DotA – A Beginner’s Guide – Part 1

August 15, 2011 by Raj Agrawal Leave a Comment

For those of you who may have not known, DotA (as we now call it) is just a short for Defense of the Ancients. It’s a custom multiplayer map for Blizzard’s Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, which is arguably more popular than Valve’s Counter strike 1.6. As opposed to Counter Strike, DotA is a real-time strategy game which requires excellently co-ordinated teamwork, being the only gateway to victory.

This guide is intended to serve as a brief guide to educate the newbie DotA enthusiasts and hence, the simplicity has been stressed throughout the article.

Teamwork is the most important constituent of streaming a good DotA game. Never dream of going about the world, thinking you can pwn opponents all on your own; it will simply get you and your team killed/ defeated. I’m not going to bore you with talks that are already covered on thousands of websites. DotA being a widely appreciated game, has a lot of “how to’s” covered at it’s dedicated websites. However, a good beginner’s guide is hard to find, and we aim to acquaint you with the world of DotA.

Map Layout

The Warriors

Now let’s begin with what really happens in the game. There are 2 warring sides – the Sentinel and the Scourge, each with its respective set of heroes who fight for their sides. Each team has a monument (or an Ancient) which must be protected. The team which destroys the opponents’ Ancient wins. However, these Ancients are placed deep within the enemy territory and are protected by powerful towers, you will need to fight and push your way through!

The Heroes

Coming to the heroes, all heroes are classified into 3 categories, namely – agility, intelligence and strength, wherein the category tells the primary attribute of the hero. The agility heroes are a good starting point for beginners and after some practice, a player may wish to graduate to intelligence or strength category heroes.

After choosing a hero, one must look to improve attributes by purchasing items from the shops around. Some items may need to be constructed by a combination of other items and (at times) recipes.

For example, to construct a Butterfly (a popular item in the game), one must buy a quarterstaff for 900 gold, a talisman of evasion for 1800 gold, and an eaglehorn for 3300 gold. The players who hits and enemy last is the one who gets the gold. Gold may be denied to enemies by killing own-team creeps when their health is less than 25%. It is good to practice to get last hits and collect gold fast.

Initially, it is advisable to start off by playing some games alone or with AI computer players in 2v2 or 3v3. One discovers things only when he starts exploring the map. There are 3 lanes – top, bottom and mid by which the team creeps tread. All around the map, in the jungles one can find neutral creeps and have some good kills for gold and experience for level-ups.

Gaming Jargons

Here are a few gaming jargons that players often use in the game:

Gank – when multiple heroes of one team come together to one place to surround and kill less number of enemy heroes.
Farm – when heroes go with team creeps in lanes and kill enemy creeps for gold and experience.
Hunt – when heroes go to farm on neutral creeps.

There thy go, happy hunting, farming, ganking and pwning! J

The Best PC Game Mods Of All Time

August 4, 2011 by Raj Agrawal 1 Comment

Mods have been one of the most popular aspects of PC gaming for a long long time. They haven’t been established on the consoles in a very effective way. This has resultantly been cited as a very important advantage for the PC over the consoles. They give the user the ability to modify the game to make it more efficient, stable, and fun. They range from graphics overhauls to weapon customization to entire levels. Thus, they they add an extra layer of content to a game.

Over the years, there have been many mods released for many games. Some have helped improve the quality of the game, some have become standalone sensations. Below is a list of what i believe are the best mods of all time:

The Elders Scroll 4: Oblivion was a great game. But it wasn’t without its problems. There were a lot of bugs in the game which caused problems for many users. This patch removed over 1800 of such bugs. It also removes the problems the modders faced while creating mods for oblivion. Hence most of the mods will require you to install this patch before you can try them out. And the best thing is even after so many years of its release, its still being updated which shows the dedication of the creators to make oblivion a better experience for everybody.

This is one relatively new but has already made waves in the PC gaming world. Since GTA 4 was released on the PC, there have been many graphics mods which have tweaked and improved the look and feel of the game. But, no mod has made it look this good. Check out the video below to fully understand why we at Upcoming Technology are big fans of this mod. And it does not hit the system as hard as you might expect. So if you’re still playing GTA 4, there’s no reason not to try this out.

Quite possibly the best half life mod ever released, this mod is a total conversion for the single player game. Set during the vietnam war, your mission is to assassinate a certain colonel who goes by the name of Kurtz. Its based on a movie which a similar premise, one which i shouldn’t mention since that would spoil the story. The only hint i can give you is that both the mod and the movie share something in common; both are masterpieces. And both shouldn’t be missed.

