Heroes of Newerth preview page 2

30 Sep 2009 at 14:24:28 by Luke Kneller

Menu Layering is also an issue. At some points you have some of the menus open but you can only access the top "layer" of menu, even if you can see the others. It can get a little annoying and might need to be tweaked, although you can live with it. I found myself being annoyed several times by this. Please keep in mind this is still the closed beta and I'm talking about the menu system flaws and that's because the game engine works beautifully. The graphics are well done, and can be turned up to look fantastic or turned down to work on a ten year old machine. In 46 games I've only once witnessed someone getting stuck to the point of needing to restart the game, and only a handful of bad collision code when it comes to magical attacks. So the game engine itself is pretty much done and I honestly feel like I wouldn't complain if this was released as it is now.

Lets go back to the game play as I've barely covered it. This game is all about community. HoN supports in-game VoIP that works well enough (sometimes you need to restart your client if it stops working) making it easy to communicate with other players on your team. Helpful, as this game, as I said before is all about teamwork. After reaching around level six it would be wise not to venture too far from your teammates, because if you do you will find yourself dead. The enemy heroes will make you their target, if they are on the ball and you're spotted. However, if you make yourself seem like you're on your own and you're not, then the hunters can easily become the hunted. So often have I found myself thinking the enemy is running and we're about to close the deal for another glorious kill just to hear the in-game announcer scream MASSACRE and GENOCIDE as my whole team is wiped out from an ambush we foolishly ran into. This leads me to the best bit of the game: the in-game announcer. This voice will shout out with awesome phrases when people die, if someone is doing really well or if teams are wiped out. My personal favourite is when you kill a hero and that player decides to quit the game, you'll hear an amazingly satisfying "RAGE QUIT!" shouted out and written on screen in giant red letters.

Beta account holders are also offered the chance to pre-buy the game for $30 USD (or £18.82 GBP). If you choose to do so (totally voluntary) you get several advantages: in the chat rooms you have a gold colour and are stickied to the top of the lists, every time your name is mentioned you have a golden shield next to your name making you seem and feel more important, the ability to call a taunt on another hero in-game causing a SMACKDOWN callout if you manage to kill them, the chance to invite other friends into the closed beta and, best of all, your username reserved for when the full game comes out.

To make sure you don't miss out I would go to www.heroesofnewerth.com and signup to their open beta, or try to find a friend who was pre-brought the game to invite you.

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