inGame footage of various games. In the future I hope to add reviews. ^_^

Heroes of Newerth:


(That's an older youtube vid I found. I'm not allowed to publish new material from the beta.)


A beta-leak video review of HoN (German). Shows you much of the lobby interface and other features.

 

League of Legends:


Gametrailers preview of LoL.

 


An official trailer for LoL.


A video review of LoL (english). Not sure if leaked or sanctioned.

 

DotA (Defense of the Ancients)

 


Some DotA video. I honestly couldn't find ANY good gameplay video for Dota. Most vids are simply my-dick-is-BIG demonstrations accompanied by some shitty trash metal soundtrack or something bombastic (like, US-marine corp recruitment orchestrals or Carmina Burana). Sorry. If you can recommend a good DotA video I'll put it up.

 

 

Demigod:


Demigod showcase video featuring Lord Erebus.

Demigod showcase video featuring Queen of Thorns. Probably not office safe.

 

For those that don't know what HoN or LoL are: Both are DotA clones. If you don't know what DotA is then google it.

First HoN impressions:

  • Graphics
    Looks like Warcraft 3 (i.e. old, cheap, candy colored comic look). Seems much smoother, though. Less jerky scrolling. Any comparison to Demigod would be unfair. It's like comparing Superman to Batman - both are great in their environment but if you'd match them up against each other Superman would wipe the floor with Batmans ass from two cities away.
    Has a limited zoom (i.e. you can zoom in a bit and back, but not out) and a functional minimap.
  • Interface
    Just like DotA, i'd say. Bottom quarter of the screen is occupied by artwork, skills, hero stats and the minimap. I'd call it functional but totally ripped of from Warcraft (which isn't necessarily bad). Very small icons and text. Hard to read and the tooltips have much text. Demigod is downright minimalistic in comparison.
  • Heroes
    A large selection of heroes ... too many to grasp the gist of them in the short time I played it. Not all heroes were implemented yet but it looks like they planned for a 60 heroes cast. Each hero seems to have four different skills you can improve as you gain levels, plus the ability to simply improve your attributes. The skills are either passive or active and have a cooldown timer similar to DG. But since some heroes can have several passive skills out of a set of four, that can mean that you are left with a meager single one active skill, like the tosser I picked (Magebane or something). Kinda like Oooze UB without foul grasp.
    However the skills some heroes have do things that are not seen in Demigod. Some manipulate the map (by planting obstacles(walls) and some move the enemy against their will. Some passive skills trigger a damage effect everytime you use an active skill.
  • Maps
    Think Warcraft again. Mazes with trees and rocks marking the boundary. Or think Demigod maps with boring graphics. They ain't really that different from the DG mazes ... just more "realistic" and much larger.
  • Players
    Lot's of open games in the lobby. Some fairly large ones, too (I think 5v5 is max). If you've played DotA before then you'll have no problems finding friends. If you only played Demigod before, then you'll think the HoN community is a bag of arseholes because you'll likely be taking your first stumbling steps with dota veterant that are not exactly renowned for their forgiving attitude towards noobs. Luckily there's a fuck-filter in the chat.
  • Economy
    Killing stuff earns you XP and gold. You can buy equipment in shops. No base building, but your base starts with several buildings that don't offer any interaction, though. Creeps spawn in certain buildings and run on lanes to the enemy base, which should sound familiar.
  • Death & Dying
    You get automatically resurrected after some time. You can, however, shorten the wait time by paying a moderate amount of gold, which is actually an interesting feature. Similar to DG, there's a Healing Crystal equivalent, something that had to be pointed out to me in the Demigod forum (thanks, dude).
  • Gameplay
    Weeeeeeeeell .... I sucked in my first game and got promptly verbaly punished for being a noob. This doesn't help endear you to the game, so my perceptions may be flawed. But my first impression was: I can't zoom out (I swear, after playing Demigod I think it's impossible to enjoy RTS games without a God-Eye-Zoom)!
    In addition to the fixed camera height you have a considerably larger map and a faster movement speed than experienced in Demigod and you can't help feeling confused and disoriented. The creeps are stronger in comparison to DG creeps (but then those puny heroes are no half-gods). There is no health crystal. I think the only way to heal up is to buy potions. At least you can buy more than three per slot.
    The game is fast paced but not so fast that you'll experience instant death right from the start. You'll have plenty of time to decide that a battle is a lost cause and run for the towers.
    And your job? Easy, kill and destroy. No flags, no warscore (although there are other gamemodes that might have something similar). The only thing you can do is find creeps or heroes and kill them. And find enemy buildings and destroy them. That's it.
  • Game Modes
    There are only custom games. No skirmish or pantheon. No single player mode and (currently) no bots to solo against. Many possible options to setup a custom game. And the features the lobby offers are something to be seen. Feels like a database browser (i.e. comfortable and powerful).
  • Replays
    They work. Take that, Demigod!
  • Community
    It's a new game so you'd expect the community to be new also. But it's not. It's mostly DotA veterans that got a bit frustrated with the aged Warcraft 3 engine and wanted something, er, newish. Someone in the HoN forums summed it up pretty much: "I'm actually pretty surprised by this community. So far it's been very hard to find nice people. Most players - particularly those with Dota experience are incredibly rude to all players."
    The Demigod community certainly has it's share of unfriendlies, but as a whole it's quite amiable. Maybe this will change with the rise of competetive play.

