Note: The version I am reviewing and the one you play may not be the same as I’m reviewing an early alpha for the game.

What is Pro Gamer Manager?

Pro Gamer Manager is a simulation style game where you play as a randomly named character who wishes to become a pro FOBA player. FOBA is a MOBA style game (think League of Legends or DotA). The end goal of this game is to, well, become a Pro Gamer. To do that, you must learn the very ins and outs of this game, become the master of the lane you want to play, and rise to the level of a pro gamer. During this quest, you will end up setting up a gamer house and building your own pro team then hiring staff to help you run your team. (See the bottom images for how the game looks)

And so the game begins..

When the game starts, your character is sitting at his computer, clicking on him gives you several options:

• Play Foba - Does what it's name entails, you "play" the game. Playing the game in split into several phases:

1. Picking phase settings (trying a new champion or counterpicking the enemy team).
2. Selecting playstyle mentality (Aggressive, Normal, or Defensive).
3. Select something to focus on to improve such as champion synergys, champion knowledge, or champion strengths.
4. Sit through the pick and ban phase. You don't make any decisions here apart from starting the game.
5. As the game goes on, you make choices that can affect your knowledge of your current speciality. This choices will also help affect the outcome of the game.
6. Once the bar reaches 100%, the game is over. You'll find out if you won or not, how many fans and points you've gained, along with any stats that may have been boosted. Along with spectator comments on your games that may give you an insight on what went right or wrong.

• Watch Foba - Watch pros "play" and learn from them. Each player has a mentality such as Defensive, Balanced, or Aggressive.

• Go to bed - Usually done when you run out of energy. Starts a new day with the option to play more or do the other options.

• Research - Using points earned from playing FOBA, you can research to learn a new role, learn a speciality playstyle and stream for your fans (fans are earned by making good choices during a FOBA game and doing well).

• Profile - This allows you to see your character's stats including what role you commonly play, your mental stats (reflexes, communication, etc.), your role specific stats, your gamerstats (Mechanics, positioning, etc.) and what champions your character is best at.

• Talents - Appears to be a talent tree of some sort, currently it is unavailable but will be "Coming soon!"

• Rankings - Your rankings compared to the other players of FOBA. These are not real people but a good way to see how you're doing in Pro Gamer Manager

You'll notice when you play that you'll have 2 bars at the bottom left, "Energy" and "Rage. Energy goes down as you play or watch FOBA or do research. Energy is replenished when you sleep. Rage will go up as you lose games and go down as you win them. Fill the rage bar and you will be banned from FOBA for a day.

As you get more fans, companies can choose to sponsor you. You can choose to sell the equipment for money to pay off fees or to use it for stat boosts. Personally, unless you’re in debt, I’d suggest using it for the Reflex boosts so you can become a better player. These fans can also provide you with credits (read: money), that can significantly help you get your team off the ground.

I've noticed that you always start off as a support main, but you can choose your speciality as you get more esports points and the chance to research the new speciality. Personally, I chose to go with the mid speciality as I'm a mid player in mobas myself and know the lane a lot better than I know the support role. Once I made the switch and researched specific champions, I started winning more and more games and gaining fans rather quickly.

After saving up 50 points (Esports points) and gaining 250 fans, I unlocked the ability to stream for my fans (Costs 50 points for research along with having to have 250 fans). Streaming gives the option to stream an FPS, Funny Games, or Survival games. This is one of the quickest ways to earn credits early on in the game. The more you entertain your fans, the more money you get (note: you don’t control any of these games, it’s an automatic process similar to a FOBA game). Money is important for paying fees and later for paying staff and players.

Finally, I got better. I started winning game after game and soon, I was able to expand and move into my own gaming house and start a FOBA team. This opened up a whole new side to the game I hadn’t seen before. Now, I have to recruit some good players and staff members. My options are now different. I'm now setting up tactics for my team, selecting whether I want the team to be aggressive, defensive, or a good balance. I need to select my captain and who will initiate teamfights. After recruiting 4 other people (you can only recruit one a day), I was able to play FOBA with my team. I must have done a good job recruiting because I won my first game no problem. I have noticed after a few games, however, that I've stopped making mid-game choices like I was before. The game now plays out and I find out the result. How the game goes now bases itself on the choices you make while setting up your team (you can switch these tactics as you need before playing a game).

