League of Legends has a heavy focus on the gameplay during skirmishes. That is, the team vs. team fights have a huge effect on the way the game progresses. These ‘team fights’ are large indicators for which side will win the game, and which player will carry the team to victory. So, the winners get stronger and keep winning. Under League ‘s current power balance, it’s fairly doable for a mechanically-skilled player to dominate a game in under half an hour. If the enemy team is disheartened enough, they can surrender as early as twenty minutes into the g
Distributors clearly have a lot to gain from online multiplayer games, especially with the popularity of microtransactions and the increasing popularity of DLC—more maps, more costumes, and more weapons often tempt gamers into paying more. This works well for free-to-play games like League of Legends or other MOBAs, but announcing DLC before a game’s release often draws criticism. Many players argue that paid DLC encourages some developers to omit necessary or desired player content for higher prof
Again, Pokémon is my favorite series and without any title in 2015, I found Yo-Kai Watch to be an excellent substitute. Comparing the two is definitely easy but after playing Yo-Kai Watch and watching the cartoon, it’s worth noting Yo-Kai Watch can stand on its own. The mix of kooky characters is great and each one having its own personality makes the game a unique experience. Yo-Kai Watch is a wonderful RPG for those in search of something that’s just plain fun. I would consider this MOBA game esports news as my best 3DS title of the year.
There are still plenty of fond memories to be made playing in-person multiplayer games. The shift to online has already occurred, but many series still employ local multiplayer as an option—particularly games released by Nintendo and Harmonix. If you’re a fan of couch co-op or split-screen games, this is one instance where voting with your wallet can really make a difference. Show distributors you’re willing to pay for the local multiplayer experience when it’s offered for games you enjoy. If enough people do the same, distributors will surely take not
Another strategy game I played on my list is SteamWorld Heist and it’s a winner for me. Understanding the gameplay is simple and the story jumped right into the action. Exploring randomly generated ships and shooting it out with robots makes every stop along the way a true challenge. The old west aesthetic and steam-powered environment in SteamWorld Heist is pulled off much better than Wild Wild West. It’s almost the complete opposite of SteamWorld Dig but you could say SteamWorld Heist is a more grown-up version in the series. It’s a game to both kill time and robots with.
As League champions are remade, and the Summoner’s Rift map is completely refurbished, the game is moving away from the cartoon-like aesthetic of its earlier years. The game is also becoming more dynamic, as it adds in a wider array of items with kit-changing abilities. But… many of these changes go in the same direction that Dota 2 already had, despite League having a headstart. It’s important to remember that Dota 2 ended its open beta in 2013, four years after League did. This makes it all the more shocking that Dota 2 had features like its practice mode long before Leag
Legend of Solgard broadened my definition of what a mobile game could be; it took my expectations of free-to-play games and provided something much grander. While imperfect and likely inaccessible to the most casual of players, Legend of Solgard is an exciting step forward for not only mid-core titles but mobile titles as a wh
It’s no secret that Valve’s annual The International competition is one of the biggest events in eSports. 20 million viewers can’t be wrong . Valve has slowly but surely built up the world championship for Dota 2 into an annual spectacle with a prize pool worth millions of dollars. With that said, Dota 2 arguably doesn’t have that big of a footprint the rest of the year, at least compared to some other eSports titles. For example, Blizzard’s Starcraft II and Riot’s League of Legends hold multiple regional events every year ahead of each game’s world championship that get a lot of attention. Dota 2 tournaments not named The International are out there, but usually don’t generate as much interest as the main ev
“Because of all the reasons I listed in the above question, this one has been expensive, I’m not going to lie. It’s amazing how much more efficient you are after you’ve worked with a material for a bit. I would say I’ve easily spent twice as much money on this project and maybe quadruple the amount of time as anything I’ve done before. In the end, I think it’s really taken on a life of its own, and even if no one else can appreciate it, I will have learned so much from it that it will all be worth
This isn’t as much a critique of Legend of Solgard as it is the mid-core genre. Living in a time where smartphones outnumber the people who grew up playing video games, mid-core titles look to tighten the gap between those who play games and those who consider themselves gamers. And while that effort is valiant on its own merits, it seems odd that the entire mid-core brand is designed around making simple games more complicated, or rather, complicated games more simple. In a world filled with different consoles and gaming devices all offering their own distinct experiences, mid-core titles, on average, tend to blur the lines between mobile and console gaming in a way that often seems ham-fisted, or at the very least, not well thought
