After months of excitement I finally had a chance to play League of Legends: Clash of Fates, Riot Games' massive multiplayer online battle arena. At a bowling alley near the E3 show last week, I sat down and played against eleven other members of the press. After about 30 minutes I was 12-0. You might recall a few weeks back when I talked about how much ass I kicked at the Red Faction: Guerrilla event. Now, I invite you to participate in reading "How Much Ass I Kicked at a Multiplayer Event Part 2: League of Legends: Clash of Fates."

Members of the Riot Games development team surrounded the table of gamers and explained the rules to everyone individually. Generally speaking, the discussions started off with "Have you played Defense of the Ancients?", and the answer is either followed with a pat on the back and a "Good luck" or a long explanation of the rules of RTS titles. Being a seasoned DotA player I was one of the players to get a pat on the back, and looked through the game's characters. For those who don't know, here's a crash course: LoL plays like an RTS, birthed from the loins of Warcraft or Red Alert. Instead of controlling massive armies, players actually are only directly influencing one character, a "hero," if you will, who has powerful abilities that can be upgraded RPG style. EXP is earned by either taking out enemy champions, destroying their defensive towers, or killing opposing AI, which constantly spawns weak units to create a stalemate mid-map.



I choose Teemo, the "swift scout," a kitten with a blowgun. The characters all seem unique, even when held up against DotA's dozens and dozens of characters. They're laid out very well on the screen, too, meaning the game is likely going to be much more user friendly than previous games in the genre, while still maintaining a huge amount of depth. After choosing my champion I was was able to pick other abilities that weren't specific to my character. Teleportation, wind walk, and healing were among the more interesting, while  there were others that look like they would likely benefit other characters. These don't actually improve with time, and serve as minor boosts, replacing the stat upgrades that were lost in the translation between DotA and LoL.

After choosing the skills I began shopping, which has also been improved greatly. Instead of needing to memorize recipes and shop at different locations, the UI is sleek and intuitive, listing all of the possible upgrades and objects in a menu system. It's nothing revolutionary outside of the genre, but the genre is so small that it feels like a massive win. After buying my item I finally set out, intent on trying to see exactly how much I could beat the hell out of my opponents. Before he left, one of the game's developers pointed out a useful feature: pressing the "B" button would return my champion to the base, allowing him to buy more items or heal without needing to buy a portal or escape rope. I didn't really need this, though, as I could tell that I was, indeed, the alpha dog. One by one I began to systematically decimate my unprepared opponents.



One after another, each foe fell under my paw. The level design in the map I was playing on was nearly identical to DotA's, with three "lanes" that enemies spawn on and need to be maintained, with towers interspersed throughout. From time to time, a member of the Riot Games team would walk over to check up on me, asking if I needed any help. More often than not, they would notice my score before I had time to respond, make some comment like "Holy crap, you don't need help," and walk away. If I wasn't so awesome it might inflate my ego, but I'm more humble than that, so I simply maintained my dominence by continually destroying the other team. Even the game's readout of "OMG SOMEONE CALL GUINSOO" (an inside joke about one of the game's producers) did little to slow me down. After carrying my team through the match I eventually made it into the enemy base and destroyed it, laughing as opponents tried to make their way towards me.

I wanted to stay and play more, but I was called away by other journalistic duties. A beta test for LoL is currently in session, and hopefully will expand to include more players soon, inviting more gamers to experience this intense genre without needing to go through the hassle of installing Warcraft III. Defense of the Ancients might have started the genre and Demigod may have cleaned it up for casual consumption, but it looks like League of Legends: Clash of Fates has a chance of perfecting it.