Champions: Return to Arms finished!

It’s strange how things work out sometimes. I’d played a little bit of Champions: RtA but bounced out because of the lack of a map overlay. I then played Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance II, an earlier title by the same company, and that had a map overlay. Surely C:RtA did, too?

It did. I’d said the reason I didn’t play the game was due to the lack of the overlay, and with that excuse gone, I guessed I’d better play it.

The game isn’t materially different from its predecessor, Champions of Norrath. There are some different class/race selections, and I’m told the multiplayer is better. There are parallel paths for good and evil-aligned characters, allowing for reasons to play more than once; tiered difficulty levels; better graphics and two separate bonus game tracks (the “champions” medal series of minigames and the bloodstone dungeon hunts). This one game could keep a gamer playing for weeks to see all the nooks and crannies, and if I didn’t have such a huge backlog, I might.

The story picks up where CoN leaves off: you defeated the God of Hate, Innoruuk, at the climax of CoN, and now he wants to return. His death scattered shards of Hate throughout the Planes of Power, and Firiona Vie (along with, later, the God of Valor, Mithaniel Marr) wants you to collect them by going to each of the Planes, defeating a boss there (usually not the god of the plane), collecting the shard, and finally sealing them away forever (if you’re good) or resurrecting Innoruuk (if you’re evil).

The planes of Tranquility, War, Water, Disease, Torment, Nightmares, Innovation, Fire and Fear make an appearance, as well as non-plane zones Lake of Ill Omen, Kelethin and Lesser Faydark. Aside from Kelethin (reprising its appearance in the first game) and perhaps the Plane of Innovation, the zones didn’t really resemble the zones as they appear in the actual EverQuest MMO. The Plane of Fear is just an arena for the fight with Cazic Thule that ends the game for the good path.

The plot itself is nothing to write home about. You go to a new plane, kill everything you see, collect shard, continue. Some of the planes have cute twists to them, but most of the innovation goes to the optional minigames, which range from collecting frogs in a Pac Man-like maze to betting on pit fights to a tense underwater race to collect pearls while outrunning monsters and looking for the rare bubble columns where you can catch your breath.

Character progression is excellent. Each class has their own ability tree, with choices that significantly change how you play the game. Multiple playthroughs can max out all your abilities, but in your first playthrough, you’ll have to decide how you want to play the game. The class I chose, Wood Elf Ranger, can focus on bows or dual wielding melee weapons or kiting with snare — the very sorts of things you can do in EverQuest.

Other classes include Iksar Shaman (pet class), Vah Shir Berserker (melee dps), Barbarian Warrior (tank), High Elf cleric (melee/magic), Erudite Wizard (ranged magic), and Dark Elf Shadow Knight (melee/magic/pets).

People keep trying to remake the original EverQuest. I think those game developers should focus on remaking these old RPGs — these two, the RTS game, the mobile games. The IP is so much more than just MMOs.

Snowblind Studios, the developers, went on to make a PS2 Justice League game with the same engine. After thoroughly enjoying C:RtA, I’ve just put that game on my list.

Here’s the video of the final fight, along with the credits and the start of another playthrough at a higher difficulty. This time, we’re evil.