Originally a half life mod, it is now being made into a standalone game. This is another total conversion for the game, and is usually considered to be of the best half life mods. You’re a writer who is travelling to a cabin in the woods. You car gets forced off the road by a lightning bolt which lands you in a pool of water. And this is where the nightmare starts. Its a brilliant experience which am sure must have inspired the development of left4dead in more ways than one.

This is probably the best mod for half life 2. Brilliant level design, perfect pacing, long campaign, and strong relevance with the half life universe make this an absolute must play for the fans.

This is my favourite oblivion mod. It adds a new archaeology guild to the game along with a number of quests and unique dungeons. With a 15 hour campaign and a brilliant story, its easily one of the best mods i have ever played. Plus you can loot all the soul gems you can possibly desire, which is epic.

Originally a quake mod, TF was later ported to the half life engine, resulting in one of the most popular mods of the time. It is a team and class based multiplayer game which is based on a certain set of objectives. What makes this game so exciting is that each class has its own unique set of weapons and equipment, which is different from the other classes. This adds a level of depth to the gameplay, and makes you think as a team before going into a fight. A sequel was released in 2007 which took the game to a new level of popularity. But the original is still considered to be one of the best multiplayer games even today.

This one needs no introduction. Released originally as a mod, it was later distributed as a standalone game, and has since sold over 10 million copies. It is widely considered to be the best multiplayer game out there, and has the biggest fan following of all online shooters. To sum it up, the word e-sport exists because of this game (and Starcraft).

How popular can a single map be? The answer is – IMMENSELY! Released as a mod for Warcraft 3, it became more popular than the game ever was. The objective is simple; you have a hero, your opponent has a hero; all you have to do is defend your forces and destroy your opponents. But the map is so well designed, and the mod is so well balanced, that it has garnered a legendary status in the gaming world. If there ever was a mod to make people switch over from counter strike, this is it. The good news is that Valve is making a sequel for the game, so expect there to be a lot of maps, a lot of heroes, and plenty of support for the game for a long long time after its release.

Four Reasons Why Crysis Is Better Than Crysis 2

July 24, 2011 by Raj Agrawal 2 Comments

The former had set a new bar for spectacular graphics, the other featured a tight story. They attracted a significant number of lovers and haters. While Crysis introduced the nanosuit and the tools that came along with it, Crysis 2 defined its relevance with the world. Both are great games, but the prequel brought something new and fresh on the table. The direction taken by the sequel to expand the story instead of the gameplay left me completely disappointed.

In a many ways, Crysis (released in 2007) was a much needed game for the PC platform. It was much less of a software seller, and much more of a hardware seller. I know many people who upgraded their PC’s just to play this game. When the first gameplay videos and screens for the game were released, people were blown away. It displayed a level of quality that was far ahead of its time. Even 4 years later, it can still compete with the best looking games out there. And it was not just a looker, but a player at the same time. Crysis was packed with some exhilarating gameplay which kept changing with the way the user approached a situation. You could either go rambo on the koreans, or be a ghost of the jungle and clear them out one by one. You could even be a “humanitarian” and let most of them be. This added a lot of replayability to the game which demanded multiple playthroughs. This also resulted in vastly different experiences for many people, which led to the game getting polarized reviews, ranging from great to abysmal. But, the choice was always there. Those who tried different things were thoroughly rewarded with some exciting gameplay. This is what made the game unique and great in my opinion. The sales reflected this, and the game went on to sell more than 3 million copies.

Crysis 2 was released in march of 2011 to generally favorable reviews. The events in the game took place sometime after the events of the first game. This time, the focus was shifted from the jungle to New York city. The aliens were starting their invasion, and the state of the city reflected that. The humans were on the defensive side, with you being their only hope for survival. As a game, Crysis 2 was a great addition to the FPS genre. You could actually feel the city in ruins. Buildings being destroyed, bridges collapsing, rubble everywhere; all of this added to the sense of scale. Even the aliens were more ruthless this time around, with very aggressive AI which could kill you in an instant if you were not careful. It laid a vision of a city under siege, and executed it to great effect.

However, in comparison with the first game, it still felt lacking. There were some very subtle differences, and some very obvious ones, which made the first game so great. They did not deter from the experience; the game by its own is a true gem. But, as a sequel, it left me a bit disappointed.