To cut the review a little short for now, I want to say that I rate the game a solid 7/10 for an early access game. It could use a little bit of fine tuning, but if you're into games that are somewhat minimalistic on the surface with some underlying strategy, then this just might be the game for you. It's currently in Early Access on Steam, and is available for $9.99 or your regional equivalent. If you're not into Early Access, that's fine, but definitely at least keep an eye on this game. It could use a little more polishing, but honestly, I find it fun. It also gave me more motivation to do better in my actual MOBA games, so there’s that too.

Facts:

• Pro Gamer manager is developed by Raptor Claw Games and published by Millenway Studios
• To purchase the game, you can either buy through the Humble Store or Steam directly.
• Game is still in early access and can change very quickly.
• Choices you make definitely have an effect on the outcome of your game and for your team as a whole.
• The game is a mix of grinding, tactics, and somewhat idling.

Suggestions:

• A starter tutorial explaining what different options are would be nice. The tutorial should include a dictionary of sorts to explain what various terms mean.
• Character and Team customization. I would at least like to name my character and team if anything
• Allow teams to practice together before matches.
• Use research points to help out your teammates too.
• Give champions a little more depth to further add customization and strategy to the game.
• While the music is nice, it gets repetitive. A neat little feature would be to allow us to stream our locally saved music through the game.

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For this specific post I will be comparing the two player portion of SoulCalibur IV to Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition. I'm reviewing these two because they were the first two fighting games I've ever played and they're pretty comparable fighters.

Stats/Format

      SoulCalibur

• 25 total characters
• 3D format (can move left/right/back/forward)
• Platforms: PS3 and Xbox360
• Melee-based attacks
• Rated 8.75 out of 10 by Game Informer and 8.7 out of 10 by IGN 

      Mortal Kombat

• 35 total characters (including secret characters, PlayStation exclusive, nonselectable bosses)
• set in 2.5D format (only can move back and forth)
• Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PS Vita and PC
• Magic and melee-based attacks
• Rated 9.5 out of 10 by Game Informer and 8.0 out of 10 by IGN

            Now personally, I love both of these games a lot, but I enjoy them for different reasons. Mortal Kombat, for example, has some of my favorite graphics of the two games. I really enjoy the blood that is used as it makes it a little more realistic, not to mention fatalities which just look really cool. The graphics are really nice to look at and honestly I love the creativity that went into each fatality. However, it lacks the ability to create customized characters, which is something SoulCalibur offers.
            The customization in SoulCalibur allows you to be whoever you want to be. You can use the weapons that the standard characters have or you can use Gold (gotten by through beating the game in Story Mode) and get new/better weapons. You can also customize what types of abilities your character has (such as the Nullify Ring Out ability). To get better abilities, you level up your character by using them to fight. Leveling up unlocks the better abilities such as Nullify Ring Out A rather than C which you start out with. You can also customize what armor is worn along with changing the color scheme, or unlock new and better armor with your Gold and using that instead. This allows you to make a character that matches your play style and feels best in your hands.
             SoulCalibur is really nice if you want a fighting game that isn't very dark and a bit more child friendly (not much, but it's there). It isn't super graphic, though you can end up seeing the characters in just their undergarments if their armor gets destroyed. The lack of blood and gore certainly doesn't take away from the game, and it still feels really quite fun. Mortal Kombat is really nice if you want to use a little bit of magic (or range that many, if not all, SoulCalibur characters lack) and see some really sweet looking kills. Luckily your armor cant get destroyed as armor doesn't really exist in MK. Mortal Kombat is compatible with more systems, which makes it a bit more versatile than SoulCalibur. If Mortal Kombat sounds like something you are interested in, but you don't want a game that graphic you can try Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe where you can chose from characters like the Flash or Batman. Mind you Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe did not do as well as Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition but that has to do with the fact that it was a lot more toned down for the younger audience with a teen rating (and the game-play was pretty bad too).  

