League of Legends review

DOTA (Defence of the Ancients) has received universal acclaim for one of the best multiplayer team games of all time. Spawning from a Starcraft custom game mode, and eventually latching onto Warcraft 3 for a standalone game, this game has been in competitive play for a long time (there are still tournies for this game). Basshunter has also made a song regarding DOTA.

DOTA is a game with a fairly simple concept. The objective is to destoy the enemy's home base structure, which is guarded by various turrets (the minimap included is the LoL one, much more useful than the one offered in DOTA). What makes the game unique is the plethora of playable heroes, each with unique skillsets.

Building on the success of DOTA came two MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) games, Heroes of Newerth (HoN) and League of Legends (LoL). Heroes of Newerth is pretty much a carbon copy of DOTA, not really offering any new concepts or game mechanics, while also charging for the game ($30 one time fee). 

League of Legends on the other hand, brings forth a ton of new concepts, besides new maps, League of Legends boasts 76 Champions, each one offering new mechanics, without plagurizing DOTA's original champions (like HoN did). LoL is also completely free to play. There is an ingame currency (IP) and currency you pay for (RP). Currently the only things you NEED RP for are special skins that change the look of your champions. So theoretically you could play LoL without paying any money. There is also a champion rotation, so only certain champions will be availiable every week if you choose not to buy any champions with IP or RP. There are a ton of mechanics here, but unlike HoN, LoL has several things to help out new players. LoL has helpful tutorials and even a working bot game mode that helps out new players get into the game.

Historically, MOBA games have a bad rap for having a terrible community of raging kids. LoL has a unique feature that allows players reported for bad attitude, harassment, etc. to be judged by the playerbase in the Tribunal. There is a level requirement to use the Tribunal however (level 30, about 150 games played). Average game lengths for LoL are about 30 minutes. And there is a penalty for leaving. Thus, LoL is quite the time investment when you play. 

As you play LoL and increase your "summoner level," to get to that elusive level 30, it serves as a learning experience in itself. The grind from level 1-30 serve as a training experience. The true game opens at level 30, with ranked play and real competition (if you're into that sort of stuff). Of course, you could always keep playing normal, custom, and bot games once you reach level 30, if you're not into that SRS BZNESS MODE GAMING TRYHARD ARRRRGHHH WHY DO YOU SUCK SO MUCH YOUR ELO IS TERRIBLE IM IN HELL I WANT TO GO TO DREAMHACK AND WIN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS PLAYING LOL BUT MY TEAMMATES DRAG ME DOWN IT IS ALWAYS THEIR FAULT IM GOING TO UNSTALL BUT JK THIS GAME IS TOO FUN.

My review for this game probably do not do it much justice, as there is so much to talk about, so take a tl;dr:

League of Legends is a free to play game played by millions of players worldwide. It is a unique and vast game with lots of depth and replayability. 
/ [Doormat]

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