dota 2 game review
Dota 2Modern MOBA celebrates its 10 years of activity this year, not counting AoS from StarCraft, while remaining a kind of game quite obscure for a large part of gamers. We welcome this summer the official release (after two years of beta) of the sequel to the famous mod which became a genre, the aptly named Dota 2. The result is ultimately a multiplayer oriented game as addictive as it is competitive, slick and mechanisms adapted to new and regular customers. Zoom on the title which has been putting e-sport in turmoil for two years.
The story of Dota 2 is a bit of the Dallas episode, with its share of separations, agreements and dissonances between the main founders of the genre, having each worked on the establishment of DotA. Attached to the idea of creating for Valve, the successor of the father of MOBA, a small team formed of old of the old the studio has, in 2009, hired IceFrog, then tenant for 4 years of DotA: Allstars, succeeding on this position to Steve “Guinsoo” Feak (himself having left DotA to join Riot Games and the development of League of Legends). The rest of the story inevitably comes from the legal soap opera since the very term "Dota", property claimed by the mod community of Warcraft 3, quickly proves to be a major issue for Valve as for Blizzard given that this element identification key evokes to the public the quintessence of the Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. The business is finalized in 2012, in favor of Valve which obtains the right to market the brand “Dota”, thus opening a royal way to Dota 2, while Blizzard is forced to rename its license recently acquired from Riot, by starting the Blizzard All-Stars project. But by the way, what is a MOBA?
THE PRINCIPLE OF MOBA IN 2 LINES, OR ALMOST ...
For those who are still ignorant of it, DotA is basically a map created from the level editor of Warcraft 3. With a very elaborate and atypical gameplay, which will later become one of the most popular genres. played with history sets up a relatively simple concept. The players here do not embody an army of fighters with a strong emphasis on management and construction, but rather focus on a single unit, selected from a full and quite heterogeneous panel counting all the same more than a hundred of characters. The principle is summarized as follows: two bases, 5 players per side, and a single goal: destroy the opposing base.To do this, the heroes will take part strategically in fights on three different "lines" (top, bottom, and middle) strewn with deadly towers that the players of each side will have to drop one by one in order to progress on the three ways. The two factions can, in order to reach their goal, count on waves of small monsters which will be used to acquire gold in addition to participating in the war effort. Over the course of the game, which generally lasts between half an hour and a little over an hour, the heroes controlled by the players will increase in power and level, increasing their characteristics and skills, buying equipment among a host of objects and managing team confrontations as meticulously as possible in order to gain the advantage over the opponent. It is this aspect combining micromanagement, reflexes and global strategic vision, which today makes MOBAs a genre highly prized by players, amateurs and professionals alike.
A REALIZATION THAT HAS BACK
Now let's get to the heart of the matter in order to find out what this Dota 2 brings. Regarding the production, we must admit that the title, despite its two years of beta, arrives with very correct graphics and even a hair above a competition sometimes betting on cel shading pleasing to the eye and a thrifty thrift in polygons, sometimes on more realistic 3D, almost almost equal with the title that interests us today, the quality less finishing. Concretely, everything is a matter of design and that of Dota 2 is completely mastered in addition to taking up the codes of the first Dota as well as its heroes. The game does honor to the evolving side of the Source Engine, which despite its years takes only very few wrinkles and always knows how to brilliantly display a slew of characters and spells on the screen without ever sagging. Obviously, who says better technique also says better bike to turn the beast. On this point, Dota 2 slightly increases the minimum configuration compared to its competitors: undoubtedly the price to pay to bathe in this quality achievement.THE FIRST CONTACT WITH THE GAMEPLAY
The adaptation to the game mechanics will be done quickly for the regulars, who will however have certain reflexes to take compared to similar titles. We can for example evoke the management of the camera, relatively close to the action, perhaps even a little too much, sometimes tainting the legibility of the fights and often forcing you to forget this old habit of blocking the camera on your hero. It is obviously a blow to take, but it will not be done without efforts during the first games. These first hours of play also allow, and this since the official release of the title, to explore the basic mechanics through a well-crafted tutorial and largely localized in French, like the rest of the software. The opportunity for beginners to get started with MOBA in an hour, before being ready to take on bots, then other players in a community that now has more than 4 million active users per month.You are therefore propelled through this very purist vision of MOBA, focused on 5vs5 at the heart of the one and only map, having the choice between several types of game sessions, whether it be facing offline bots or online with players, or take part in player versus player games. No weekly rotation here because the player can try all the heroes directly, distributed in ten roles (carry, pusher, jungler, disabler ...). The characters have a number of active or passive skills, ranging from 4 for the easiest heroes to play, to 7 skills for the champions requiring the most practice before being mastered.
