League of Legends: A Review

For my first hub, I thought I’d write a review of a fun game I recently discovered: League of Legends by Riot games. I found out about this game while I was hosting a game of Dota (Defense of the ancients). Dota is a custom game for Warcraft 3 (an RTS(Real-Time-Strategy) game by Blizzard Entertainment). What initially piqued my interest in LOL(League of Legends) was the fact that the original creator of Dota as well as several Blizzard graphic designers had signed on to develop it. In my opinion, Blizzard games are top notch and their graphics are always spot on. This being said, I had to check out LOL. As for the review, I’m going to briefly summarize the game and then follow up the summary with a short list of pros and cons that were apparent to me.

If you’re new to RTS games and Dota, then you’re probably asking yourself this question. In short, LOL is an online, team based, multiplayer experience which pits two teams of 5 player controlled champions against one another. To keep this review from turning into War and Peace I’ll try to keep it brief while discussing the basic elements of gameplay. LOL was modeled off of Dota, so if you’ve played Dota, you’ll feel right at home. Both games share the same basic elements.

As the game starts, players must select a champion. Champions are to LOL as heroes are to Dota. There are around 40 champions in LOL. The champions range from beefy, tank-like, front line fighters to less physically imposing mages who are able to cast powerful spells from a distance. There are also assassin type characters who use speed and/or stealth abilities to inflict damage. Further still, there are champions which can hybridize 2 or more roles. To say the least, the available champions are very diverse. Luckily, the champion selection screen is very user friendly as the champions are all classified by tags, which signify their various roles in battle.

There are a few ways to start a game in LOL. There are practice games and bot games, which require a player to create a game room, which other players can join. Aside from those, the two most popular game modes are both normal games, which are either solo or arranged team. With either option, players click the play icon, which enters them into the normal game queue. From here, players are matched up according to similar skill levels. Riot has a proprietary system known as “ELO”, which is used to gauge a player’s skill. There are some complex formulas involved, but suffice to say, when you win a game, your ELO increases. On the same token, when you lose, your ELO decreases slightly. Once teams have been matched up, they choose their champions as well as their summoner skills. Currently, there is only one game mode available: “Blind Pick.” In this mode, each team chooses its champions without knowing the choices being made by the other team. Riot has promised additional game modes, but currently only blind pick mode is available. The only current map available for normal games is called “Summoner’s Rift.” When the map loads up, players spawn at one of two bases: the blue base (bottom) or the purple base (top). A simplified aerial view of the terrain looks like this:

As you can see, there are 3 lanes which lead to each base. These lanes are complete with 3 turrets each as well as an inhibitor. At the heart of each base, there is a nexus. Each nexus is protected by 2 turrets. The ultimate objective of the game is to destroy the other team’s nexus At each nexus, minions spawn in waves and automatically begin their trip towards the enemy base. Killing minions is the main source of gold for players. Gold is used to purchase equipment from the team shop. The equipment provides various augmentations to the champions. Additionally, gold can be earned by killing enemy players and structures. There are also neutral minion camps located at various locations across the map, some of which provide additional bonuses when killed. In a typical game, the strategy is to push lanes by killing heroes, minions, and turrets. This allows your team (and minions) a clear path to the enemy nexus – allowing it to be destroyed. Of course, the enemy team will be trying to achieve the same objective, so it leads to a fun, competitive environment. Since this hub is already getting quite long, I'll include my overall rating of the game as well as some impressions in the following Hub. Just click the next link.