Here is my analysis to why Crysis is better than Crysis 2:

Variety

Even the new shiny suit doesn’t help it to topple its ancestor

Crysis had a lot of variety in the environments and gameplay. The first half of the game had you playing in a jungle fighting the Korens. The second half had you fighting on the same island, but covered entirely in snow. Now you were fighting the aliens, which gave a game a very different feel. In between, you had these unique levels like the alien ship and the plane level, which added another level of variety to the game. Crysis 2, on the other hand, had the ‘city in ruins’ feel going throughout the game. None of the levels were that different from each other, and even the gameplay style remained mostly the same. Maybe this was intentional due to the heavy focus on the story, but it did not add to the sense of uniqueness like the first game did, and certainly wasn’t as memorable.

Choices

Crysis tried to give gamers a chance to play the game in their own unique way. You had the map with the enemies laid in front of you; how you would go about exploring through the world was your own choice. There were many ways of fighting enemies, some pretty straight forward, while others very interesting. I once threw a barrel at a helicopter using super strength, and then shot the barrel which damaged the heli, leading to a wonderful crash. Another time, i went invisible using the cloak mode, entered a hut which had a buggy parked inside, and started shooting at the soldiers outside. Then i went invisible again, went outside, waited for the soldiers to go inside to look for me, and then shot the fuel tank of the buggy. The explosion that followed is one of my most satisfying moments in gaming. The fact that you could play around with all the tools at your disposal really sold me on the game the minute i started playing. Crysis 2 on the other hand was focused mainly on the tight story. The environments and enemies were great, but these choices were absent. It gave the feeling that i was just playing another one of those shooters which you could breeze through in a fortnight without caring for it. And this totally ruined the game for me.

Graphics

Crysis 4 — That’s what you call a “right” affinity

To this day, Crysis is still considered one of the best looking games ever made. And its not just the technology behind the game that wowed the masses; the brilliant environment designs coupled with the beautiful jungle vistas made the game a sight to behold. Plus the varied environments and the subtle nuances in each of them only added to the sense of wonder. Crysis 2 was just more of the same. The difference between the engines was not reflected very well in the implementation, and for two games released almost four years apart, they looked mostly similar. The city environments fade in comparison to the jungle which only makes it worse. Also, the lack of variety of environments in the sequel marks the final blow to this argument. Although the DX 11 patch has helped curb some of the skepticism, still technology was never my only complaint, and i would still side with the predecessor when it comes to graphics.

Replayability and Multiplayer

Crytek has always branded Crysis as a game which should be played multiple times. Depending of the style of fighting you choose, you’re almost guaranteed to have a unique experience. Going into a fight all guns blazing or in stealth mode weren’t the only choices you had. You could also use the environment and your suit powers to great effect. Running up to the koreans with super speed only to find them scared of being run over, shooting a tree only to watch it fall on an enemy’s head, shooting some logs on top of a cliff to see them run over a group of soldiers, confusing the aliens by not letting them track your position; these were some of the few things that gave a great level of replayability to the game. Sadly, most of these were absent in the sequel. Sure you could blow up a barrel in front of an enemy, but you can do that in almost any fps game these days; there is nothing unique about that. Plus, with the map sizes being smaller, it leaves very little room for multiple strategies.

The multiplayer in Crysis had a very battlefield-like feel to it. Although not fleshed out as well, it still provided for a decent experience. There were mainly two modes in multiplayer. One was the standard deathmatch mode, which was fun because of the ability to use your suit powers, and the other was power struggle. This was an objective based mode which was mapped across multiple areas. Basically, it was capture the flag with a twist. And the ability to use the nanosuit abilities gave it a unique touch. It wasn’t the best multiplayer out there, but it was enjoyable. The multiplayer is Crysis 2 spanned many modes. There is access to Death-match, Team death-match, extraction, assault and capture the flag. It was well varied and highly accessible for any gamer, but lost its unique selling point. It wasn’t bad at all, but it wasn’t anything that wasn’t done before. And with the dominance that COD has on the multiplayer market, its no wonder that its not as popular as Crytek expected.

Concluding words

Overall, Crysis 2 is a fantastic game. The effort and polish that has gone into it clearly warrants an AAA rating, one which it has got from many websites. But many of those who played and loved the first game will be slightly disappointed with the direction Crytek has taken with the sequel. In my opinion, Crysis is the best game Crytek have made, and unless they get things right, that might end up being the case for a long long time.