PC Preview: League of Legends

Riot (Gaming Development) and the creators of Defense of the Ancients (DOTA), which is a custom game hosted through Warcraft III and Battle.net, have been working on a brand new title: League of Legends. There has been limited publicity about the creation and evolution of this game, but it is currently in beta testing, and looks to release as soon as possible. It has already missed its mark for an early 2009 release.

Check out the newest trailer: http://www.leagueoflegends.com/pages/e3_trailer

At first glance, I have some issues with this development. The game is basically an exact copy of DOTA. I guess that the success DOTA has achieved on Battle.net has prompted developers to bring the title to its own game, therefore separating it from Warcraft III. The only valid reason to make this move would be if the game had flaws that could be avoided by creating a stand alone game. If that is not the motivation, then it is a money driven cause, and if that is the case, I expect a huge disappointment.

Lets look at what the game will bring to the table above the DOTA experience.

1. Summoner - This is just a fancy word for the avatar you create when you make an account in the game. The avatar will be rewarded with gear as you win games, making it fully customized and unique. You can also unlock different maps and modes as you push to higher levels, and I would assume that tournaments and match play would use avatar status to determine fair and competitive opponents. This feature, although cute and colorful, actually does nothing, it is just an avatar (which is basically a face for an account name). The gear your avatars where can not be used, it just makes you look different, which I do not consider an upgrade from DOTA.



2. New Heroes and Items - DOTA currently has over 90 heroes to choose from. League of Legends has released nearly 20 heroes for the beta version, and has a feature that lets users send ideas for new heroes. It is fair to assume that this game with eventually have more then 90 heroes to choose from, but it will be a growing process from here forward. I expect they would release the game with around 40 heroes, with hopes of expanding about a hero per week. This feature, although cute and colorful, is basically new faces to old heroes. If you look at the hero ability list on the website, League of Legend heroes mirror all the DOTA heroes. To be honest, what DOTA has done with their hero list is outstanding and original, they actually released two new characters in the past month, and both bring unique abilities to the game. I do not consider giving old heroes new faces upgrading the game. Read this section again and switch the word "hero" with "item", literally.



3. Cartoon Graphics - One easy knock on DOTA are the graphics. Warcraft III was released in 2002, and DOTA uses the graphics within that game. It is actually amazing that a game released in 2002 is still being played by millions of users on a daily basis (yes, I said millions). DOTA basically has been making gold out of copper running on the Warcraft III engine. The real question is, how many pro DOTA players really have a problem with it? The graphics in League of Legends look to be extremely cartoon. This means characters appear bubbly instead of pixel bunched. I can remember a few games that got worse as the graphics got better, and the reason is only really understood by gaming pros. The more control you have over each specific movement of your character, the easier it is to "micro" (micromanagement of a unit). This idea has a direct connection to the outcome of many situations in DOTA: escaping death, running through and around fog, last hitting and denying creeps, towers, and heroes, creep blocking, pulling creeps, etc. All of these moves demand a high level of coordination, and rely heavily on timing and precision. When it comes to graphics, the better they are, they harder it is. This is my theory, some will agree, some will disagree. Reviews will tell the true story. Either way, I do not consider better graphics being an upgrade to the game.



4. Multiple Maps - DOTA runs off of one map, League of Legends will have many to choose from. This is without a doubt an upgrade that I fully think will enhance the gaming experience, but how hard would it be to make new maps in DOTA? Probably not very hard. Still, advantage League of Legends.
   
   

From what I can read, those are the features that make Leauge of Legends different from DOTA. I'm sure there are some details I have overlooked, or have not learned about yet, so please inform me of any info you come across. I would love to hear from anyone beta testing this game. I am glad that DOTA is making steps into making there own game, but I fear that they are doing it completely wrong. The good news is that DOTA has a huge fan base, so reaching even a quarter of the mass will be enough to get the game going. From there, its gonna be a race between pulling people in, and watching people leave. I wish this game the best of luck, but have my doubts. I would also like to note that DOTA remains free to play, and with the release of Battle.net2 coming soon, should expect a huge boost in gaming engine capabilities...

How much will League of Legends cost? What will be the monthly fee? How stable will the gaming engine be? How smooth and often will there be upgrades?

More to come....

