It’s Fall, y’all!

Back to school (for ‘Timers like Jim, Kaye and Ben, at least). The summer movies were a mixed bag, but there was some serious gold to be had. Now it’s time for all those new fall shows—you know, the ones that are on for two or three weeks before the network cancels them? Enjoy ‘em while you can.

Cover Lovin’

Okay, no artist to thank on this one, per se, but we can thank the gang at Champions Online for making it possible. This is a little screenshot I took of one of my characters, Heatspell, visiting the hero base of Millennium City’s defenders, the Champions, and making a SLIGHT change to their computer’s screen saver. Heh. Be sure to click on the shot to see the full-screen version. And this shot is here in honor, of course, of the biggest news for our favorite game since…EVER:

Champions Online Goes Live!

For those of us who picked up the first edition of the Champions rule book in 1981…well, we can REALLY appreciate what a long way this game has come. As of September, Champions Online, the MMO super-hero game based right in the Champions universe, is live, running, and being enjoyed by vets and noobs alike around the world. And we can feel nothing but fantastic for Steve Long and the guys who took over and rebirthed the Hero Games brand, and somehow spun it into THIS.

Naturally, several of us old ‘Timers had to pick it up and give it a go. So far me, K.C., Tim and Jack have jumped in and brought our campaign characters to 3-D life (and made some new ones, of course). I’m happy to report that the game is a blast. Despite, yes, a few hitches at the start. It hasn’t been a completely smooth startup. They’re fixing things as they go, and have had to take the server down for a couple of hours a night here and there (in the dead of night…which is, of course, when I play). This is a BIG undertaking, getting one of these things going, so this was to be expected. Nothing too serious, and it’s starting to smooth out, so I think they’ve done a pretty good job.

The character creation system is a lot of fun, and it’s allowed me to pretty darned accurately recreate some of my Forte characters. The Dr. Jackal is awesome. The Nightsable is almost dead-on. The others, well, they’re interpretations, but they get the idea across. You’ve got loads of options for costume additions and color changes, and can go nutty with your imagination. You can choose from a range of starting “types” for your characters, from “Mighty” to “Powered Armor” to “Fire” to “Ice” to “Martial Arts” and more, and each type has its own associated powers. Though for those who really want to mix things up, you can build a custom type, too, something I haven’t messed with yet.

As a former City of Heroes player, one of my favorite parts of the game is that you don’t have to wait around to get your travel powers (or your cape, for that matter, which CoH made you wait until level 20 to for some reason). As soon as you get out of the tutorial level, you get to go select your mode of transpo…and there’s an awesome range of them. You don’t just get “flight”—you can choose from “flight”, “ice flight”, “fire flight”, “earth flight”, “jet boots” and more. There’s a great super-leap that I had to get for Dr. Jackal, of course, and I gotta tell you…jumping across the desert with him looks and feels exactly like I always imagined during the campaign. The teleportation power (which I got for Nightsable) is a blast to use, and I love the addition of the “acrobatics” movement, which gives you faster running (but not quite super-speed) and a bigger (but not quite super) leap, please give you neat flips when you’re jumping around.

The best part of the game, though, is that it is, like I said, set in the actual Champions universe. The tutorial level puts you right in the middle of Millennium City during an alien invasion, and as you’re learning to use your powers and the game controls, you get to meet some of the heroes of the Champions team, some Primus guys, and a Silver Avenger. As you progress in the game, you find familiar Champions villains (if you see Grond…run away!!!), enemies like Viper (yay!) and familiar locations like Stronghold. The game is mission-based, and your missions are part of a bigger story. It’s all just a blast.

Teaming up is, of course, the really fun part, and we haven’t get gotten a BIG team-up together yet. Tim and I have gotten on Skype and paired up from time to time, but we’re waiting on Aaron to get his copy before we hook up with him, K.C., and hopefully Jack (after we figure out all the time zones and schedule accordingly). I have yet to mess with the Super-Group option, where you make your own team, but I’m sure there’s going to be a Forte soon.

If you’re thinking about trying it, it has my thumbs-up. If you buy the game, you get the first 30 days free to try it out, so if you don’t like it after that, you’re just out the cost of the software. But if you’re like the rest of us, you’ll really dig it. Come join us, and we’ll take on Viper together! But probably not Grond...

 

BIRTHDAY FUN

Hey, October means it’s big ‘Timer birthday month! Happy B-Day to Tim, Ben, A.T., Aaron…hey, and me. Anyone want to do the math on how old we were when the ‘Times first started? Yeah. I don’t either. My apologies if I’m forgetting anyone else in the b-day greetings. The memory’s not what it used to be.

 

BREAKING NEWS - STORCK BROKEN

For those who haven't gotten the news, the CT's own Aaron Strock took a bad fall off his roof this weekend. The good news is that it could have been much worse. He did break his ankle in two places, and will be going in for surgery for it tomorrow. He also got a fracture in his back, but it sounds like that bone is going to heal on its own and won't even require the back brace they originally told him he'd need. So things could be much worse, but just in time for his birthday, Aaron's going to find himself homebound with a foot he can't put any weight on...for like, three months. So thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for the man, fellow 'Timers.

Next Issue Deadline

Deadline for the next CTO issue is December 5, 2009, for inclusion in the December 6, 2009 issue. Just put your stuff on a web page (or in a PDF) and e-mail the link (or the file) to me at:

O'Connell@aol.com

Next time is Christmas time, so looking forward to some holiday CT action! Enjoy the fall, one and all, and we’ll see you then.

Michael O’Connell
Central Mailer, The Clobberin’ Times Online