Video Game Review: League of Legends

Allison McKinney, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 7, 2010 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."

Earlier this year when League of Legends was released for PC/MAC, I had been following it for about six months. Like its inspiration Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod, League of Legends(LoL) has been a hit among those who love its quirky art style and vast champion choices. With a separate meta game summoner system, which allows the player to control their masteries, rune choices and summoner spells, League of Legends is a diverse ever evolving game.

This game is unique in that the player can choose to play a different champion each time they play the game, and this champion starts out at level 1 each time you play. Each champion is different and unique. Some of them even have silly back stories that relate them to each other. There currently are 3 maps, although one is just a re skin on the original map. Before each game your team selects their champions, summoner spells, masteries and runes. Currently only blind pick, where you don't know what your opposing team's champions are, exists, but the developers are working on draft mode, where each team alternates choosing champions.

After completing a game you earn "experience point" or EXP and "influence points" or IP. The EXP is used in the summoner meta game to level the summoner up, revealing more rune slots and mastery points. The IP is used to purchase runes or champions in the in-game store. There is also an additional form of currency, "Riot Points" which you can use to purchase various items, none of which effect game play in any way.

League of Legends is extremely entertaining if not a bit difficult to start. The basics of the game, as well as getting to know the numerous champions can take away from the actual game play for a bit, but once you get over those hurdles then this game becomes tactical and engaging.

The summoner meta-game is unique because as your summoner levels up you unlock more rune slots, as well as mastery points. An additional thing that summoners have control over are summoner spells. These spells are separate from the rest of the spells and can be the same no matter what champion is chosen. An example of a summoner spell is heal, which heals your champions and the champions around them.

As this game grows and develops I feel that it will grow and exceed expectations with the numerous updates, keeping the game fresh and new, Riot is doing their best to keep people engaged in the game.

Pros:

fun, diverse champions

constantly updated

new champions, approximately every 2 weeks.

Automated match making

great sounds

very casual, but addicting

Cons:

semi-steep learning curve

numerous unique champions

Minimum System Requirements
2 GHz processor

1 GB RAM