-GAME HARD-

3rd Mortal Kombat Movie "Kinda" Leaked

Here's a little fun fact for you: The very first MK movie was made for under 22 million dollars. Within one week of its release the movie (based on one of the goriest fighting franchises out there) had grossed roughly 120 million dollars. Success? I would have to say so. Though the first film spit out a few less than reputable sequels, Mortal Kombat is priming its engine once again amidst all of the fallout from the recent Warner Bros purchase of Midway (creators/developers of the series).

The movie is (at this point in time) set filming in September and has even gone as far as gathering up some of the original talent like eighth degree black belt Chris Casamassa who played Scorpion in the first and second film. Chris is actually the lone gunman who dropped the hint that a third movie was in full swing. So thank him or he'll judo chop your face off.

Perhaps what America needs is a good old fashioned, corny, off the wall violent fighting movie to spruce up the economic whirlwind we are currently in. There's nothing quite like a good Mortal Kombat movie to take your mind off all the trivial malarkey this blue Earth is swimming in at the moment. Here's the full story provided by our friends over at gamespot.

-GAME HARD-

Tales of Monkey Island Gets High Praise!

I felt compelled to quickly post a link to Gamasutra's article on the amazing response Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1 has received thus far. If your a fan of the original series (Monkey Island) or any of the old school Lucas Arts-esque gems (i.e. Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max and Maniac Mansion) then you absolutely owe it to yourself to jump back into one of the biggest genre movements out there: Adventure Games...More specifically:

Tales of Monkey Island Chapter 1

Here's the link and please do check it out. I love Lucas Art adventure games and would love to see them take off once again...even though they have been reincarnated into TellTale Games.

Link: Gamasutra-Critical Reception for Takes of Monkey Island!

-GAME HARD-

Up to 4 new Bosses in Left 4 Dead 2?

We all know the trials and tribulations of Valves upcoming sequel to Left 4 Dead. Petitions claiming that, "it's too soon for a sequel" and "this is going to be a glorified expansion pack sold at retail price." While amidst all this jargon, L4D developer Valve has continued to spray the 'interwebs' with news regarding the sequel; trying to calm the masses of rabid fan boys down. For me, the petitions are plumb dumb and L4D2 couldn't come any sooner. With brand spanking news coming from Valve's VP of Marketing (Doug Lombardi) just this morning in regards to the sequel, I'm sure the purest of players will be ecstatic and content with the latest update.

"New boss monsters - there's gonna be at least three bosses, we're toying with a fourth right now." -Doug Lombardi speaking to IncGamers-

Remember the witch? How about the Boomer? What about the Tank (my fav)? Well, lets add on possibly four new bosses into Left 4 Dead 2! With news like this hitting the news-vine, one must wonder if the players will be able to play as the new bosses in multiplayer modes. One would say all signs point to yes, seeing as though you were able to in the first game. Check back here to find out all the L4D2 news as well as L4D1.

We'll be sure to hold a spot in our fallout shelter when the zombie apocalypse arises!

-GAME HARD-

Rocket Riot Reviewed

In an extremely cluttered XBox Live Arcade list, it takes something extra special to catch the attention of gamers. It almost has to be something that you can pick up and play within minutes and not have to think to hard about what the game embodies. Is it fun? Is it worth the cash? Don;t be fooled, not all the games out there are good. In fact, I'd say a good 50-60% of the games offered on Live are mediocre at best. However, in the past few months we have seen a steady increase in quality Arcade games being offered. Recently, we've been treated to games such as Gunstar Heroes, Altered Beast and even Sonic 3. Yet, there has been one title that has eluded many gamers out there...the undeniably fun Rocket Riot! In a marketplace riddles with the "same old same old" Rocket Riot stands out as one hell of a good change up.

The concept of RR (created by Coin-Op Interactive and developed by Codeglue) is simplistic, frantic, destructive and extremely over the top. The easiest way for me to describe the game in a somewhat coherent way is to actually cut and paste the caption from Codeglue website:

"Rocket Riot is an action-packed side-view shooter featuring a bazooka-wielding jet pack soldier. With a highly stylized 8-bit era feel, players blast their way through the environment against enemies or multiplayer foes online. Navigating through a completely destructible environment, players can uncover special power ups or even burrow into different areas of the map."