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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth

You know, I’ve played an awful lot of games in my 21 years of being alive. However, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth really takes the cake. It falls under one of my favorite game genres, roguelike, in which each floor is somewhat procedurally generated in that you won’t often run into the same dungeon layouts, even if some of the rooms in the dungeon are the same. Along with this, items and powerups are also randomly distributed so each run feels brand new. Once you die though, you lose everything, starting back from the very beginning as your starting character. No obtained powerups and items. Combine that with some pretty high difficulty, and you’ve got a tough game that feels very satisfying to beat.

Story

So, the story for this game is a little..strange. You play Issac, a child who lives with his mother at the top of a hill. Your mother, a very Christian woman, begins to hear “voices from above” telling her that her son is corrupted with sin and must be killed to save him from this evil. Isaac sees her coming with a knife through a crack in his bedroom door and jumps into a trapdoor under his rug into the basement, where the game begins.

That’s really the story, but don’t leave yet, because the story ultimately doesn’t matter when it comes to this game. What really matters is the gameplay, which is honestly incredibly expansive.

Gameplay

The gameplay basics are relatively simple: move around with WASD and fire your tears (this game’s bullets) with the arrow keys. The tears do have a set range, but this can be increased with various power-ups. There are two difficult levels, normal and hard, and 11 characters (10 of which have to be unlocked through various methods). Between the number of powerups you can find, and the large variety of enemies you run into, you can easily forget that you’re playing as a naked, scared child killing poop monsters and demon children that spawn flies with your tears.

When I say there are a lot of items, I mean a lot. Rebirth boasts 343 of them. Many of which work together in various ways. Get a quad-shot plus brimstone (a blood laser)? You now fire 4 of this things that will kill many enemies instantly. Death scythe + IPECAC? You know shoot green scythes that explode when they hit something. Along with items you also have 21 arcana cards (one-time use item), 5 Playing cards (one-time use), and 5 special cards that have powerful effects. There are 8 runes that give you different effects. Pills that give you a random effect per run, and so much more. Honestly, each run will be almost guaranteed to be unique to you. If you want to try a run again, however, a “seed” is generated that you can type in to try that specific run again. You can share these seeds with others as well, if you want to see how other people handle the same run.

DLC

On October 30, 2015, the first DLC for BoI: Rebirth will be released called Afterbirth. This DLC will be available for $9.99 or your regions’ equivalence and will bring a lot of new content to the table. New content includes a new game mode, daily challenges (runs), 10 new challenges, 1000+ new rooms, a new playable character, 8 new bosses, 25+ new enemies, and a lot more. The Binding of Isaac games have always had fantastic DLC and Afterbirth promises to deliver content for many more hours to come.

Stats

• 343 items
• 2 awards from the Playstation Blog for being one of the year's best Vita and downloadable games.
• Average gameplay time is over 100 hours to 100% complete the game.
• $9.99 DLC named Afterbirth to be released on October 30, 2015.
• Available on PC, New 3DS, and PS Vita
• Base game available for $14.99 or your regional equivalent.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, this is one of my top games for 2015. I have put over 200 hours into this game, and I go back for more nearly everyday, even for just a half-hour or so during lunch breaks. Honestly, the $14.99 is incredibly worth it, and it that’s too rich for your blood, it’s put on sale for at least 50% off fairly often. If you’re into rogue-likes or even twin-stick shooters, give this one a shot. With Steam’s new refund system, it’s worth giving this game a shot and see if you like how it plays + the weird aesthetic. I for one, would rate this game a 9/10 easily, and have already preordered the DLC because I know I’m going to get my money’s worth. I haven’t even mentioned all the features in this game, by the way, so explore the game a little and check it out!

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Dishonored for Xbox360 - Contains Spoilers!
Almost completed

About two years ago I was watching my ex boyfriend’s brother play this pretty cool game. The name of it was Dishonored. I really liked the way that you could teleport from place to place but never actually asked to play the game. Around 6 months ago I started getting curious, so Lucas and I decided to get the game for our Xbox 360 and that was when I started my adventure as Corvo.