Bottom line: Graphically it's definetly a step down when compared to Demigod. But noticably better than DotA. It's really really running smooooooothly. If you consider the small DG roster Demigod's biggest drawback, then HoN might seem attractive. The complexity and detail of each hero is lower than that of any one Demigod. It's also extremely beginner unfriendly. And even though Demigod didn't have any kind of tutorial either, you grasp the gist of DG way faster than that of HoN. HoN is clearly aimed at DotA players. It looks so similar to DotA that fanboys might as well stay there.

It's still in beta so many things will change. The strongest point of HoN is it's large hero rooster. Apart from that I don't think the Demigod has much to fear.

But since it's an early test phase, I'll certainly give it another try. I can endure the "F*CKING _NOOB" for a time, hehehehe.

 


Comments (Page 1)
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on Jul 19, 2009

You step in the pond to heal and it has exactly the same effect as the hp crystal.

However this is literally DotA with better graphics. Its a rip-off. It suffers from the same problems of DotA:

Community which KILLS new players

Barrier of Entry is a joke. If you want to play this game, you must be ready to get constantly flamed and raped for months

The fact you said you think the only way to heal is via HP pots doesnt make your impression that reliable/important though...

on Jul 19, 2009

Demigod has nothing to fear as far as the casual player is concerned. Demigod wins hands down. Demigod is also, unquestionably, a work of art.

For people who play to get as good as they can and then go compete (in order to get better), HoN has everything we could want.

on Jul 19, 2009

dgl-DalzK


However this is literally DotA with better graphics. Its a rip-off. It suffers from the same problems of DotA:

Community which KILLS new players

Barrier of Entry is a joke. If you want to play this game, you must be ready to get constantly flamed and raped for months

The fact you said you think the only way to heal is via HP pots doesnt make your impression that reliable/important though...

 

It is not a ripoff, seeing it has consent from the current dota maintainer. Yes the community isn't kind to new players but seeing as it is a stand alone game it can address this problem where DotA can't.

 

Weather Demigod will be hindered by HoN is yet to be seen, but I will play both.

 

Edit: Also Aroddo to play the beta you had to sign an NDA which means you shouldn't of really made this post.

on Jul 19, 2009

Synapsis-dos
Edit: Also Aroddo to play the beta you had to sign an NDA which means you shouldn't of really made this post.

S2 has formally granted permission to talk about the game now. Just no screenshots or videos.

on Jul 19, 2009

We have permission to talk about the game now, eh?

I gave HoN a very brief try - thanks to Synapsis for the beta invite. I was expecting something similar to Demigod - inspired by DotA but with its own take on the art and maps and maybe some new or different core gameplay mechanics - but, alas, no. I started laughing when I realised they'd even cloned the map. I couldn't bring myself to even try to finish a round. Perhaps this is reactionary, superficial, unfair - but I have no desire to play DotA - so I'm probably not part of the target demographic. If you enjoy playing DotA - give it a go, it's probably aimed at you. If, like myself, you have no desire to play DotA again, then stay far far away.

To end on a slightly positive note, I had no technical issues with it: the download was small, the installation was straight forward, it was easy to make an account, join a lobby, and get quickly into the game.

on Jul 19, 2009

if you want a competitive game which is challenging/fast/lots of killing, and alot more team related play, play HoN.

if you want flashy graphics and non-competitive games play Demigod.

