When you play a game, you want to escape your real life persona and become a remarkable character, one which NPCs will bow to and which makes enemies tremble in fear. Or perhaps you want to become a hot chick, which is also fine by us. You know, the usual “Hey, if I’m going to spend hours looking at a character’s ass, I prefer to choose a sexy one” excuse. But I digress. Character creation systems are a vital part of MMOs nowadays and we can lose hours on end trying to come up with the perfect avatar. But which ones are the best? Here are our choices at the moment, for free-to-play games only.
10 – ABSOLUTE FORCE ONLINE
You weren’t expecting this one, right? You can create some nifty characters for this shooter and cover them with some cool tattoos. Then you have a nice selection of accessories and clothes at your disposal, allowing everything from the boring military type to the sexy nurse. There’s also a range of heads and helmets that don’t give a damn at trademarks, such as Mario’s and Yoshi’s. It’s fun, unexpected, over the top and deserves a look.
9 – VINDICTUS
Vindictus is a game with some of the most beautiful characters in the free-to-play market but as you know already, they’re gender locked. So you have to pick one of them and change the base model a bit. Don’t expect to come up with something completely unique since there are many limitations, but there’s also plenty of unlocks and some really weird stuff to try out. And those damn characters really look amazing, there’s plenty of eye-candy and bouncing boobs here, for those that care about that stuff. Which, let’s be honest here, means most of you, guys!
8 – C9 CONTINENT OF THE NINTH SEAL
C9 is a great looking game and the character creation system is quite good, giving you plenty of choices to make your warrior unique. Besides your regular sliders, you’ll want to play around a bit with the hair and tattoo size sliders, as well as the location of the later. There’s really nothing to complain here, but just look at that excessively shiny hair! It’s like the characters used this amazing shampoo before heading into battle!
7 – STAR TREK ONLINE
The guys at Cryptic Studio definitely know their character creators – which is why it’s kinda odd that the Neverwinter one looks so shallow. However, Star Trek Online features one of the best ever, with so many species to choose from and quite a few customization options. From face to body and outfit, there’s plenty on offer here to waste some time creating a truly unique character.
6 – TERA RISING
TERA Rising is one of the most stunning free-to-play games out there, with some truly amazing character models, and by that we don’t mean just the female ones. The characters have a distinct and appealing art style and the character creation is a pleasure to work with. You can choose from some presets and fine-tune the facial details, from make-up to tattoos. However, the problem here is that the customization is pretty much focused on the face, leaving the body details out of the equation. But really, why would you want a beer belly with that face?
5 – CHAMPIONS ONLINE: FREE FOR ALL
Champions Online may not be the sharpest tool in the shed anymore, but its character creation was quite something and still holds up to this day. There’s a ridonculous amount of combinations available, but be ready to take out your wallet if you really want to try all the options and truly create a unique hero and nemesis.
4 – DRAGON'S PROPHET
So this game launched to quite a troublesome reception, but one thing that we can’t deny is that the Dragon’s Prophet character creation system is quite in-depth. It has all the cute little sliders that you know and love and no limits to the creation of a freak character that will make even the most daring dragon run away crying. And there’s even the next step in shallow sexiness in videogames – besides the boobs slider, there’s also a buttocks slider so you can get that ass all the way up. Baby got back!
3 – DC UNIVERSE ONLINE
DC Universe Online improves on the Champions Online template and offers you a lot of stuff to choose from like inspiration, movement type, skin, weapons and mentors, among others. You get to select a basic hero or villain and then try out some of the combinations just for fun. Your first experiences will probably result in characters with an evil look, but it’s not difficult to create a cool, unique superhero.
2 – AION
There’s so much you can do with Aion’s character creator that you’ll probably spend some hours on it before trying the actual game. There’s a scary amount of sliders and colors to go through and it’s easy to make a charming character, a striking warrior or a complete abomination that will give other players nightmares for years to come. We can only applaud the extensive customization options in Aion.
1 – APB RELOADED
Ever wanted to live a thug’s life and never had the chance? Well, you have to try APB Reloaded, a cops versus robbers MMO that sometimes was called Grand Theft Auto Online by some overexcited players – don’t stretch it, guys, OK? However, the character creation system alone is –almost- worth the reported development cost of $100 million. You can be a fat, short, bald, scarred criminal with enough tattoos to put any rockstar to shame, or you can be a sexy enforcer that will make you think twice before shooting her. You can change pretty much everything you wish and make a truly unique character, even to the extent of recreating celebrities and videogame heroes perfectly. Too bad the game is deeply flawed.
So those are our favorite character creation systems for now. Before you write in the comments things like “why isn’t this one there, idiots” or “what about this one, you morons”, keep in mind we’re not including games that are yet to be released in the West. Otherwise, we would definitely include the amazing Blade & Soul or Phantasy Star Online 2, among others. Anyway, leave us your suggestions in the comments and remember – FREE MMO games only.
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