Overview of the game

The game starts out the same every time, you play as Corvo, the last bodyguard to the Empress, who has just returned to her in the city of Dunwall. Now if you want complete surprise while playing the game skip to the next paragraph as I'm going to talk about what happens in the beginning of the game. About five minutes into the game these teleporting assassins come in and kill the Empress and then steal her daughter Emily. You can try to fight off these assassins but it’s honestly to no avail so don’t feel bad when they kill her anyways. It’s just how the story goes. Naturally the assassins all disappear and you are left there to get framed for the murder and get put in prison. On the eve of Corvo’s planned execution you get Corvo out of prison and end up coming across this person called The Outsider who grants you supernatural powers like Teleportation.

If you only get one thing from this review let it be that Dishonored gives you options. There are different ways you can play the game while still following the same story line. You can clear the entire game without killing anyone (even though a lot of people seriously want you dead). If you want to use a blade, you can. If you want to use a bow and arrows, you can do that too. You can even just use magic. As you go through the game you can find different items that will help with making Corvo stronger. Bone Charms and Runes will help you upgrade your ability and equipment. In fact each playthrough of Dishonored will give you 26 random Bone Charms to collect out of the 35 Bone Charms that exist. That’s right, it picks them at random making no gameplay exactly the same. Bone Charms will be in the same places every time but the charm itself will be random.

The game follows a Chaos system, it tracks what moves you make as Corvo, the more destructive Corvo is, the more chaotic the world around you becomes. I really love this aspect because it’s really realistic. If you just leave some dead bodies around the city in real life, people are going to notice. It’s only logical. This easily makes it as one of my favorite thing about the game. Dishonored allows the player to choose how the game and NPCs will play out would be the fact that you can truly make the game fit your style of gameplay. Personally I like killing people in game play but I also really like sneaking around to do it. Luckily in this game I can just that. If you play this game and you want to just kill people left and right, you pretty much can. If you want to be nonviolent, you can. It’s totally based on what you want to get out of the game.

My gameplay
The first time I played through this game I didn’t have a walkthrough or anything like that. I didn’t have much understanding as to how to use the Heart or the Chaos system. So I pretty much just killed whatever and really didn’t do that great of a job. I got through most missions with failed attempts and literally just by the skin on my teeth. As I came to The Flooded District which is the seventh mission of eight total missions. I came to a point where I couldn’t seem to get past I looked at tutorials and realized that I wanted different powers than what I had, so I did what any rational gamer would do when they don’t like the outcome of their gameplay, and restarted the entire game.

The second time through I made it my goal to look for all of the Bone Charms and Runes I could find so I could truly unlock Corvo’s true potential. I purchased a game guide to help me find charms and Runes when I was unable to locate them. I taught Corvo new skills like possession and time bending which helped me gain more skills and become stronger overall. Finally I got back to mission seven and came across the point that had given me so much trouble the first time and cleared it.

However for some reason, I never ended up completing the game after that point. Part of me thinks that the reason I never got to the end of the game was because I loved the game so much that I really couldn’t deal with accepting the fact that once I finished it, it would be over. Luckily Dishonored 2 was announced at E3 this past year and I’m hoping that when it comes closer to being released I will finally be able to finish Dishonored.

What did I like/dislike?

The game honestly had really amazing graphics and I was very pleased with the work that Bethesda put into this game. One of my favorite things was the fact that I could teleport from place to place. I also really enjoyed the mystery that the story-line gave about who murdered the Empress. However, like every Legend of Zelda game, I was forced to do everything for everyone which can get irritating at times. There was no real way to progress in the game if you didn’t complete the task at hand. This the gameplay is known as linear which is not something I’m unfamiliar with. Dishonored wasn’t as lax as other linear games such as Pokemon where you can always find something to do before moving on to the next town/battle/gym/etc.

