League of Legends is a Mobile Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game developed by Riot Games. Launched a little more than two years ago, it currently has more than 32 million accounts registered and more than 500,000 players online at any time. Oh, and did I mention it's free to pick up and play?
What is a Mobile Online Battle Arena you ask? Well, personally I find it a little hard to explain. Having only played League of Legends for almost a year, and only having started with MOBA games for just a little longer, I'm far from being an expert or a veteran. From my experience, I suppose I can say it's a cross between a real-time strategy game, a tower defense game, and maybe a little bit of an RPG. It sounds a little weird, but somehow it works out to be really fun.
The whole MOBA game genre was brought up into mainstream popularity by a mod created for Warcraft III called Defense of the Ancients. It contained most of the elements still present in MOBA games today from purchasing items to teams working towards destroying the enemy's beacon(s) in their home base. If you don't live under a rock, you'd know Valve Software (you know, those guys who made Steam), is currently making a sequel, as it was (and arguably still is) incredibly popular to this day. I'm here to talk about League though, so let's get on with it.
Gameplay is difficult to master, and honestly, it's a little hard to play at first for new players too, but once you get the hang of it, the endless amount of fun you'll be having is mind-numbing. You control a single champion who has four abilities, choosing which abilities you unlock and make stronger as you level up. You also make your champion stronger by gaining gold passively (and killing minions and enemy champions) and buying items.
There are a number of different modes in LoL (best acronym ever), but the classic one that everyone knows is Summoner's Rift, where you are placed on a team of five and face another team of five champions. The objective is to destroy your enemy's turrets until you reach their home base and destroy their giant crystal called the Nexus, which will give you victory. There are three paths with turrets lined along each, and many paths leading through a jungle with monsters lying around between the three paths. Of course, the enemy team will be trying to do the same to your turrets and Nexus, so you must strategize with your team to be effective at offense and defense.
Technically the game is free, as you can download the game and play it with no charge, but if you wish to use the champion you want all the time, you must unlock them. You earn Influence Points, a type of in-game currency, for every game you play, with victories rewarding more than losing. Once you unlock a champion, they're yours to use whenever you want. Having almost no champions starting out does suck, but thankfully Riot provides you with ten free champions that rotate every week or so, which if you play often enough has the benefit of teaching you how each champion works. Also, if you so choose, you can spend some actual cash for another type of currency called Riot Points to purchase champions and special skins for your favorites. There's a lot more to know about making purchases with IP and RP, and almost anything can be found on the official website.
Aside from the gameplay itself, the community surrounding this game is just baffling. It has grown so much in the past two years that it rivals World of Warcraft in terms of fans and community involvement. There are many popular fansites (that list is very non-exhaustive), complete with guides and people streaming live games and content. There is an incredibly active sub-Reddit message board containing links with many opportunities to learn and laugh. The game is exploding onto the eSports scene, having a presence at nearly any major PC gaming competition out there with professionals being found around the world and giving Starcraft a run for it's money.
It Has. Its Own. Memes.
All in all, League of Legends is a game you can't go wrong with. Then again, I suppose the genre might not be for everybody just like Starcraft II is probably not for me (Good God I suck at Starcraft II), but for a free game, I think it's very polished and incredibly fun. Go check it out if you so choose, but just make sure you aren't a Macintosh user.
Or, you could get Bootcamp. Bitches love Bootcamp.
I kid. I kid. But seriously, Bootcamp is awesome.
No comments:
Post a Comment