you would expect from a super hero console game like lift objects off the street and throw them or use them as a weapon. There's nothing quite like having a super-strong hero capable of lifting up a semi truck and beating a common crook in the face with it. Champions Online youth also allows it to have an interesting graphical style, cel shaded to be more specific like a comic book which is a cool effect.

City of Heroes' age lets it lord a tremendous amount of content over Champions Online and can make Champions' seem puny in comparison in terms of content alone. In fact City of Heroes content grows at an exponential rate because of the amazing and revolutionary system known as the "Mission Architect."

The Mission Architect is by far my most favorite feature of any MMO ever. This system allows the player to create their own storylines and quests for friends or even complete strangers to play. This makes it so any time you make a new character you can play through something completely new all the way to max level every single time, even if you make a thousand characters.

Champions boasts a very interesting and interactive combat system and better customization for player powers, letting you create a character exactly the way you want and not restricting you nearly as much as City of Heroes does. However being so young there feels like a general lack of content, a problem which Cryptic seems intimately aware of and is attempting to fix with it's new free expansion: Revelation.

The nemesis system in Champions while very cool could have been a whole lot better. For example my nemesis in concept is an insane demon who's only goal is to kill me. I don't think he would steal high-tech devices and chemicals, that isn't his style. But with the current system it's random what your nemesis is doing so it doesn't really feel like I'm fighting the person I envisioned.

City of Heroes trumps these flaws in the nemesis system as you can just create your own missions with your own nemesis with the mission architect. If you're lazy you could always just look one up as well.

My final verdict: City of Heroes is the winner... for now. Champions to me has more interesting combat and this leads to more interesting fights but City of Heroes is so far ahead with content for now that I would say I enjoy playing it more. If Champions were to implement something like the mission architect then I would say City of Heroes would be in trouble.

But really, I'm just some guy on the internet who plays way too many MMOs to think that he's the foremost expert on what makes a game. You should really try both games for yourself if you're interested. Both have free trials available and I recommend you give them both a shot.

City of Heroes
Champions Online