My least favorite thing in this game was easily was the Whalers, the assassins that could teleport from place to place and were way better than I was. Or at least they were my least favorite thing, until I came across the Overseers with their music boxes that nullify your magic. Which made life very difficult when you ran out of bullets or arrows and you couldn’t use your magic to fight them. Of course I only truly dislike them because they are brilliant and challenge the player. As all good games I loved to hate some of the enemies, especially Tall Boys.

Finishing up

I adored Dishonored. I played the game for hours on end. Lucas would constantly talk about how Dishonored had stole his girlfriend from him. I loved the game so much that I was willing to restart the entire thing just to become a better Corvo. Not to mention I didn’t even finish it because the idea of it being over was too much to bare. When it gets closer to the release for Dishonored 2 I will probably look into the game again and finish where I left off. But for now, Oblivion has most of my attention.

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Super Smash Bros. for the WiiU.

Super Smash Bros., Nintendo’s fighting game, has been around since January of 1999 when it made its debut on the Nintendo 64. The original game had 12 characters (8 starter characters and 4 that needed to be unlocked). Since then, 4 more games have been released, the latest being Super Smash Bros. for the WiiU and for the 3DS (I’ll be focusing on the WiiU version for this review) released in November of 2014. In this game, there are 55 characters, all from Nintendo IP’s ranging from Mario and Metroid to Pokemon, Gyromite, Duck Hunt, and more.

Super Smash Bros. is a crossover fighting game that differs from many fighting games as your goal is to knock your opponent off the stage rather than depleting a lifebar. Instead, as you hit your opponents, their percentage (damage) goes up. The higher this number, the farther they’ll be knocked back when you hit them with a move. Hit them up, to the left, to the right, or under the stage hard enough, and they’ll die. The game can play with stocks (lives) or with a timer that can be set for various time limits. The first to lose their lives loses, or in the case of time, the one with the highest K/D ratio at the end wins.

Along with the Nintendo characters, naturally, you have Nintendo based stages. Some of which have stage hazards that interact with the characters in various ways. The Pokemon stages have Pokemon that can attack you or alter the stage. A Metroid stage has lava that occasionally rises to damage the player and so much more. There are 52 stages to start, with some being occasionally added in as DLC for a price. Alongside this, there is a user friendly stage creator that allows you to build your own stage, add your own hazards (spikes, for example) and play on it. You can also share these stages with your friends and have them play on their own WiiU. Each stage has a normal mode and an “Omega” mode that removes any stage hazards and makes the stage completely flat.

DLC

Now, the DLC. The DLC for this game includes costumes for the Mii fighter characters, new stages, and even new characters. Most of these come at a price ranging from $.75 to $13 depending on what you want to buy. The most expensive things are often a collection of skins or characters that are bundled to save you a little money. 

In my opinion, these prices are actually quite fair, especially as new fighters aren’t blatantly overpowered or underpowered and feel like they fit right into the game. This means you can easily avoid not buying the DLC and feel like you’re still getting a fair experience. Sure, you may not have the newest added characters, but it doesn’t hinder you from playing against them. I personally own all the DLC characters, and I’m glad I did because two of them (Mewtwo and Lucas) are some of my favorite characters from previous games.

Online Play

So, the online play for this game is significantly better than the previous title’s (Super Smash Bros. Brawl). However, the online play is still Peer 2 Peer so it depends on both parties to have a good connection for the game not to lag. If you both have a good connection, then the game is pretty much flawless to play online. There are frame drops here and there, but nothing too noticeable. I’d suggest a 15 Mbps download speed with little interference to play online.

There are two modes online: For Fun and For Glory. For Fun is just that, for fun. It’s casual game modes with items and (normally) time instead of stock. It’s a 4+ player mode, so you’re more likely to experience lag due to this. For Glory is ranked, based on your Win/Loss ratio. You are given 2 lives and play on the “Omega” form of the stages to remove outside influences. There is also a 4 player For Glory mode too.

