Heroes of the gaming world

These past few weeks, I have spent a significant chunk of my time (and funds) on videogames. One particular game that has gotten me hooked is the Warcraft III modification, DotA All-stars. DotA, short for Defense of the Ancients, is a dynamic game developed independently of its base game engine, Warcraft III and its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. It’s the equivalent of what Counter-strike was to Half-life. DotA was developed by a person who calls himself Guinsoo. I hate that guy for getting me so hooked on a video game I can’t play at home.

DotA is a relatively simple game compared to the Warcraft series. There is no need to build structures, mine resources or even produce an army. In the game, you control one hero, which you may select from existing structures called taverns. There are two sides that continually clash throughout the game, the Sentinel (the good guys) and the Scourge (the bad guys), you play a hero on a certain side and your objective is to destroy the opposing team’s base. DotA supports up to 10 human players so getting to the other side won’t be very easy. Aside from opposing heroes, each side spawns units, called creeps, to perpetually attack the other. These creeps basically make up your army, and they just keep on coming. Killing opposing creeps will earn you gold, which consequently you can use to buy items and power ups to strengthen your particular hero.

There are 68 heroes in the game, 34 in each side. The heroes are based on Warcraft III characters so you will find mages, riflemen, knights, witches, monsters and demons. That character list is so diverse and fascinating that you’ll find yourself spending countless hours just trying to see which hero matches your preference. If you’re that macho, pure power, face-to-face type of guy, you might want to try someone like Bradwarden, the Centaur Warchief. If you’re that patient, keep-my-distance type, Kardel Sharpeye the Dwarven Sniper might appeal to you most. If you prefer the stealthy, sneaky strategy, there are a number of assassins in the game, Rikimaru, the Stealth Assassin and Mortred, the Phantom Assassin, just to name a few. There are loads more unconventional heroes like Maverick, the Gambler that you can choose. Part of the game’s appeal is that your choices are so vast that it will take quite a while for you to get tired of playing. Add that to the fact that you are facing actual humans, not your everyday Artificial Intelligence, the challenge and depth of this game makes its replay value extremely high.

No other game has packed network gaming hubs quite like DotA. Not Counter-strike, not the Command and Conquer series, not Starcraft, and not even DotA’s base game, Warcraft. Although simplified in gameplay, the strategic and teamwork aspect of the game has increased ten-fold because of the limited capabilities of each individual. Even if the graphics engine of this game is a few years old and it’s only a modification, it hasn’t yet seized turning heads in the gaming world. DotA is a game that will surely get a gamer hooked not because of its flashiness, although it has that, it’s that type of game that’s addicting because it brings a lot of new dimensions to your gaming experience. This article is actually written later than usual because I just got home from playing.

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The official DotA website is http://www.dota-allstars.com.

For questions, comments or complaints, please e-mail me at emailcarlramirez@yahoo.com.