Recently my brother introduced me to League of Legends (LOL), it's the first free to play game or multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) I have played. Its based on the popular Defence of the Ancients mod for Warcraft III, and while a Defence of the Ancients 2 is coming (its in beta right now) LOL seems to have taken over the MOBA landscape.
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| Teemo, yes he's cute but you will come to fear him! |
Each player, or summoner as the game calls you, controls a powerful champion unit in a team-based battle to destroy each other's base. The game uses familiar strategy features such as towers and minions (AI controlled) and mixes it with roleplaying elements such as levelling and collecting gold to buy better weapons and equipment. The list of champions to pick from is huge, at this time there is 113 and this is LOLs biggest strength. Each champion is beautifully drawn, highly inventive and most importantly they are each unique. From the obvious knight and mage to an ice bird, a pirate, a scarecrow and a little girl with her teddy each has their own abilities and style of play. There are some great quirky character and there is bound to be one that draws you in. LOL has kept the bright style of the Warcraft universe, the slightly cartoonish world works well. Careful though, don't zoom in as once a battle starts you need to be as far out as you can to be able to click on your character amongst all the explosive effects. Each champion has 4 abilities, you start with one but as you level up you get to unlock more until you can get your ultimate ability. The abilities range from simple one off attacks, to area effects, invisibility, healing buffs and I could go on and on the only consistent thing is the fantastic visual effects that accompany them. Along with levelling up you will also collect gold to spend in the shop as with the champions and anilities their is a decent amount of stuff to choose from and each with its own stats and effects. One of the most satisfying things about LOL is levelling and buying new weapons, unlike a lot of games you can start to see how powerful your champion has become, a group of AI minions that at the start you needed back up for can be ripped to pieces with no loss of health. Winning can feel great, especially when you have been playing a while and you know your teamwork and coordination helped swing a battle. Also I love the voice over that declares how good you or any other champion is, the first time you hear it declare you "god like" will raise a smile on any gamers face.
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| Vayne has become my favourite |
The wealth of options can be a bit daunting, although you only get access to this weeks free to play champions if you don't buy any others. The list of free champions should keep you busy for a while and it changes every Tuesday, unusually just as you find one your good with. If you want to unlock a champion to play then you can spend your IP points that you collect for winning battles or you can purchase Riot points and buy with them. The first thing you will probably notice is the choice of maps. Right now there is 4 with 2 different styles of game play. While at first the choice of champions will occupy you, once you have chosen one to specialise in the lack of maps can be noticeable. The one that is the most common is the standard 5v5 map but I prefer the 3v3 map with its closer fought battles. One criticism of LOL can mainly be against almost all online games that involve a bit of strategy, it comes down to formula. The LOL community has spent along time working out the right tactics for the fastest xp gains and equipment for the best dps. This can get annoying, with members of you team declaring you a noob or how saying how "your teams going to loose" within seconds of starting because you picked a sword from the shop rather then shield. The loading time can be a bit slow, sometimes infuriatingly so as each player connects to the game and if someone disconnects then your team has pretty much lost. Battles can be confusing at times with to much action taking place, another reason I prefer 3v3. Sometimes you will meet someone who will blast you apart in seconds and you cant explain why, was it skill? Luck? the right champion vs your champion? It can be annoying but use the death recap, buy resistance to what they are hitting you with and it should help. Also a defeat can be obvious with in minutes of a match starting, this then leads to your team defending as the opposition grinds out a victory. Thankfully there is an option to surrender, although you need the rest of your team to vote for it as well. Although come backs are hard when they happen they can be the sweetest victories.
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| Zac, one of the newer champions |
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| Annie and Tibbers |
LOL like most online games, has those players that take it far to seriously and those who are soooo much better then everyone else. The community does have its whiners (there is a system to report them) unfortunate that people still fill the chat channel with screams of "noob". You were new once. The problems and attitudes of few can push you away but I think its worth a look at for any gamer that likes a bit of strategy. If I had paid the best part of £40 for LOL I would have felt ripped off but it was free and what you get is good solid game. The learning curve is steep but the charming visual effects, colourful characters and the sweet taste of victory can make it all worth while.
Verdict: Come back with your shield, or on it. Solid strategy game, the lack of maps might reduce its longevity but its free. Go play.
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