Side items, there also the range is substantial and will offer you more than a hundred objects that will need to be carefully chosen and which will allow you to build more powerful tools as your game progresses, depending on your ability to accumulate gold. This unique resource will be collected by killing enemy heroes, but also by destroying towers and especially by managing your “last hits” as best as possible: the famous knockouts inflicted on waves of monsters traveling through the 3 lines of play.
THE FLYING MULET TO MANAGE YOUR PURCHASES!
One of the peculiarities of DotA, taken up in this episode, is the presence of couriers, an ingenious system since it gives you the possibility of shopping directly on the battlefield and having them delivered thereafter. The interest is capital since it saves you from having to return to the base (having here no recall spell, unlike a League of Legends). It is therefore a small mule, on the ground or equipped with wings, which will be able to bring your purchased items to order. That said, be careful not to drop it during the trip because you will momentarily lose the items sent. This function further refines the micromanaging aspect of the title, which here requires players to manage their gold at the same time as their offensive strategy. The addition takes on its full meaning when you know that death is punitive on three levels, offering the opponent time before your reappearance, experience for having killed you and, above all, part of your collected gold. .BACK OF FREE-TO-PLAY
The big advantage of Dota 2 compared to the competition is also on its development structure, centralized from the start around Steam and its many features. In addition to the obvious social aspect, players can now count on the workshop, the community laboratory of the platform, allowing the addition of amateur content. This hub even offers the possibility to a creator to be paid on the sales of the proposed aesthetic customization item, if the latter is sufficiently voted to integrate the ranks of the many objects of the free-to-play store of the game.In addition to the elements of customization (skin pieces, wards, couriers, HUD ...) buyable directly from this cash shop, it is not uncommon to win, at the end of the game, chests containing a random object that will be necessary unlock by purchasing a key, but also e-sport cards to follow the news of a known player. This step forward towards the e-sport scene is again a feature of the economic model of the game since it requires the purchase of a pass to the various tournaments that one wishes to follow. The addition can prove to be salty, but it is good to specify that these are purely cosmetic or ancillary elements and have no influence on the overall gameplay of the title.
OPTIMIZATION OF BUILDS AND REPLAYS
Completely free this time, the community and contributory aspect is highlighted on the availability of "builds". Remember that these are the different “guides” for building your character during a game, including orders to purchase objects and acquire skills alongside the strategies to be adopted during the different game phases. They are now directly available in the game menu and, above all, during the game, saving the player from memorizing the guides seen on the Internet and allowing him to customize his own builds in real time directly on the battlefield. Likewise, the availability of reruns of games is extremely simple and effective, offering the possibility of seeing from all angles all of the matches played: a little more to better learn from your mistakes and to be inspired by the strategies of each player.A LABORIOUS ENOUGH MATCHMAKING AND THE AFK PROBLEM
We will also note a desire for global balancing, accentuated by the absence of runes trees or the addition of high level upgrades, which, in certain games, discourage new entrants at the max level, being often confronted with players with characters much more suitable and resulting from purchases very expensive in time and fictitious resources. As such, the level progression, implied "profile level", affects only the matchmaking in a relative way and grants you each level gain a customization item. Since we are talking about matchmaking, it is good to specify that it is, at the time of the test, of a rather disturbing heaviness, combining several phases of matching before actually starting the game.In the end, it will not be rare to spend 5 to 10 minutes before taking up arms. This problem goes hand in hand with the eternal presence of AFK and players logging out in full game. This scenario, inherent in MOBA, is here penalized for the player at fault and will indicate to users wishing to leave the game later that they can do so without suffering a penalty. An aspect that can still be a problem for the most impatient, sometimes finding themselves managing fairly unbalanced games in number. Hopefully, these little problems will be quickly resolved so that the game becomes as pleasant as it is optimized, under all circumstances.
The notes
+ Positive points
Gameplay that is both enjoyable and demanding but accessible
Very broad and regularly updated content
Perhaps the best MOBA for the 5Vs5
Rich additional functions: workshop, in-game builds, replays, integrated voice communication, e-sport ...
-Negative points
Matchmaking and AFK quite disturbing at the time of the test
A camera a bit laborious and too close
A little expensive customization items and paid functions
Dota 2 marks the return of the MOBA base and the result is a very purist version of the concept of 5Vs5. That said, everything is very affordable for the beginner and is accessible and encouraging for those who want to improve. The tools are available to the player, directly in-game, and it is a real pleasure to chain the games. A game to try and adopt if you are not resistant to the genre.
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