Stats

• 55 characters (+ Any DLC)
• 52 stages (+Any DLC)
• Winner of the Best Fighting Game --E3 2014 Game Critics Awards
• Replays available, but only for matches 3 minutes or less. Replays can be uploaded to Youtube within the game itself.
• Recommended high speed internet to play online
• DLC ranges from $.75 to ~$13

Final Thoughts

Honestly, this is one of my favorite Smash Bros. game to date. While not as competitive as Smash Bros. Melee on the Gamecube, it balances casual and competitive play while not taking out any of the fun on either side. This is one of the games that I bought my WiiU for originally, and if you’re on the edge, considering  buying a WiiU, buy it for this game. If you’re into fighting games and love Nintendo, then do it. It’s a hell of a good time and the WiiU has some other fantastic titles that either Nicole or I will be reviewing in the future.

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Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer
1 year of experience with past games

Let me just start out by saying the hype is real. I got the new Animal Crossing game the night it came out. At midnight, Lucas and I were at Gamestop ready to pick up our bundle of the New 3DS and HHD and they were both utterly gorgeous. Since this is a new game I’m going to try to cover as much as possible without ruining it for anyone. 

How is HHD different? So obviously unlike in games previously you are not a villager. Instead it is more like City Folk where you work for Tom Nook and New Leaf where Nook is running the “home improvement” shop. Only difference is you don’t spend any time really playing as a villager. You start out as a lowly employee and as you improve you can climb the ranks and get more responsibility. With this responsibility you begin being able to do things such as work on shops and businesses within the town. And yes you do want to share your data. As this unlocks parts of the game that use the internet making it more fun for everyone involved.

At the beginning of the game you can do some pretty baseline things. You get some furniture for a home that you need to decorate. The new clipboard design lets you rearrange all of the furniture with your stylus which is so much easier than having to walk all around the room. You can also drag the stylus in order to select multiple pieces of furniture at the same time. The more people you build houses for, the more stuff you can unlock. Things you can unlock range from flowers, beds, tables, clothing, and more. You can also search for furniture based on name or by color which comes in handy. I am hoping (like many others) that this is how future Animal Crossing games will allow you to design the inside of your house. In fact, it's not just houses that you can design in this game. You get the chance to design stores, restaurants, a school, a hospital and more to truly make the town your own. You unlock more and more things when you do more projects. You can even compete with others to make the best looking house via the Happy Home Network* during different challenges that will be held. October's current challenge is the sweetest home.

Unlike other Animal Crossing games, HHD is not done in real time. Instead it seems to follow more of a pattern. Most days you design a home/store and once you are done, you do a nightly report (which basically tells the game you are done for the day and then saves your hard work). After the game has saved you can either choose to continue on to the next day, or you can quit the game. You can also save after beginning a project and then come back to it the next time you open up the software.

A few days into the game Nook will give you a free lesson from the Happy Home Handbook. These lessons will also help you unlock tutorials that help better your experience while playing the game. You use Play Coins to unlock the rest of the lessons. The lessons cost between 1 and 5 Play Coins and you can be unlocked in any order you want. You can choose to not unlock them (though I don’t recommend it). These lessons help you learn things like how to change the design of windows, ceiling decor, refurbishing furniture and more. You have to use about 30 Play Coins to unlock all of the lessons.
Amiibo Cards | How do they work?Now that I’ve covered most of the basics, let’s talk about the amiibo cards. When I got my game it came with one amiibo card included (I got Joan) I’m unsure if all of the games come with one free amiibo card included but I would imagine that they do. Each card has a little microchip in it which acts like a typical amiibo however they are a lot easier to bring with you (and only function within HHD and likely the upcoming Animal Crossing: Festival game). Each amiibo card has different information on it. In the upper left box the card tells you what type of card you have. Joan, Isabelle, Lyle, Nook, etc. are considered to be SP which stands for special character (each pack of amiibo cards have one SP card). Other characters will come up as their animal breed. The upper right circle tells you what number the card is from this series of Animal Crossing Amiibo Cards. Series 1 has 100 different cards, the circle simply tells you which one you have. As for the circle below the number I’ve heard that it is just supposed to be rock-paper-scissors. Now whether or not I am willing to buy that, I’m unsure on. The secondary box below the upper left box is believed to be a value for some future feature as they are numbered 1-6 and look like a dice. People are thinking that maybe this is a “roll value”. Honestly I’m looking forward to finding out what it is as I have not noticed that it has any meaning in the gameplay of HHD. The rest of the card has their name (in English and two other languages) and below that is listed their birthday and their star sign.

