Dear John Cryptic,

I’m sorry Cryptic, I tried; I tried really hard. I even stood up for you in a house of extreme World of Warcraft players. But I can’t live this lie anymore. I don’t like Champions Online. Granted, I have a certain dislike for all MMOs, but my dislike of Champions Online has to do with other issues. After playing City of Heroes for a bit (and I loved City of Heroes) I decided it was time to trade up; except I feel like I didn’t. To be fair, I loved the art style, the character creator, the back-story, and the simple fact that I could do the whole thing alone; but I find Champions to be lacking in many, many more areas. One of the most glaring problems for Champions, especially if someone has first played City of Heroes, is the complete lack of powers and abilities. I understand that CoH has been out for a long time and you’ve had time to add more and more powers, but the promise that we could create the hero we wanted in CO just didn’t come across like it did in CoH, and that disparity is something I can’t help but hold against you. On a related note, I hated the fact that I could only really hit the same two buttons the entire time; I shouldn’t be so excited when it’s time to use one of my other powers. Thirdly, I remember being promised two important things that got me really excited for this game when I first heard about it: playing with Xbox 360 players and custom content. I know you can’t always fit everything in, but I was still disappointed when I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of either. Also, the fact that I could only go to three areas got real boring real quick. They are big areas, and I haven’t been everywhere yet, but when you see one snow covered mountain/brownstone or industrial zone/mesa it feels like I’ve seen it all. A little more variety would have gone a long way. I see the new area, Vibora Bay, was finally released, but I don’t think I’ll ever get there thanks to the lack of missions once a player hits around level 23. The pacing of the game seems to have flat lined at that point, which was really disappointing as I was excited to make my nemesis; not to mention making the game at that point an utter bore. Playing this game has made me pine for City of Heroes days, which I might be inclined to do after you and I take a little break. I have cancelled my account, but I will be all ears in case you guys patch Champions to the point where I feel I can happily play it again. I really hope you do.

Judgment: 7 Blatant Copyright Infringements Jumping Around out of 10