Super Hero MMO's

Graphics: Well, City of Heroes is the oldest of the three games, and it shows. The older areas of the game, such as King's Row, Steel Canyon, and the Hollows are really showing their age, and the older villains, such as the Outcasts and Trolls look really rough. That said, they have done much recently to compensate. The newest zones, in Praetoria, and the re-vamped Atlas Park are stunning, but the entire world isn't like that. DCUO, being the newest, has an advantage their, and it uses it. DCUO is stunning all the way through. Champions, despite coming after City of Heroes, never did a major graphics overhaul, and got left in the dust.

Points - DC Universe Online 2, City of Heroes 1, Champions Online 0

Gameplay: DCUO Really drops the ball on this one. It plays like a console game, which it is (it's also available on the PS3), but, it is still an MMO, so it doesn't exactly play like a console game completely either. I found DCUO's gameplay to be very un-fun and button-mashy. Both City and Champions have much easier to understand gameplay. Honestly, City and Champions are so similar in gameplay, I tied them.

Points - City of Heroes 1, Champions Online 1, DC Universe Online 0

Character Creator: DCUO really dropped the ball on this one too. The creator has limited options, is difficult to navigate, and not very user friendly. I almost want to give it a -1 for this. Champions Online has a really toony look, but is honestly the superior creator. I like the City of Heroes look better, but Champions has more options, better color scheme, more scaling options for the whole body, including face. Most of the DC content is locked behind a gear system. Ugh.

Points - Champions Online 2, City of Heroes 1, DC Universe Online 0

Content: DCUO is really repetive, and being the newest, has little content. Most content is outlevelled quickly as well. Champions has more content, but no one can beat the 7+ years of content that the City of Heroes team has built up. Not to mention the over 200,000 player-created missions available through the Mission Architect system. As for QUALITY of the content - City and DCUO tie here, with Champions a close second.

Points - City of Heroes 2, Chamions Online 1, DC Universe Online 0

Immersion: The game world. Honestly, each took a different approach. City of Heroes created everything from scratch, DCUO used a comic world that has been established for almost a century, and Champions floats somewhere in the middle, using a world that has existed before as an RPG (Champions RPG), but as an RPG, was open enough for the players to have their place. Each had their own approach and each did it well. Straight tie here.

Points - Champions Online 1, City of Heroes 1, DC Universe Online 1

Powers and Power Selection: Each game had their own tactic here too. Honestly, I really hated the way DCUO went. I think it majorly sucked. I wanted a lightning hero, and could not create one. I was disappointed. City of heroes seems really restrictive at times, with their archetypes and powersets, but really interesting power combinations in Champions end up making characters not as powerful as they should be. Each has strengths and weaknesses. Again, a tie.

Points - Champions Online 1, City of Heroes 1, DC Universe Online 1

Community: This one is where much of the pudding lies. The OTHER people. I have to give the win to City of Heroes. Their community is just awesome, the developers care and interact with the community (and they do it well too). It leaves both DCUO and Champions far in the dust. Really far. Of the other two, the Devs of Champions are virtually non-existant, and DCUO is pretty much the same. The playerbase is what separates these two, and Champions is better than DCUO's.

Points - City of Heroes 2, Champions Online 1, DC Universe Online 0

Cross-Platforming: Well Champions online looses by default - it is only available on one platform. The PC. DCUO has both PC and PS3, but they are not combined. That means, a PC player cannot interact with a PS3 Player. Lame. City of Heroes has two platforms as well, PC and Mac. While many will argue that they are both computers, and thus not really two different platforms, they are. PC players play in the same areas and interact with Mac players. That said, Mac's are not a big gamimg system in the first place.

Points - City of Heroes 1, DC Universe Online 1, Champions Online 0

TOTALS: Champions Online 7, City of Heroes 10, DC Universe Online 5

Result: City of Heroes is by far the best Super Hero MMO of the three. I have all three, I have a lifetime gold membership to Champions Online, and subscribe to City of Heroes. I let my DCUO sub lapse, but will probably play again when it becomes free. That said, if you are looking for me in a super hero MMO, look in City of Heroes - That's where I'll most likely be.