Game Info:
Developer:
-Riot Games
Publisher:
-Riot Games
-Garena
-Tencent Holdings Ltd
Staff:
Producers:
-Steven Snow
-Travis George
Designers:
-Steve Feak “Guinsoo” (The designer of the
original DotA Map)
-Rob Garret
-Christina Norman
Artists:
-Edmundo Sanchez
-Troy Adam
-Jay Davies
Age Rating:
-T for Teen
Platforms:
-Microsoft Windows
Genre:
-MOBA or DotA or Action RTS
System Requirements:
General:
League of Legends was created around the DotA
idea. What the genre offers is usually two teams competing two destroy one another’s main bases whilst
fighting numerous obstacles such as the Champions(The character you control),
Minions (Computer Controlled Soldiers) and Turrets (Damaging you if you come
close to them). The team that gets to destroy the other team’s Nexus(Main Base)
first is the winner. Whilst in the game you can collect gold by killing minions
or other enemy Champions.
Multiplayer:
Being an only multiplayer game, I will only
cover this part of the game. League of Legends offers matches in the form of
sessions and in the different types of game modes, some of the game modes
include a standard 5v5 or 3v3 Player versus Player action, which is the classic
game mode to be picked out, but you can also choose the Co-Op VS AI game type
which, implied by the name is the standard game mode but you will get to train
against CPU controlled champions. Also other game modes which are available are
Dominion or Custom Mode, and to break those down easily, Dominion is the
standard mode but players receive faster leveling up and faster money-earning,
on the other hand Dominion involves a basic “Domination” concept, players get
to capture the enemies checkpoints which in this game mode are represented by
turrets, the ones which hold the points the longest win. Custom though, is what
most other games call “Private Match”, a custom game is a session which can be
viewed in the custom game list and can be joinable.
Another important game type is Ranked mode ,this
game type can only be playable by players with maximum level (lvl 30). Ranked
Mode is a classic game type but the teams are arranged, as the Ranked Team
Leader gets to choose his own team or group of 5 players (to make it
understandable this is what a Guild or a Clan would be in other games of such
type). The scores recorded in the Ranked Game Mode directly reflects onto the
game’s Ranked Leaderboard.
Maps:
I know such thing as maps should not be
involved in the General Description of the Multiplayer part of the game, but in
League of Legends maps are not commonly produced and are very important to
gameplay.
A map in LoL is called a Field of Justice
and is composed of either 3 or 2 lanes (Top-Mid-Bottom) each of these lanes has
an amount of turrets serving as obstacles and aid to the players of both teams (this
meaning both teams have their own turrets), of course periodically minions, as
I explained in the “General” part of the review , spawn on these lanes and
attack each other trying to reach one another’s Main Base(Nexus). The Fields of
Justice also have 4 Inhibitors (2 on each team) if an Inhibitor is destroyed
more powerful super-minions spawn. On top of the lanes the maps also consist of
a Jungle area which is filled with Neutral NPC Monsters that both teams can
kill in order to farm for gold or EXP, some of these monsters have buffs which
are immediately transferred to their killer, these buffs help you in battle for
a limited amount of time.
Menus and Perks:
IP and RP:
Influence Points (IP) or Riot Points (RP)
are in game currencies which can be used to buy champions, skins or Runes.
Influence Points can be earned according to
your Skill, after finishing a Normal match of LoL you will earn an amount of IP
which afterwards you will be able to use in the client store, the more you win
and play matches, the more you will earn IP and will be able to purchase all of
the above.
Riot Points are not earned but bought
through micro-transactions (real money through Credit Card or Pay Pal) from the
League of Legends Store, being a Free to Play , the game earns part of its
income by selling these special points with which you can purchase Skins for
your Champions or Champions.
Masteries:
Masteries are points which influence your
gameplay in the form of a perk, which means that they improve your gameplay and
give you advantages when you start the game. These points are earned once you
level up, having 30 levels available you only are capable to hold 30 of them
whether they be Defensive, Offensive or Utility.
Runes:
Runes are similar to Masteries but only on
the Perk point of view, they help you in-game but by improving your stats as
you start the match. One type of rune could help you by increasing your attack
damage while another could help you by reducing your skill’s cooldown and
helping you cast them quicker.
There is a limited number of runes you can
have, but you may buy more Rune Pages, runes are only purchasable through
Influence Points to make it fair for people that do not invest their money into
the game.
Graphics & Sound:
League of Legends’ Graphics are stunning in
the way they act and react with user interference.
Graphical design is cel shading which means
it is artsy and has a more story-like look than a realistic one, this is not
something bad, but on the contrary, it improves the playability and it makes it
look more enjoyable. The particles and the textures set to a very high quality
are amazing and even if you play this game at lower settings you will still get
to enjoy a really wonderful world and environment that League of Legends has to
offer. The design of the Champions is also great and each and one of them have
their unique look that adds personality and awesomeness to them.
In the same category, the sound is just as wonderful, from the soundtrack to
the simple voices and effects are all amazing. The voices of the characters
really suit them and go very well with their look, the jokes are well made and
the taunts and battle cries as well. The effects of the skills sound smooth and
violent depending on the skill but even so go pretty well with the animations
of those skills.
All in all, the sound and graphics are very
polished and good quality which is a great plus for this game.
Verdict:
The bottom line and my sincere opinion is
that the game is amazing. But the thing is that it is difficult for many people
to agree with me because this game is a very rare genre and even though a few
million people play it, I unfortunately have to say it is not easy to get used
to if you are a beginner because the community is not very welcoming and you
can even get banned for the reason that you are unskilled, which most of the
time is not very fair as some players can be new to the game.
I personally, have played quite a lot
of LoL and I am in love with the game
but I had my fair share of yelling at, getting reported or other stereotypical
“kid gamer” treatment.
But with all those community problems aside
the game itself is wonderful once you get to understand it better, in my case
it did not take very long considering I had played DotA on the original
Warcraft 3,and even though I was not as good at that than I am at LoL it was
still the same type of experience that I got to live.
Anyways my final opinion and recommendation
is that all of you who saw the game before and did not play it, should, and if
you did play it and did not enjoy it, then you should give it another try
because chances are the more you play it the more you will get to understand
the concept.
