League of Legends: All Random All Mid

Considering LoL is around three and a half years old, it’s surprising how little they have deviated from the classic Defence of the Ancients gameplay. That being said, LoL now has more variety than most other Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBAs).

So with the recent Freljord update, Riot formalised an old favourite of the community, All Random All Mid (ARAM). It’s as simple as it sounds. Each player is assigned a random champion and both teams fight for control over a single lane. The straightforward nature of ARAM makes a nice break from the complex tactics and long matches that often happen in the classic game.

Games often end in frantic clumsy team fights, which is great for a less serious game. Matches usually take less than twenty minutes, so playing at your best isn’t absolutely essential. However it doesn’t stop the stereotypical LoL ‘community’ members from appearing in your games. If you play without a full team of friends, you still have to expect a random player taking the game incredibly seriously. On more than one occasion I’ve played in games where another player has left after throwing a tantrum, leading rather one sided fights.

There are a couple of tweaks to the standard gameplay. The home base no longer heals, making teammates with healing skills very valuable. Health pick-ups spawn in a few locations down the lane, often leading to a frantic scrabble between players to steal them from their opponents. A few items that would be too powerful are removed from the shop, although games frequently don’t last long enough for you to complete a full set of items.

The Howling Abyss map is beautifully themed in the frozen aesthetic of the update; which is strikingly similar in theme to the Wrath of the Lich King expansion for WoW. There’s some excellent attention to detail, with animations for scenery crumbling around the battle and defensive towers taking damage. The shop keeper is replaced by the ghost of a fallen warrior who has a funny variety of lines to yell as you charge back into battle.

The only problem with the game mode is the random nature. When each team is revealed on the loading screen, you can easily predict the winner as it very easy to be assigned a set of champions that lack any synergy. For example, a team with a couple of good ranged champions will have a large advantage over a team that is all melee. You are given the option to re-roll your champion, but these re-rolls have to be earned at a very slow rate from playing games. Bizarrely you can also be assigned any champion that is on free-to-play for the week. So if you only own a few champions, you’re likely to be assigned a free-to-play champion that you haven’t played before.

Given how slowly the world of MOBAs evolves, it’s a nice change to have another game mode being introduced by Riot. It has given me a reason to play LoL without having to spend a good forty minutes or more on a single round.

Awesome, Awesome, Awesomenauts!

It’s the year 3587. Robot armies are locked in an endless battle over the precious resource, Solar. To break the stalemate; you, an Awesomenaut has been hired as an elite mercenary to destroy the enemy operation. All that stands between you and your goal is several giant machine gun turrets and an opposing team of Awesomenauts. So get going!

Awesomenauts shakes up the traditional formula of multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs). Instead of being a top-down view where your character moves in a 3D environment, Awesomenauts is 2D side-scrolling platform game with a lot of vertical movement.

This ties perfectly with the game’s aesthetic. Awesomenauts has a 80s, late 90s Saturday morning cartoon feel. The character design, music, animation and the fantastic intro to the game all come together perfectly. It puts you in the mood to blast bad guys, grab the loot and save the day!

The game distances itself from traditional MOBAs by cutting out a lot of the complexity, whilst retaining the core gameplay idea. Two teams of three face each other on a very limited choice of maps (only three at the time of writing). Each team has a home base where their employer’s Solar drill is based. This is also where you can purchase items and upgrades from a giant vending machine. To protect the home bases, there are giant machine gun turrets which will quickly strip you of all your health if you give them a chance.

The middle ground of the maps is made up of two different routes, one high and one low. There are plenty of platforms and jump pads that help you traverse the levels, as well as neutral enemies that can be killed for health pick-ups to get you back in the fight.

Character design is wonderfully weird and wacky. Each has a standard attack, which for most characters is a short ranged shot aimed with the mouse. On top of that you have two abilities to unleash on your opponents. There are no mana bars or resource mechanics, each use of an ability is only limited by a cool down timer which is clearly displayed at the bottom of the UI. It’s simple, but it lets you focus of the fight and have fun throwing attacks.

Item builds are also kept simple. With standard MOBAs, consulting various fan written guides is usually a necessity to make sure you perform well. Here, your choice is limited. You can choose to stock the vending machine with three out of six upgrade for each of your abilities, basic attack and a couple of utility items such as extra health. Every upgrade clearly explains what bonus it gives, so you can easily tailor your choices to your play style.

It’s not all about simplifications though, as Awesomenauts throws in some great new ideas. The best of these is the way you enter battle and respawn. Each time, you are launched in a drop pod which lands just behind your base. On the way down you can control the pod by moving left and right. This lets you grab some bonus Solar to spend on items and most importantly, gives you something to do while you wait to re-join the fight. Instead of just having to sit and wait.

The gameplay is fast and frantic. Mouse and keyboard controls are very responsive, you can also use a gamepad if you prefer.  The challenge in Awesomnauts doesn’t come from tedious mechanics such as ‘last hitting’ and ‘denying’. Instead it comes from hitting your opponents. It sounds like a very simple task, but characters are very manoeuvrable and fights often become vertical as players leap around the level.

Games are usually finished in twenty minutes or less, which makes it great to pick up and play, as you don’t have to commit forty or so minutes to then be let down by  a team mate disconnecting. Awesomenauts does try to fix the problem of players giving up, however the solution is terrible and my biggest criticism of the game. Any player who leaves the game is replaced by a bot, but they are not nearly as capable as a human player and often do silly suicidal attacks. Opponents will quickly use this to farm kills and gain an upper hand that you’ll struggle to overcome. Other players can join the game and replace the bot; however the damage is usually done by this point. So I’d strongly recommend playing with two friends so you have a full team at all times.

My only other complaint with the game is that you have to unlock characters and items to use in-game. And the end of every match, you gain some experience which advances a bar to the next unlock. You quickly get all the characters and have a good selection of starting items, but the system feels tacked on, considering you pay for the game upfront. The only other things you can purchase are some extra skins for characters.

As a whole, it provides a great alternative to other MOBA games. It’s a lot more accessible to new players, and does this whilst retaining a good level of customisation in character builds. It deserves a wider audience; however the fanbase for MOBAs is very conservative, often preferring titles that stick closely to the origins of the genre.