Dota 2

Introduction

The first game review (celebration squeal) of this blog will be of..

What is Dota 2? You’d probably heard of Dota 2 from perhaps your brother shouting into the microphone asking his team to back up, or maybe just from the immense clicking of the mouse while you look on to notice enormous amounts of animations which only served to make you feel even more confused, or just from the rants of an older (maybe younger?) sibling who lost a game badly. 

So, what exactly is this game?

Dota 2 gameplay

 It is a game created by Valve (with the help of Icefrog) as a successor to the original Warcraft 3 mod that was titled Defense of The Ancients (and therefore Dota), the difference between the original Dota and Dota 2, most noticeably, is the graphical upgrades in terms of the appearance of the different heroes and the different animations of each of their skills.

Differences from Warcraft 3 to Dota 2

 

Dota 2, like the original, pits two teams, one named Radiant and the other, Dire, of five players against each other to see which team gains decisive victory by destroying the opposing team’s “Ancient”.

Team Radiant's Ancient

Players utilize a vast range of heroes to accomplish this goal, each with their own special abilities and also an ability called the “ultimate”, which can change the entire flow of the game when used correctly. 

One of the heroes, Enigma channeling his ultimate, Black Hole, a potential teamfight-changing skill

 Once the players have selected their heroes, they battle it out on a diagonally symmetrical map, with the bottom-left being the base of the Radiant, and the top-right being the base of the Dire. Three lanes branch out from either base, and three stationary threats (all equally spaced out from the base) known as towers protect each respective lane.

The minimap: colored dots and crosses are used to differentiate the teams and the color refers to the one specific hero.

  When the game commences after the players are given some time to select and position their heroes, creeps start to spawn during regular intervals of time at the barracks, and will slowly make their way down the lane into the one thing they are supposed to do every game: fight to the death.

The other purpose these creeps serve is to give bounty to the enemy heroes of the other team, they do so by “last-hitting” the creep, heroes accumulate gold (to buy items) mainly through last-hitting creeps.

Last hitting earns money, allowing the hero to afford costlier items within the game.

There are of course more game mechanics that can be discussed, but I feel that there’s more to this review than listing these various mechanics (which is quite boring), which can be learnt in the game itself.

The absolutely unique points

Complexity

            The goal of the game is simple: destroy the enemy’s Ancient. But of course you’d have the question of “what hero do I pick?”, and that’s where the complexity comes into play. With over 102 heroes currently available to choose on the current version of Dota 2, all geared with completely different abilities and with different levels of complexities. Which hero would you press that pick button for? Which hero will you empower with your skill for the next 30 or so minutes, which altogether decides your team’s fate in this battle between the Radiant and the Dire. 

FUN FUN FUN

            Oh, did I forget to mention items? With a maximum of six possible item slots for every hero and over 100 items on sale, all of which have an assortment of uses, for the right price of course (earn dem moolahz!). 

SO SHINYYYYYYYYY

            The number of heroes and items all add to the amount of complexity this game offers, this is without even factoring in the actual gameplay and teamfights. Every game is basically a snowflake: no two games ever have the same heroes, same items, or same progression as the other.

Teamwork

            With many modern games set to come out in 2013 and the years beyond, many games lack focus on the concept of teamwork. In a game like Dota 2, teamwork is heavily, heavily, heavily (did I say heavily again?), heavily emphasized. Whilst individual skill can pull you out of certain sticky situations involving a few enemy heroes, teamwork and a spoonful of awareness and skill is what decides which team comes up on top in every fight, and the team that does so, is the team that will hold the advantage temporarily. 

Winning the game for yourself is one thing, but winning the game as a cohesive team brings a level of satisfaction unmatched by any other game, is something completely different.

Gameplay

            What I refer to when I say gameplay is the little thought processes that goes through every player’s head when they are put into the shoes of their respective heroes in a, perhaps, game-deciding fight. As a player myself, I find it hard to express what I mean, but to put it simply: it is the decision of “which enemy hero do I want to take down first”, that sort of thought process. 

            To put it in more understandable terms, the gameplay is almost like a decision-making game, where you are constantly challenged to make a decision every time you do something, you being fully responsible for the hero you’ve chosen, who makes 1/5 of the team. “Do I stun him?” “Do I slow him?” “FUGGIT RUNNNn!” “DIE DIE DIE DIE!!!11!!”, these kinds of decisions. (note: may want to seek medical help if last quote is a constant thought)

Activate "tunnel-vision" mode.

