href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/68758" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: right;" alt="Champions Flight"
src="/image/view/68758">

Early
morning on day two of E3 we got a chance to sit down with Bill
Roper from Cryptic Studios to talk about some of the more advanced
features in href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/co" target="_blank"> style="font-style: italic;">Champions Online.
The first thing Bill showed us was some of the travel abilities players
will have access to in the game giving super heroes plenty of options
to get around.



When seeing all the different travel options players have there is a
mix between crafted items and super powers, obviously some heroes can
fly, but what about burrowing under the ground to pop up in the middle
of your foes? These are some of the ideas style="font-style: italic;">Champions Online
is implementing into their game. Players also have the chance to craft
various transportation devices, not vehicles, not yet, but Bill
mentioned they have been talking about motorcycles and cars somewhere
down the line after the game is launched.



The one crafted device we got a close look at was a steel disk that
flies the hero around the city. Players can also attack and fight from
the top of the disk giving some strong ranged combat options. In
opposition to the metal flying menace some players will have access to
a flying carpet when using the Mystic crafting ability. Players will
sit comfortably in a meditation position as they whisk off to fight the
bad guys attacking the city. Another idea on travel was a giant ball
that players can roll around in moving at high speeds to solve their
missions faster. Bill explained that there will be a lot of travel
options in the game and looks forward to showing more of them off to
players before launch.



On the super power front we got to see Fire Flight as an ability. Think
of Firestar back in the old school Spiderman and His Amazing Friends
days. While zipping through the air you leave behind a trail of flames.
There will also be jump packs for the more tech style super heroes.
Many more super power travel abilities will be shown off soon.

href="http://www.tentonhammer.com/node/36930" target="_blank"> style="width: 200px; float: right;" alt="Monster Island"
src="/image/view/36930">

In the demo portion of the presentation we got to head into a mission
where the Mayor is giving a speech. As a hero you have to walk through
the crowd and identify would be assassins from the Viper organization.
Once discovered you have to prepare for a quick fight as you protect
the Mayor from the villains in the crowd. After the assassins are taken
out you find that there are some snipers on the roofs as well. This is
where your jump pack or flying abilities come in handy as you run
across the rooftops taking down the shooters so the mayor can finish
his speech. However it is too late for that as Viper has sent in a
helicopter to really end things badly, so it is up to you and your
fellow do-gooders to right the wrongs as the crowd scatters. This type
of mission takes place in the open world and players will be able to
walk right into the action. The mission moved quickly and players can
get a lot done solo however when the helicopter comes down, it gets
very rough to handle things alone.



We talked with Bill briefly about the Monster Island concepts in the
game. This is a throw back to the huge creatures from the Godzilla days
that scour the island giving heroes plenty of bosses to fight. Nothing
is easy on Monster Island and players will have to team up
to face down some huge foes. One of the giant birds flying around
Monster Island is Swoopo who carries loot based on a lottery system for
players. Bill explained that players may choose to spend their
resources elsewhere or use them to battle it out with Swoopo, once you
have him locked in, you get the rare loot he drops. It is an
interesting system and will give players a fun option when deciding how
to spend their resources.



Bill spent the final minutes of the presentation talking about the
balance between melee and ranged power sets, a problem we see arising
in many MMOs to come. Bill explained that they are doing a lot to
balance melee with attack and defense capabilities as well as giving
them boosts to endurance when charging into a group of foes. There are
many heroic battles in Champions where players take on a number of
opponents. There is nothing better than having the melee skills to stay
in the fight and not fall prey to the shooters on the outside. A very
cool ability we saw with this was giving players who land into a combat
from the sky a small knock back and stun to the area around where they
land. The attention to detail as well as the game mechanic gives the
melee classes some great options for fighting in close.



Champions
Online is set for a September
launch with Beta testing
continuing throughout the summer. However as with any MMO the game will
be out when it is ready. Bill explained that the Champions team are
well on their way and the game has a great comic book look to it.
We’ll keep you posted on all that Cryptic has to offer and
look forward to style="font-style: italic;">Champions Online.