The amiibo cards seem to be able to be used in a few different ways**. When visiting a client's house you may invite another character over via the amiibo cards. You can also update your client’s information (if you have already designed their house before getting their amiibo card). As well as use the amiibo phone (which you get a few days into game play) which will allow you to basically place a “call” to the person on your card and then you can design (or redesign) their home. Another really neat feature of the amiibo phone is that you can add furniture saved to the card to your own catalog by reading the amiibo card while in a home created by someone else. (To get to other people’s houses you need to use the Happy Home Network, which uses an internet connection.)

There is probably so much more that I could say about this game, but you should find out for yourself. Right now the Nintendo eShop is having a deal where if you buy the game on the eShop you get a free Animal Crossing Theme for your 3DS as well. Unfortunately I do not have the free theme but I guess I’ll just have to live.

*The HHN is simply a place that is used to show off houses and facilities that people have built. You can post your own projects on there and get them rated.
**Please note that if you are using the original 3DS and not the New 3DS you will need to get a separate NFC reader and writer in order to use amiibo cards. You can find one of those at most stores such as Target or GameStop for about $20 or you can find them online on places like Amazon.

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League of Legends

With the League of Legends World Championship starting yesterday, I thought I would write up my personal review. As I write this, there is a countdown to the first game of the second day of the Worlds event, with TSM (my personal favorite team) playing again KT in Game 1. I have my bets placed with friends and this exciting event is getting closer and closer to starting its second day.

So, what is League of Legends? League of Legends (LoL for the rest of the review) is a game that falls under the MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) category, similar to Heroes of the Storm and DotA 2. It is a 5on5, destroy your opponents’ structures to win, style of game. Each player selects a “champion” from the current pool of 126 champions (viewable here) with a new one coming every 2 or 3 months. Each player then selects their “Runes” and “Masteries” which are customizable ways to help boost certain stats based on what runes and masteries you select.

A big part of this game is teamwork and communicating with your team. This can be both good and bad as you’ll see many people who are great and want to work with you, but you’ll also run into trolls whose main goal is to ruin the game experience for you and potentially cause a loss. This often leads to people quitting the game if it happens enough, or solely playing with friends. Which is actually one of my suggestions if you want to play this game; play with friends, a lot. If you don’t know anybody who plays League, try gathering 4 others who would also like to try the game and play together, learning the ins and outs of the game without having to worry about running into rude people online.

To give you a better idea about how long lasting this game is, I’ve been playing since October of 2009, and that’s when the game officially came out. There were open and closed betas before that release as well. This game has been around for roughly 6 or 7 years and doesn’t really show any signs of slowing down. It is still the most played online game in the entire world, with massive tournaments going on monthly and culminating in a World Championship which is currently going on. These have million dollar prizes and the finals were even shown on ESPN2 last year.

So, would I recommend this game? Yes, I would. However, I’d also suggest that, if possible, you do play with friends as it will certainly heighten the fun you have as you play the game together and learn together. I’ve met people through this game that I still talk to this day and occasionally play with and I still have fun even after 6 years.

Stats:

• 126+ Champions
• 3 lanes + a jungle
• 67 million people playing every month,27 million people playing every day, and over 7.5 million people playing at the same time during each day's peak play time.
• Largest prize pool = $2,130,000.00
• Made by Riot Games

Final thoughts:

Personally, I would rate this game 9/10 based on how smooth the gameplay often feels and how often things get updated and fixed in the game. I’m not rating based on how the community is because that’s not not exactly Riot’s fault (and to be fair, they do quite the good job at follow up on reports of rude or abusive players). I honestly feel as if everyone should try this style of game for at least 5-10 hours to see how they feel about the game. I nearly always enjoy playing, and I think many others will too.

Thanks for reading everyone!

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