Review: Defense of the Ancient [DOTA]

Welcome to DOTA, or Defense of the Ancient. It is a game one can either enjoy alone, or with teammates. More accurately describing, it is a map of Warcraft, the game created by Blizzard.  

           What is this game called DOTA? It is a game that is categorized under tower defense, where one chooses a hero and defends his base. If one of the bases is destroyed by the opposing team, then that team loses. One team consists of five people, and you can also play against computers, or bots.

           DOTA is unbelievably famous and notorious in foreign countries, especially in Chinese provinces. It is extremely addictive that people, mostly teenagers, just get soaked in. In Singapore where I used to stay, high school students all know how to play DOTA as if it is a kind of sport that they enjoy. It is impossible to stop playing when you learn how to play.

           How is the game played? Firstly, you choose a hero you want to play with. There are three types of heroes: strength, agility, and intelligence. For a hero that is categorized under strength, HP is the most important; that is, per one strength point, the hero gets its maximum HP increased. An agility hero has its advantage in attacking speed, movement speed, and armor. An intelligence hero is able to use strong spells. Then you have to earn gold by killing the minions. You have to make sure that you whack the minion with the last hit; otherwise, you do not get the gold for that particular minion. Using the gold earned, the hero is able to equip items he bought in item shops in his own base. These items strengthen the hero, allowing it to destroy towers and kill other heroes with ease.

           This game requires an accurate fingering skill. You can only receive gold when you whack the minion for the last time, so you have to be always clicking the mouse. You have to make sure that your timing is accurate, in order to earn gold necessary to get stronger. For me, I took a very long time adjusting to only whacking the minion with the last hit. It might take you a year to master this skill.

          

           Teamwork is also necessary in this game. In DOTA, you are unable to solo-play throughout the whole game. You need your teammates to back you up, and you have to specialize in one particular job. A tanker should build on his armor and HP, and be the shield when fighting. A carry has to build damage and attacking speed so that he can deal the most damage to the opponents. In order to gang the opponents, you need to team up with your companions. Sometimes you will fail to coordinate with your teammates, and the opponent might try to use that chance to counter-attack you. If there is no teamwork present in your team when you are involved in a mass fight, the chance of you losing is extremely high.


           However, in order to play with your friends, you need to use a program called 'Garena', where you can meet a lot of people around the world. Battle.Net does not work, because everyone has different pirated versions of Warcraft. You can play alone with computers, or bots, but you will soon realize that you can easily out-level them. Then, you will have to play with other players who are much better than bots. 


           I am writing a review on this game, because I was really impressed how perfect the balance among the heroes was. One hero cannot overpower other heroes with its skills, and all heroes require some techniques to play. For me, as I have tried all kinds of different heroes, I usually played 'random', where I randomly get a hero assigned. That proved the other team that I knew how to play all heroes well, and it was always exciting to guess what hero I would be selected. 

           For me, I am going to give DOTA 10 stars, as I really enjoyed playing it in Singapore with my friends. It was the only game I played, the only game I became addicted to.