Esports is largely dominated today by MOBAs, particularly League of Legends and Dota 2, the genre's must-play titles from Riot Games and VALVe. Breaking into the arena is therefore a long and difficult battle, one Blizzard will soon be taking on with its brand-new Heroes of the Storm, which we had the chance to try in Alpha.
If you have been following the game since its announcement, you already know that it will bring together all of the company's stars, regardless of their universe. From the Diablo series to StarCraft, World of Warcraft and Warcraft, everyone will be there, and the Alpha already offers more than twenty playable characters, including Raynor, Arthas, Tyrael, Nova, Diablo himself and many others. Quite a lineup, then, and one that makes Blizzard's intentions clear...
A Great-Looking Mix?
Just like Sony's PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale in its day, and Nintendo's Smash Bros., Blizzard's developers no doubt ran into the same problem as their competitors when mixing several universes: bringing them together properly from a visual standpoint. In my view, PlayStation All-Stars failed in this regard, but that is not the case for Nintendo, nor will it be for Blizzard. Indeed, despite a lightly developed narrative twist, the game's superb art direction and the combination of its different heroes and universes work wonderfully. As a result, it is not jarring to see Raynor the Space Marine talking with Uther the Paladin or Illidan the Betrayer... But rather than explain it all, I will let you look at the first videos and images, which speak for themselves.
Accessibility, Blizzard-Style
Ever since Blizzard launched World of Warcraft, everyone has known that the company's goal is to bring genres to a wider audience with real skill, without sacrificing depth of gameplay at the highest level. The same will be true of
Heroes of the Storm, which naturally adopts classic MOBA mechanics—after all, Blizzard is essentially one of the genre's pioneers—but in a simplified form. While some hardcore players may dismiss the game at first because of this, bear in mind that
Heroes of the Storm has several tricks up its sleeve to surprise you.
Voir la vidéo sur YouTube
Let us first clarify that you still play as a hero on a team of five players facing another team of five. The goal? Destroy the enemy base by pushing your army along three combat lanes until you reach the opposite side of the map, where troops controlled by the A.I. are deployed. These troops can be defeated to gain experience and level up your hero, allowing you to acquire new powers chosen from options specific to each character.
Naturally, taking down an opposing hero or player provides more experience, but unlike in other games of the genre, the final blow—the one that kills a player—does not benefit only the person who delivered it; it benefits the entire team. This encourages group play, and we will see that Blizzard has done everything possible to promote it, since teamwork is ultimately a vital component for hoping to win this type of game.
It is also worth noting that there are no items to buy. Everything revolves around your hero's powers, which, as I mentioned, are chosen by the player. Finally, these differences make the game's pace somewhat smoother than elsewhere, since you do not have to make dozens of trips back to buy items and grow stronger. Of course, the genre's classic elements are still present, including mercenaries to fight and then recruit, as well as specializations for each hero—tanks, supports, possible healers and so on.
Voir la vidéo sur YouTube
The Stage Is Set
Beyond its accessibility, the game's other strength lies in its various arenas, each with its own visual style and objectives. Naturally, the main objective remains destroying the opposing fort, but Blizzard's clever idea is to offer, depending on the arena, additional objectives that are actually decisive in ravaging the enemy base. For example, in the Haunted Mines, players kill zombies to summon an undead colossus of immeasurable power that will lay waste to the opposing lanes. Similarly, in Blackheart's Bay, players collect coins to deliver to a pirate, who will unleash volleys of cannon fire to destroy the enemy defenses. These secondary objectives are therefore essential to securing victory, forcing players to gather at specific locations on the maps at particular times. Needless to say, this encourages teamwork, since every player is called upon to participate. This is also where the battles are often most intense—ambushes and ganking should be expected—as you absolutely need to complete the map's objective before your opponent to gain a decisive advantage. These entirely new strategic elements finally offer an appealing alternative...
Let us finish this first look with the game's business model.
Heroes of the Storm will be free for everyone, with regular hero rotations so that players can try the powers and ultimate attacks of Diablo, Kerrigan, Muradin, the Demon Hunter, Tychus, Tyrande, Malfurion, Abathur and others. Some heroes can be unlocked with in-game currency, although this will obviously take quite a while, and a real-money alternative will also exist, as it does among the competition. Finally, daily quests will regularly bring you back into the game, as is now customary in all Blizzard games, allowing you to unlock special bonus items such as skins for your heroes.
Voir la vidéo sur YouTube
WE'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO IT: A LOT!
Blizzard is not trying to revolutionize the genre, but rather to alter it intelligently so that its game, Heroes of the Storm, stands out sufficiently from other titles in the category and offers an appealing alternative. It does so by emphasizing teamwork and strategy through dynamic arenas, where players must gain the upper hand over their opponents by completing secondary objectives alongside the age-old head-to-head battle across three combat lanes. That is good news for a game we cannot wait to see made available to everyone, so we can watch it evolve and see its community take shape.
Voir la vidéo sur YouTube
It is also worth noting that there are no items to buy. Everything revolves around your hero's powers, which, as I mentioned, are chosen by the player. Finally, these differences make the game's pace somewhat smoother than elsewhere, since you do not have to make dozens of trips back to buy items and grow stronger. Of course, the genre's classic elements are still present, including mercenaries to fight and then recruit, as well as specializations for each hero—tanks, supports, possible healers and so on.
Let us finish this first look with the game's business model. Heroes of the Storm will be free for everyone, with regular hero rotations so that players can try the powers and ultimate attacks of Diablo, Kerrigan, Muradin, the Demon Hunter, Tychus, Tyrande, Malfurion, Abathur and others. Some heroes can be unlocked with in-game currency, although this will obviously take quite a while, and a real-money alternative will also exist, as it does among the competition. Finally, daily quests will regularly bring you back into the game, as is now customary in all Blizzard games, allowing you to unlock special bonus items such as skins for your heroes.
