Champions of Norrath

"And another one bites the "Bragain Bin" dust..."

I wouldn't consider myself a hardcore gamer, much less so when the topic of the discussion is consoles, but sometimes one has to wonder how can games that pack hours of formidable gameplay go ignored by the public at large?

Champions of Norrath came out in a time of turmoil (Q1 2004) when over a dozen formidable new games were released including Battlefield Vietnam, Unreal Tournament 2004 and Ninja Gaiden. CON was viewed by the gaming community as just another action RPG based on a 3 year-old engine and was largely ignored. A pity really, as Champions of Norrath is easily the best action RPG this side of Diablo 2.

Graphics: 9/10

Would it not be for some blurring, Champions' graphics would be perfect! Despite the fact that Snowblind's engine is over 3 years old the graphics that it can render are beyond anything that the ARPG genre has seen. The quality of the water is especially amazing as its reflections and "puddling" effects are a marvel to behold.

Humans, animals and monsters are all very well animated and feature a very detailed death animation (much in the vein of Diablo). The quality of facial expressions and the resolution of character close-ups is also top notch, with perfect lip-synching and nearly-photocopied quality. As for the level design it too is top notch, despite the fact that much of it is actually formed out of square chambers connected with one another.

Special effects such as fires or explosions fit nicely within the engine. Fires especially are amazing to behold as they look very realistic and give off a satisfying "warmth". There are no weather effects, but at the same time there is no fogging and very little slowdown even if there are quite a few monsters on screen.

Sound: 6/10

The one thing to note about the sound in Champions of Norrath is that it's not really all that memorable. Despite the orchestral soundtrack, which hardly actually fits the action at hand, the game's music is not all that memorable. The same way as none of the sound effects really change the way you play the game: sword clashes, monstrous roars and bone-chilling screams sound a great deal less impressive than described. They don't really detract from the action, but they aren't anything special either.

Champion's voice work is also pretty bland. The usual suspects in a fantasy RPG are here, from Scottish-sounding dwarfs to noble elfs all sound just as cliched as they seem. Luckily though, the actual quality of the sound effects and music is decent so your ears won't start bleeding from fizzing or other usual sound problems that games face.

Gameplay: 9/10

Heed my warning: If you're expecting a revelation from Champions' gameplay then you will be greatly disappointed. Champions of Norrath isnt't the most innovative RPG out there, and it definitely isn't without flaws, but its fun and its longevity is considerably better than most other ARPG games available for consoles.

Stories really haven't been the forte of ARPGs, and Champions doesn't "disappoint". While the actual story is your bland, average fantasy fare with a few races vying for supremacy over a land filled with evil, the plot twists are anything but bland. On more than one occasion Champions of Norrath's plot twists caught me off guard and made sure that I kept my eyes pried open as the story could take an even more outrageous turn. Of course some of the plot twists are also banal and one can see them coming from miles away, but they're far and few in-between.

In terms of gameplay, CON sticks pretty close to the already established ARPG norms. There are 5 races to choose from covering everything from fighters to mages. It's hard to say that any of these races are really original, but at least all of the 5 characters have a fully developed skill tree. With anywhere from 8 to 12 skills per character there's a good deal to choose from. Skill specialization is achieved a little too quickly though as the amount of skill points granted per level increase virtually QUADRUPLES by the 35th level. As for the skills themselves, they aren't really all that original. There are a few defensive skills, as well as a few passive skills and then, finally, a few attack skills for most characters (save for mages). The differing impact of these characters on gameplay is fairly obvious: Mages are weak and use magic, and barbarians are strong and use force while the rest of the characters are simply variations of either the might/magic components. Never-the less, the good variety (and different sexes) make for a much deeper game than others in the genre.

Luckily the weapons are fairly well made and they compliment the skills nicely. There are a few categories here, including the standard normal/magical/rare criteria's. The choice of in both of the weapon and armor categories is fairly extensive, with just about every type of spear, bow or armored plate covered. Weapons and armor can also be upgraded by being "socketed" with magical gems or runes found during the duration of the game. If there would be some problems with these items they would have to be the ease with which some of the rare items are found and that they can spawn very early into the game. Don't be surprised if on the second difficulty setting you'll encounter items that require lv. 50 (the maximum) while your level is hardly above 28-30. It can also be argued that there's too much gold to go around and that the rare items are fairly weak by themselves, but for anyone except hardcore Diablo 2 players this wont be a problem. Weapons and armor are, obviously enough, complemented by rings, amulets and other such artifacts. Those too have become fairly average staples of the ARPG genre.

Champions doesn't really excel in the actual monster and battlefield design areas. The only differences among the Evequest world and the rest of the Dungeons and Dragons crowd are minimal, mostly ranging in the names of some creatures, which are switched from gnomes to dwarfs or from dragons to dragoons. Luckily though, the monsters can be pretty damn big, some 2-4 times bigger than the player and they offer a damn good challenge, albeit they are a bit cheap at times. As for the battlefields, arenas, lands, or whatever you want to call them, they're kind of "OK". There's Ice Land, Fire Land, Sky Land, and all the other crap you've come to expect from the ARPG template over the years. There's really only one land which is somewhat original and I won't spoil it for you.

OK, but then what exactly makes this game so great since everything that has been said until now makes it look average? Well it's certainly not the quests, as they're really poor and CON features no side quests to speak of (something that irks me quite a bit). However, what CON does that no other game is seemingly capable of doing is combining all of these features, as chliche as they might be, into a decent and thrilling experience. Of course, the same tired and true Go-out-finish-dungeon-collect-loot-come-back-and-sell-it-in-town formula is not really changed, but that's the template that MAKES an ARPG what it is. However, Champions makes the formula fun! Items are a blast to find, and they're far more valued than in other ARPGs where they're all "canned"(i.e. you only find them when the game lets you find them), monsters are fairly varied, even if they suffer from cliches, and the story, as rudimentary as it is, makes you want to go forward. The characters are also quite good. Now, one shouldn't expect a revolution in originality and character design, but the major differences between a Life Tapping Shadow Mage and a Skeleton Summoning one are very important, unlike in some other games available in the console ARPG genre.

Multiplayer: 5/10

If only this game would've been as good in the multiplayer section as it is in the gameplay section... CON is, simply put, an online multiplayer disaster.

To begin, the game has no one playing online. When I checked out the servers 3 months after this game had been released I found a whopping TWO players online! However, that would be acceptable if only the game wouldn't store the characters on the memory card and if only it wouldn't make it so easy to cheat, hack and modify them. Furthermore, some glaring omissions like a bartering window make the trading system based solely on trust.

However, all of this doesn't even come close to the game's 2 glaring problems: No PVP and the "one for all"-idiocy. No PVP is very self explanatory, one for all however is basically one idiotic way of putting in words this game's biggest online mistake: When one player moves out or in a new area, comes or goes out of a shop ALL of the players have to follow him there. Thankfully, the game has headset support so this is, to a certain extent, underplayed if people are cooperative.

Offline the same is basically true, except that everyone plays on the same screen, camera control is limited and you can kick the ass of the guy who wants to trade with you but then ends up not actually giving you the item you wanted.

Overall: 8/10

Champions of Norrath is, bar none, the best ARPG available for any console out there. The game combines all of its features in a cohesive, well made engine, which might not be very original or devoid of cliches, but it makes for a damn fun game.

Now only if the multiplayer would be decent...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/05