League of Legends Preview

Today, my usual lame attempt at comedy will be substituted with a game preview.
I preach to you the wonders of this game. Riot Games has produced this amazing game, League of Legends. And, unlike most games, I won't just play this on Tuesday during the maintenance, I'm definitely keepin' this one in my Start menu. Due to the NDA, I can't give you any pictures or videos, but the UI is amazing. So, let me describe to you the general idea of the game.

Based off DOTA Allstars, this amazing game is a re-make of the map we know and love. While you may be wondering why this game over DOTA, you really need to see it to believe it. The changes they made aren't game breaking, but in fact improve the game in small areas that could have been better in the original.

First off, the UI. In the left corner is a circle with all of your abilities. When you start, you can choose two abilities, and based off the class you're playing, other abilities. As you level, you can rank up those abilities. The circle seems to be easier to work with than Warcraft's square in the right corner. In the middle, is a long experience bar, helpful because by the end of the game, players can be over level 20. In the right lower corner is the map. It goes the extra step to have a white line show the path your character will take between where he is now, and where you clicked to move. Also, a large circle shows your character's face, and also shows your teammates, to know where they are.

Then, we have gameplay itself. I found it to be very fast-paced when interacting with other players, but fighting against NPCs was agonizingly long. Your base constantly spawns a long line of warriors to aid your heros. Along the way are many turrets, which ranged-attack heroes as they fight the NPCs. There are three hotspots in the middle of the map where both heroes run out and war. It's very similar to DOTA in this aspect of the game.

Last but not least, matchmaking. LoL's rendition of BattleNet is well-executed. There are various chat rooms, and to join a game, very little effort is required. You can say what map and player vs player number combination you want, and then a list is shown of the battles for your combination of preferences. Joining a battle was quick and easy, even in the beta.

You can read all about it at http://www.leagueoflegends.com/

Once I play more, I'll post Part 2 of 2.

Until then, EP.

EDIT: Part 2 of 2

Hello everyone. Well, honestly, I feel like a noob. Indeed. Yesterday, I gave you part 1 of 2 of this League of Legends preview. I hadn't played many games, and now I feel much more confident about this post, having played all night. I was thinking of how to talk to you today, and realized the best way to describe it would be to give you a walkthrough. A complete walkthrough of what you would do in a game. Everything.

So, you enter the game by entering your account name and password, and then have a main menu. On the left, you can enter a game. On the right, you can use the rune system. With the rune system, you obtain runes that increase your stats, put them on this diagram, much like WoW's glyphs, and no doubt this will make gameplay more interesting. However, it may be complicated for new players, and was only recently implemented. Should you click Play, you will enter your desired matchmaking info. I like 5v5, so I selected such.

You're now in a large chat room with multiple games for you to select. Or, if you don't want to join a game someone else is starting, you can create your own. Once you are in a game, you're in a chatroom, waiting for the teams to fill up. Once the teams are full, the leader presses Start, and it begins.

First, you select a Champion. Like a hero in Warcraft, just cooler. Now, these Champions can level up, get new skills, and kick ass. Then, you select your two additional abilities. Basically, you get two abilities from a pool of abilities that anyone can get, making your character "yours" in a sense of customization.

Once you're good to go, everybody loads, then spawns, and you're in the game.

So. When you start, you're level 1. You have 1 credit for a new skill, so you can pick any skill you want. Then, you click the little bag full of gold on your UI, and buy the lowest upgrade with the gold you start with. Then, you go out into the middle of your path and the enemy will eventually come. The way NPCs work is interesting. Every few seconds, a long line of NPCs comes from your starting point into the three paths. The idea is to assist your NPCs in killing the other NPCs, without taking damage. Then you'll have more NPCs, and enemy Champions and Turrets will die easily. For example, I went to a path with no enemy Champions. The NPCs just killed each other, over and over. Then, I killed a few enemy NPCs and eventually downed a Turret. Owned!

So, the way the skills you have work in an amazing way, it's pretty cool. For example, I played Jax and GemKnight. Both overpowered and easymode, but ehh. On Jax, you have a Leaping Attack, a spell for weapon damage, and a Counter-Attack AOE. The attacks are binded to Q, W, E, R, A, and S. There's alot of right-clicking, but my Belkin N52TE handled the attacks wonderfully. Eventually, the path's Turrets are gone, and you can proceed into the enemy's base. You have to down two larger turrets, then two regular turrets in front of their "Nexus", the actual base you need to down to win. So, the entire fight, while you level up from experience from killing NPCs, you get more skills. You can rank up four skills, or if you don't have all four yet, purchase more. Also, with the gear, you can buy gear to improve your character. Gold drops from everything. You can buy [Red Gem of Speed] and [Boots] and THEN you can buy [Speed Boots]. Also, NPC "m0bs" as best described, are in the forests in between the paths. Easy fight, but XP and gold nonetheless.


Finally, my personal opinion, ZOMGORZ.

I love the game. No, really. It's awesomely fun, and if I'm not posting on MMO-C, doing dailies, or sleeping, I'll be playing this game. I'll squeeze it in somewhere!

9/10.


---EPicphoenix