Boasting an astounding 80 levels, A fully featured multiplayer Riot with 4 multiplayer modes against up to 8 players on Xbox Live or up to 4 players on a single screen as well as teamed based CTF. Needles to say there's a lot to do and take advantage of in this game.

From a graphical standpoint, Rocket Riot isn't necessarily going to rock your face off. As described above, it's pretty much a 2D scrolling shooter with blocked in parameters (i.e. single screen levels). The game almost has an 80's aesthetic to it (intentional of course) and is always poking fun of it's own simplistic structure. Blocks look 'blocky' characters look like they were pulled from a Doctor Mario clone gone wrong and the music is straight out of the 1980's era 8-bit soundtrack module. Yet, somehow all the nostalgic nuances seem to grab you by the throat and force you to have a good time!

Game play is where Rocket Riot truly shines. Its fast paced, run and gun action that is delivered in short burst, meaning the levels are short and normally only take about four to five minutes to beat. Each level has a different objective and range from obscure killing spree goals to scoring field goals with footballs. Odd? Yup. Fun? Absolutely!

Even though the mini games can get repetitive on occasion, the developers do a fantastic job of rewarding you. While playing through the campaign you will notice that your constantly unlocking new characters (there's tons to unlock), new colors, weapons and even avatars. All in all, the Codeglue does a great job in keeping you coming back for more. Rumored DLC is actually on the horizon as well which will include new maps, weapons and playable characters.

One last thing I would like to hit on is the sound effects. I'm a huge stickler for SFX and when a game doesn't deliver I make sure to write about it. I'm happy to say that Rocket Riot is...average. I will give credit to the soundtrack, however, simply due t the fact tat ts right out of an 80's NERDS movie complete with synchronizes and "robot-beeps." The actually sound FX are something to be desired though. The explosions sound weak and the bazooka's your equipped with don't really feel powerful at all. I like my gins to have some "umph" to them if you know what I mean.

For 800 points, Rocket Riot is a great pick up. The game lasts, for what seems like forever, the gameplay is solid, multiplayer adds a big bonus to the entire game and where else can you pick a banana pirate (yes, an actual banana with pirate attire) as your main character? Count me in!

Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Replayability: 8
SFX: 6
Fun Factor: 8
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Overall: 7.0

-GAME HARD-

Gears of War 2 Title Update 4 Now Live

We quickly wanted to post this little nugget of news to all of our Gears of War fans out there. Title Update 4 is now live and can be downloaded simply by loading up the disc and playing. The new update actually does a bunch of things to help the gameplay out quite a bit. It adds experience points to horde mode and fixes the plethora of bugs plaguing the online component (i.e. shotgun lag/frame rate issues).

The new update also tweaks the Wingman match type, doing away with some of the issues involving weapon spawning and a particularly nasty exploit where players could get credit for two kills while only killing one opponent.

So if you want to check out the official story, here's the link to Epic Games. So go and get you frag on with Marcus, Dom and the rest of the crew and always remember............

-GAME HARD-

Today's News Bytes 7.2.09

Today's Happenings Thus Far (Live Updates Throughout Day)

• Capcom's minor plethora of PSN Updates [here]
• David Perry and his streaming gaming service Gaikai [here]
• Blizzard has a new trademark application...New Game? [here]
• Is Grease really coming to the DS? [here]
• Vandal Hearts (xbla/psn) Delayed [here]
• THQ Doesn't Want Wrestling Contract Extension, Files Suite [here]
• Awesome Fallout 3 Brotherhood of Steel Costume [here]
• RockStar Denies GTA on iPhone [here]
• Apple Dropping NViDIA In Future iMacs and Laptops [here]
• Major Nelson, "Don't sweat the XBox Live Silverlight ads" [here]
• NBA 2K9 Sells Over 2 Million World Wide [here]
• BREAKING: Midway not bought by WB - To close in 60 days! [here]
• Miyomoto Explains New Zelda Won't Be "Radically Different" [here]
• BREAKING: Left 4 Dead DLC Inbound! [here]
• Battlefield 1943 Hitting XBLA Next Week - 1200 points [here]
• Next 'No More Heroes' Game Wont Be on Wii [here]
• Obsidian's Alpha Protocol Gets an Oct. 6th Release Date [here]

-GAME HARD-