Down to the Last Save

Hi there. You might know me. I’m one of those guys that plays Defense of the Ancients (DotA) / HoN / LoL, but not obsessively. I don’t have every build for every character memorized. I’ve probably tried most characters at least once. I don’t feed, but I don’t top the kills either. I can deny creeps and towers, but probably don’t top last hits either. You probably don’t remember me. From this position though, it is very easy to spot the most differences between Heroes Of Newerth and League of Legends that *most* players would care about.

The biggest things someone is likely to notice when playing both DotA clones is that:

A) League of Legends has auto matchmaking (and only blind hero picking to go with it)

B) The skill level of most LoL players is quite a bit lower than most HoN players

While HoN is slated to get auto matchmaking in the near future, the feature really does make LoL easier to get into as a new player. The simplicity of matchmaking is also an extremely limiting factor, however, as you’ll soon grow tired of seeing the same heroes on both teams over and over. Not every game is a mirror match, but there are definitely flavor of the month picks and while using the auto-matcher you will run into them often. There is only one play format available as well, which is blind pick for both teams (this is what allows for the same hero on both and HoN has this as a “Duplicate Heroes” game mode).  Finally, new/free players are only allowed access to around 10 (rotating) heroes per week until they buy access to more with in game or real world currency.  As the game is free to play, hero access is just one of a few different things you can spend real money on, however, the only thing in the game you HAVE to spend real money on are special skins for your favorite heroes.  Access to all heroes and other game enhancers are entirely purchasable simply by playing the game and spending the game currency.

Though All Random is not everyone’s favorite, sometimes it is nice taking a break from the same 10-20 heroes used in every game, and this is what really sets Heroes of Newerth apart for someone who takes DotA clones a little more seriously than I do. HoN has such a large variety of modes and settings that the game is much more resistant to become old or boring compared to LoL.  However, the sheer variety of choices and heroes available from the start makes for a steeper learning curve.  Add in the fact that last hitting to deny your own creeps and towers isn’t a part of League of Legends, it is easy to see why the learning curve is so much more forgiving.

My bottom line is this: as someone new to the next generation of DotA style MOBA (multi-player online battle arena) games, you may be best off getting your feet wet with League of Legends, but will eventually want to move on to Heroes of Newerth if you find you really enjoy this kind of game and want the full experience it offers.  Though Riot Games (creator of LoL) has promised to implement features already existing in HoN (multiple game modes, clan support, in game voice chat, ranked matches, savable game replays, observers, and more…), there is no timeline for when they will become available and the features are already well polished and bug free in HoN.  In addition, I doubt very much that League of Legends will ever attract the kind of amateur and professional competition the original DotA and HoN do.  Both games have their strengths and weaknesses, but for people who take these games more seriously than a casual player, the game of choice is obvious.

Valve released a patch for Portal on Steam and the patch notes only say “changed radio transmission frequency to comply with federal and state spectrum management regulations.” That would make sense, except computer games, like Portal, don’t transmit anything via the radio. The patch notes caused the Steam forum to speculate and eventually find out that Valve added radios to each level in Portal. The problem is that each radio has to be carried to a specific area in game to “tune in” and receive special coded messages. If you manage to get all of the Portal radio transmissions, you will get the new achievement “Transmission Received.”

Some of the Half Life 2: Portal radio messages range from the technical (“External data line active”) to silly (“Beep Beep Beep”) to encoded mathematical messages (“B.dA=3″). It all seems to point to the fact that GladOS managed to transmit herself outside of the Aperture Science lab before Portal ended. There has already been hints at a sequel to Portal, but hopefully this Portal radio patch means concrete information on Portal 2.

I recently received an invite into the latest installment of the Command and Conquer franchise: Tiberium Twilight. With the beta, you only get access to the multiplayer aspect and that is all I have been playing these last few days. I wanted to give my own Tiberium Twilight beta preview and see what other people think as well.

Tiberium Twilight isn’t just another Command and Conquer installment in the strictest sense.

