Rican's Free 2 Play Friday, a weekly look into free-to-play gaming such as MOBAs, MMOs, Team Shooters, and more! This week we look at Blizzard Entertainment's foray into the MOBA space with Heroes of the Storm!
As far as gaming genres in the PC community go, very few, command such a strong following and communities as the mighty MOBA. I've touched up on both the genre and one of the current kings, within said genre, in the PC landscape. And while DOTA 2 exemplifies the far end of all the gameplay obstacles that the genre has difficulty easing brand new players into, League of Legends feels like the happy medium within the playing curve. But Blizzard Entertainment has had a stake in the MOBA genre since it inadvertently gave birth to it during Warcraft III, or Starcraft if you want to be technical.
A byproduct of all of its existing franchises (and one could argue their genres), Heroes of the Storm is the MOBA specifically designed for the uninitiated in mind, while also keeping enough freshness and tactical dexterity hidden deep in its overly simplistic format to satisfy even veterans of the genre. Today, I look at the final product (after my months spent in the technical Alpha and Beta stages) and give my overall feeling of the game in its current incarnation. This is Blizzard Entertainment's first official MOBA (internally dubbed a "Hero Brawler"): Heroes of the Storm.
As far as gaming genres in the PC community go, very few, command such a strong following and communities as the mighty MOBA. I've touched up on both the genre and one of the current kings, within said genre, in the PC landscape. And while DOTA 2 exemplifies the far end of all the gameplay obstacles that the genre has difficulty easing brand new players into, League of Legends feels like the happy medium within the playing curve. But Blizzard Entertainment has had a stake in the MOBA genre since it inadvertently gave birth to it during Warcraft III, or Starcraft if you want to be technical.
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| HEROES. BRAWL! |
A byproduct of all of its existing franchises (and one could argue their genres), Heroes of the Storm is the MOBA specifically designed for the uninitiated in mind, while also keeping enough freshness and tactical dexterity hidden deep in its overly simplistic format to satisfy even veterans of the genre. Today, I look at the final product (after my months spent in the technical Alpha and Beta stages) and give my overall feeling of the game in its current incarnation. This is Blizzard Entertainment's first official MOBA (internally dubbed a "Hero Brawler"): Heroes of the Storm.