Satisfaction

            Of course, any game worth its salt would feel satisfying whenever the player finishes one part of it, be it the single player campaign, finishing a mission in the co-op mode, or even reaching the highest rank possible of the game.

            In Dota 2 however, it has a different sense of satisfaction. The feeling of “I have done my part to ensure victory in that teamfight”, and many other similar thoughts when one team successfully wins an engagement against the other (notably my favorite word to shout: “TEAMWIPEEE!”), all contribute to this grandest feeling of satisfaction and this is what keeps driving me to continue playing this game (clocked 1619 hours of Dota 2 as of writing, and I am not even guilty).

One of the more satisfying matches I've where me and my team turn a losing battle to decisive victory.

The little problems..

Learning Curve

            As with every game, there is always a learning curve, sometimes as steep as the side of a cliff, sometimes as smooth rolling around in a bed made of cotton toys. Dota 2, however, suffers from the former.

            Of course, 102 heroes may sound nice and awesome for those amateur, semi-pros, and professional players, but what about the newbies?

            Although there are of course a few learning tutorials available in the game for the newbies, which helps the player out by giving certain handicaps like completely unreactive AI, guiding him/her through the basics held by the hand.

           

But when it comes to an actual game, the player is left completely alone to think by themselves: what items to buy, what skills to level, and what tactics to use. A newbie trying to figure these three things out is very difficult, and is what leads to the learning curve experienced by many who have just started out.

who to NOT use when you are just starting out but is a very fun hero *wink wink*

 Of course, there is Matchmaking AI that helps to pair a team of human players with a team of computer-controlled bots, but that NEVER replicates the gameplay of an actual game (a.k.a bots are stupid), and is thus only a way for players to try out unfamiliar heroes, and get familiar with the game mechanics. 

The tutorials that have been made to cater to the new players.

Player Community

            With every player community out there, there will always be the few (or more than that) players with very bad social etiquette. With games like CoD you have people shouting the oh-so-common sentence of “I sl3pt w1th ur m0m”, in Dota 2 this is no different. In fact, let’s put together a small list of the different kinds of people, good and bad!

BAD

Ze complete ass

Recipe: the person known as “ze complete ass” dies repeatedly.

Effects (completely accurate): Blames the team, blames the towers, blame the creeps, 

blame the grass growing on the soil, blame the solar system, but never blames himself.

Chance to appear: COMMON

Ze smart dork

Recipe: has 1000% knowledge of the game, but dies repeatedly (coincidence? Nah!)

Effects: SPECIFICALLY blames one guy, SPECIFICALLY explains the guy’s mistake, slowly blames whole team, SPECIFICALLY mention he’ll “afk” because “game is hopeless”. (Specifically is nice word, no?)

Chance to appear: COMMON

GOOD

The standard

Recipe: has adequate abilities, skills, and reaction time, nothing special.

Chance to appear: UNCOMMON

THE xXxMLG1337xXx PLAYER

Recipe: kills all players, kills all creeps.

Effects: thoroughly cleanses the souls of the other team players and scarring them for life and to never appear again in a game of Dota 2.

Chance to appear: on your team (-100% to 0.1%), on the other team (100% to 100%)

And that just about raps it up.

OVERALL

            This is where I give my final judgment of Dota 2. Of course, flawing a game and saying it is bad just because of one imperfection is not (and never will be) my intent, instead I will give my personal thoughts in point form (because the review is pretty long as you know by now) and summarize with my final thought.

           

            Also good for TL;DR moments for future guides #swag

            GAMEPLAY: A+, this is a play-to-believe-it kind of game.

            

            GRAPHICS: B+, refined and pleasing to the eye.

            DEPTH: A+, 102 heroes, over 100 items, with infinite possible play styles.

            ANIMATION: A, over 400 skill animations from all heroes, all well-made.

            REPLAYABILITY: A++, self-explanatory.

            LEARNABILITY: C+, high learning curve for new players in particular.

OVERALL: A, this is not based on the average of the above, but is what I think of the game after playing it for many hours. Overall it is very unique and is a game that rewards skill greatly.

Summary

            Dota 2 is phenomenal, with over 6.5 million unique players every month, making it one of the fastest growing communities and with many competitions up and abound, there is always something for everybody in this game. If this game has not at least tempted you to try it once in its lifespan, maybe now would be a good time..

http://store.steampowered.com/app/570/, install Steam, create an account, and download the game and play!

            Thank you for the time you have taken to read this review. It means a lot to me as a blogger who has just started out. If you have any comments at all about anything in this review (improvements to be made or commendations), please drop a comment below. Have a nice day and see you next week for the next game review! :)