 

 

on Jul 20, 2009

I played a little of HoN, never played Demigod. I played DotA a few years ago just a little.

I joined a "noobs" game and was trying to learn the game. I asked my team if there was a place to heal. Nobody answered. I asked my team again. Then I asked everyone. Again. Again. Finally, someone told me "no". I said "Thanks". No answer. I nearly begged my TEAM to tell me. When I died, I found the fountain thingy and saw that it seemed to heal. It does. I left the game with no penalty, if my team can't even answer by yes or no, why should I care about them?

on Jul 20, 2009

Wow since i've been playing the beta i've been thinking DG has alot to fear.  Now i know they just left in alot of people (me included)  but you hit the lobby and there's always a big list of games up.  The gameplay is faster then DG and i've only hit a sec of lag 2 or 3x's in about 20 games.  There is already a voice chat system in the game so dont need vent to talk to your team. They already have alot of the little features up that DG still hasn't gotten to (customize buttons, friends list in game, a filter for noob games or pro games, shuffle teams, option to remake games if someone drops right away). 

If they can keep the harcore DOTA people from bitching out the noobs with there ranking system then i dont see why people that haven't played DOTA wouldn't play this.  Biggest prob i see is getting the people that play DOTA for free to pay what amounts to almost the same game with some upgrades(better graphics and interface, alot better store system and a few new heros and maps). And if LoL is any good it will have real problems cause its really hard to beat free.

I wasn't a huge DOTA fan but i played it for a little while so i know how the game works (even if i pretty much still suck at it) but i find myself playing the hell out of HON right now and to be fair i did just get in the beta so who know if i'll still be playing it this much in a few days. 

on Jul 20, 2009

HoN is pretty fail. it's zerg/gib game.  You can easily die in 2-3 hits without anything fancy.  That doesn't take skill. That was like PRE TBC WoW.

 

One of the great things about demigod is the deeper HP pools(with hp stacking) and the simplicity of buying items. The whole DOTA recipe system is too complicated to care about. Noone wants to play barefoot contessa at the shop. We're not girls.

on Jul 20, 2009

RainFall2112
HoN is pretty fail. it's zerg/gib game.  You can easily die in 2-3 hits without anything fancy.  That doesn't take skill. That was like PRE TBC WoW.

 

One of the great things about demigod is the deeper HP pools(with hp stacking) and the simplicity of buying items. The whole DOTA recipe system is too complicated to care about. Noone wants to play barefoot contessa at the shop. We're not girls.

 

No if you die in 2-3 hits without something fancy you are doing it wrong, most likely you aren't playing the hero right, If you play HoN like you play demigod you will die alot. They have two different gameplay styles and hp stacking in HoN will not work if it is on the wrong character. That is one of the things demigod has that HoN doesn't, each hero has multiple play styles but the heroes in hon only really have 1.

on Jul 20, 2009

Get me in the HoN beta.  I need some good comp.  Anyone know where to point me?

on Jul 20, 2009

HoN is literally DotA 2.0, and the community has already assured that I will never play HoN, and it's only in closed beta. A community that epxects you, from day one, to memorize 60-90 heroes, what they do, recipes, what strategy works for each of those individual heros, and be 100% competent from the getgo while being downright hostile and unhelpful even to their own teammates is not a community I'd like to take part in.

on Jul 20, 2009

A community that epxects you, from day one, to memorize 60-90 heroes, what they do, recipes, what strategy works for each of those individual heros, and be 100% competent from the getgo while being downright hostile and unhelpful even to their own teammates is not a community I'd like to take part in.

this is why the overall skill level of demigods community is so low, you arent expected to know anything in this game.

the overall skill level for this game is so low it makes the game quite boring tbh.

i have only come across a very small amount of people who actually heal/shield other players for the benefit of the team in this game(maybe because there are no awards for it? who knows?).there is also a very small amount of people who actually play ALL demigods.

btw, stop choosing the same ones over and over again, you wont improve.

 

 

 

on Jul 20, 2009

Played the game for 1 game. Was not impressed after playing DG. Uninstalled. GG

on Jul 20, 2009

I guess some people want to kill their opponent demigod more than helping their own team-mate when they are in need of assistant like heal, shield, stun etc. I guess some may not think of by helping their team-mates when need it will prevent the opposite team from benefiting a kill on your team.

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