It still pits the GDI versus the Brotherhood of Nod, but they have changed the gameplay mechanics quite a bit.No longer do you go out and harvest tiberium (although you do pick up single crystals for research upgrades) nor is there any kind of base build up (unless you play the defense class). You fight over the control points (think Company of Heroes) and other important areas. The more points you control, the faster you gain tickets to reach 2,500 (and win the game). It doesn’t matter if you kill the enemy crawler, he can just call in another. Those single Tiberium crystals count towards that point total too; along with other strategic points on the map.

I think Command and Conquer 4 Tiberium Twilight beta gets some things right, and fails at others. Here is Down to the Last Save’s likes and dislikes about the Tiberium Twilight beta thus far.

What I liked about the Command and Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight beta:

• No Resource Collection- you build your unit and thats it. Yes you collect single Tiberium crystals from the drop off points, but thats it.
• No base building – Although some players play defensive and build bases, they can be taken out with some effort.
• The Control points- You focus more on the fights and less on micromanaging the resource collecting and base building.
• The Game Chat- Being able to chat in any channel even while in a game is very nice. They also have a decent contacts list too.
• The powers- You get a power point pool and can use abilities to influence battles (think Company of Heroes)
• Three different paths for units- Offensive, Defensive and Supportive.
• This unit is countered by- A little tool tip when you click on an enemy unit tells you what counters it.

What I didn’t Like about the Command and Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight beta:

• No tutorial- The UI within the game is confusing at first, a tutorial would be handy.
• In-game chat is very hard to see- Very difficult to communicate.
• In-game voice is subpar- Damn, I need a mute button while in the game.
• The game creation/join seems very console like- no way to customize your game name, you start it and go.
• The “always connected” for play thing.
• No level number next to emblems- Yeah, like I am going to memorize what emblem equals what level.
• Multiplayer Levels- by far, the worst thing I hate about C&C4.

A little explanation on the last point: to unlock new units and upgrades in Tiberium Twilight, you have to gain levels. This wouldn’t be terrible at launch, but it leaves new players far behind. A level one player only has access to four or five units and thats all he can build until he gains levels. Those levels only work for one faction; so either pick a side or play a lot to stay even. I joined a few games and was thoroughly confused as to why I couldn’t build the same units as my teammates were; it took a few games to realize units are tied to levels. It’s hard to counter a mammoth tank with a tier one Nod rocket unit unless I have a metric ton of them; plus they will more than likely have more than just one tank.

Tiberium Twilight can be really fun to play, but it will require time until you can unlock the higher end units (at least 10 to 15 games where you win).  But just coming into it when your opponent can use gimmicky combos and destroy you is frustrating: there is literally nothing you can do about it. Though, this is just my opinion, so if you are in the beta, tell me what you think about the Tiberium Twilight beta.

In a similar move as Modern Warfare 2, BioShock 2 will not have the ability for LAN play or to host dedicated servers on ANY platform. Instead PC gamers will be forced to endure the horrors of matchmaking. Toss in the heavy DRM and it’s no reason why many PC gamers (myself included) are jaded about new releases. Even better is that 2k will have no method for booting a player from a game if they are cheating/griefing. Just suck it up because:

“If you do get matched up with one of those people, please report it, leave that game, and we’ll try to smooth out the online experience as best as we can”.

2k tries to sugar coat the LAN/dedicated server issue with BioShock 2 by citing that development time affected the decision to leave LAN and dedicated servers out.

“Bringing Multiplayer to BioShock was a daunting task between the tech (there was no multiplayer support in the codebase from the first game) and the expectations of the community. Either you try to do everything and so nothing feels finished or you focus your efforts to do a smaller number of things really well like an accessible online experience”

I fail to see how something as basic as LAN play can be excluded from the multiplayer process from the start. The lack of multiplayer in BioShock it isn’t because they ran out of time; it’s just a dubious (and ineffective) way for them to try and combat piracy. Now, maybe dedicated serves and LAN play will be included for BioShock 2 with a patch (or possible DLC); Don’t hold your breath though.

Matchmaking-without the option to host a dedicated server-is killing PC gaming; try picking up a semi-recent game like Red Faction 2 and try finding a game. Although, that argument is for another article.