All of the dota players are now addicted to the new game which is based on the dota itself. Heroes of Newerth is an online game. The first time the game opens it offers free beta key for all the hopefully who want to try out the game. So far as what i have experience HON is really great and addictive. It was a level up experience. The game also gave a chance for the new players to join, it was called as the open beta, a pre purchased account and is limited access to all the features of the game. Indie developer S2 Games of Savage fame have rather sneakily announced their third project via the wonders of social networking site Facebook, Heroes of Newerth. It’s a curious approach that is only afforded only by their indie status, but it’s certainly getting the job done as tens of thousands of fans have already been lured in. The game has been lingering in closed beta for a couple of months now, and after finally acquiring a closed beta key, I thought it’s about time I got stuck in on the action.
Heroes are primarily organized by their main attribute - either strength, intelligence, or agility. A main attribute, along with the set of abilities that is provided for a hero, loosely assigns the role that they will fill in the game - such as an "initiator" who is geared towards being the first hero into a fight, a "carry" who scales very well the longer the game moves on and deals massive damage and "support" - heroes which have a range of abilities from healing and buffing to damage and disables.
Heroes of Newerth is unashamedly based on the real-time strategy spin-off and all round supermod Defense of the Ancients. For the uninitiated, DotA started off as just another custom map for Warcraft III. It eventually went on to become as popular as its host game, and to this day is only really rivaled in the mod world by Counter-Strike in terms of sheer popularity. It even had a pop song devoted to it which, even more surprisingly, actually sold very well in some northern European countries.
Cleave is very powerful in HoN. The amount of ground it covers easily doubles that of DotA. Not forget to mention that you can cleave units off of buildings. This will sometimes result funny situations such as Sven killing players who are behind the tower (kind of like Luna's bounces). Also, if you have cleave, your images will cleave as well, a feature that is not available in DotA.
S2 thought they’d go a step further and devote a whole stand alone game to the DotA phenomenon, recruiting the talents of the mod’s current developer/caretaker Icefrog to help things along. Their goal? To take the core ‘RTS simplified’ formula of DotA and free it from the reigns of the now-aging Warcraft engine, bringing it to a whole new market in the process.
S2 thought they’d go a step further and devote a whole stand alone game to the DotA phenomenon, recruiting the talents of the mod’s current developer/caretaker Icefrog to help things along. Their goal? To take the core ‘RTS simplified’ formula of DotA and free it from the reigns of the now-aging Warcraft engine, bringing it to a whole new market in the process.
Luna (or Moon Queen in HoN)
DotA Luna is arguably better than HoN Luna since there are no multi-bounce* in HoN. However, it does seem like the bounces have further reach in HoN by 25-40 and they do seem to travel little faster. It is questionable that multi-leech is possible via Satanic as I've yet to test this fully.
As I navigated the well crafted menus and server browser before finding my way into my first match, I was greeted with a sense of familiarity: the trusty UI, the visual style and the nigh-legendary map all faithfully recreated. Even my chosen character, Moon Queen, is an unabashed remake – dare I say copy paste - of DotA’s Luna Moonfang.
But once over that fact, it’s apparent that there is more to HoN than meets the eye. While they’ve got a lot to thank their forebearers for, it’s clear that S2 have worked hard to retain the same balancing act of matches. This is by no means an easy feat considering the number of characters on offer, many of which have been finely tuned. They’ve even thrown a half dozen of their own entirely new characters into the mix--such as the Puppet Master and the Electrician--and these seem to slot into place nicely.
Well, Heroes of Newerth will find DOTA players, and deserve praise for carrying the original DOTA theme into a new title. The RTSMMO genre will without a doubt carry strong into the PC gaming community, so I look forward to Heroes of Newerths advanced version of DOTA.
All this comes wrapped in a surprisingly polished exterior, with a snappy, intuitive backend for finding, creating and joining matches, chatting, meeting up with friends or even making clans. The in game graphics are reminiscent – perhaps even representative – of the Warcraft III engine, but with S2’s own take on the character models and bold, often impressive spell effects. There is also a neat feature that allows disconnected players to rejoin a game within an allotted timeframe, helping address a longstanding gripe that has been a bugbear of many the DotA player.
All this comes wrapped in a surprisingly polished exterior, with a snappy, intuitive backend for finding, creating and joining matches, chatting, meeting up with friends or even making clans. The in game graphics are reminiscent – perhaps even representative – of the Warcraft III engine, but with S2’s own take on the character models and bold, often impressive spell effects. There is also a neat feature that allows disconnected players to rejoin a game within an allotted timeframe, helping address a longstanding gripe that has been a bugbear of many the DotA player.
Heroes of Newerth is a DotA clone of S2 Games, and must be against League of Legends (LoL), which was created in cooperation between the DotA-Mapper and Valve to maintain.
S2 have got an unenviable job ahead of them, with a world of expectation and a real wall to climb if they are to please the DoTA hardcore. But early indications are good, as they have shown that they have a real appreciation for the source material; a quality they would do well to capitalize on if HoN is to succeed. If they can produce the same bite sized, pick up and play feel that popularized DotA in an accessible package more suited to the mass market, then they may well be on to a winner with Heroes of Newerth.
S2 have got an unenviable job ahead of them, with a world of expectation and a real wall to climb if they are to please the DoTA hardcore. But early indications are good, as they have shown that they have a real appreciation for the source material; a quality they would do well to capitalize on if HoN is to succeed. If they can produce the same bite sized, pick up and play feel that popularized DotA in an accessible package more suited to the mass market, then they may well be on to a winner with Heroes of Newerth.
HoN make things right. It was not a hero 1to1 copy of DotA, but every hero, at least in appearance, but mostly in his spells (abilities that are unique to each hero and used in battles) are changed. Meanwhile, S2 Games also did not hesitate to frighten, to create their own hero, which can be integrated perfectly into the game. On the game concept in general has not changed, but there are different maps to choose from that provide variety.
In Heroes of Newerth, two teams of up to five players each take on the role of special Hero units. With the assistance of AI-controlled armies, each team sets out with the sole objective of destroying the other team's base. As a match progresses, players can earn experience and gold which can be used to upgrade skills or purchase items to make their character more powerful. The team-oriented design of HoN coupled with unprecedented in-game Voice-Over-IP controls and Clan Support allow for an incredibly deep, tactical team-based experience.
