Choose My Adventure: The weather outside is frightful
December is here, which means it's about time to throw some logs on the fire, grab every blanket in the house, and collapse under the mantle in a freezing, sobbing heap. This week's arctic blast has left the United States feeling a lot like Northrend, but for those of us in certain parts of the country it's just the beginning of what's sure to be a long, hellish winter.
However cold it may be outside, there's always a warm, toasty inn waiting in our favorite games. MMOs also provide sunny vistas, hot deserts, and steamy swamps, all of which make great places to escape nasty real-life weather. Even when it's cold in an MMO, it's still warm at our desks. In this edition of Choose My Adventure, I'm depending on you to help me hide from the snow that's piling up outside of my window.
You don't have to send me somewhere warm, but I'd appreciate it if you send me somewhere fun.
For those of you who are new to Choose My Adventure, here's the gist: You choose what game I play, and then you help me make decisions in that game. Should I focus on PvP? Spend an entire day exploring? The outcome of CMA is all up to you. But first I need you to choose a game. Here's this edition's roster of choices, compiled from titles that seem interesting (and more than a few runners-up from previous CMA polls):
In Champions Online, you create your own superhero and enter a living comic book. There are super-villains to bash, plots to foil, and all the cape-wearing goofballs you could ask for. Champions Online provides the comic book lover with a world to explore outside of existing comic universes.
Aion is a fantasy MMO in which you play as a winged hero exploring a world ripped in two. Like other fantasy MMOs, Aion has terrible monsters, beautiful cities, and adorable companion pets.
In DC Universe Online, you also create your own superhero and enter a living comic book. The difference, however, its that it's a DC comic book. While hero creation is up to you, famous faces like Super-Man, Batman, Harley Quinn, and Joker all make appearances throughout the game's cities.
PlanetSide 2 is an MMOFPS that drops you in the middle of a violent three-faction conflict. Your goal is to capture territory by shooting and exploding everything that comes into your field of vision. Skill is a necessity, as is a team of friendly players.
The world of Defiance the game is tied to Defiance the TV show. Both center on a post-apocalyptic universe in which people are left to fend for themselves the only way that makes sense: by driving ATVs and shooting guns. Defiance is a third-person shooter with an open world to explore.
Guild Wars (the original) launched in a time when World of Warcraft was on its way toward becoming the biggest MMO in the world. It too is a fantasy MMORPG, but it uses a less traditional quest design and provides for more flexibility in how you go from beginning to endgame. It's also one of the most high-profile examples of the buy-to-play payment model in the MMO genre.
Allods Online is an MMORPG set in, and I'm quoting here, "the fantasy space opera universe of Sarnaut." In this game you level a character and learn new abilities as you might expect, but you also have the option of building a spaceship and exploring the Astral.
It's up to you now. Choose the game I should play by voting in the poll below, which closes at 12:01 a.m. EST on Sunday morning. Oh, keep your voting honest -- you can promote the poll among your communities, but we'll disqualify any game that sees an inflated vote count due to shadiness on the part of fans or the studio.
So get to voting and Choose My Adventure!
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Mike Foster is looking for a way to beat the winter chill, preferably by losing himself in a brand-new game world. Help him find his way to warmth in Choose My Adventure, and keep an eye out for him on the Massively Stream Team as he puts your votes into action.
