Heroes of Newerth

Still fun in 2015. I play it with my wife. HoN remains a solid example of the Moba Genre. Better graphics than LoL. Better balance than Dota 2. Don't get me started on heroes of the storm.

Heroes of Newerth is a second generation arena real-time strategy(A-RTS), also known as action real-time strategy and belonging to the multiplayer online battle arena(MOBA) sub-genre, and is a DOTA-clone. Alongside League of Legends and Dota 2, are the only truly worthy DOTA-clones. Heroes of Newerth has a highly technical aspect worth praise and leads the game to having a high replay value. The game is also responsive, which is worth noting compared to DOTA and Dota 2, which are known for being relatively unresponsive. HoN uses a free-2-play model with a low pay-2-win barring in the form of 'early access' that is currently suspended for an indeterminate amount of time. Therefore, has de facto no pay-2-win aspect. The game is not meant for the casual gamer and lends itself to the moderate-hardcore gaming crowd. For those moderate-hardcore gamers, this is definitely worth giving a try. Casual gamers, steer clear. All my reviews are given a base of 10 with marks of -1 points for notable negative aspects of the game. -1 Extremely critical community. Unfriendly, sometimes even hostile, to new players. -1 Developers of the game (S2 Games) historically, consistently implement and reverse major changes. -1 Features Region Locks

I'm giving this score as of when it came out in 2010. Essentially a dota port, but does a lot of things differently and questionably so. I started playing it in beta back in '09 and have now migrated to Dota 2 after dropping this game in 2010. At the time it came out, it was the best MOBA game out there; it had fixes for everything that made dota clunky and miserable, and some cool new graphics/art. Things like reconnecting to games if your computer crashed, online matchmaking, parties, etc. which dota sorely lacked and still has issues with. One new introduction, that I would argue is incredibly detrimental, is player stats. That is: gold/min, kdr, etc. This REALLY encourages individualistic play over team play in what is clearly a team game. Another downside is that HoN has an incredibly unforgiving and downright mean user base, and hardly anyone is ever banned for abusive language or behavior. It began to diverge from dota and try to claim a new identity of its own when the devs caught wind of dota 2. Now, the game is in a weird place where League of Legends has a far larger user base, and is making more money off of them, and Dota 2 is coming in with Valve's full force behind it. HoN is trying to play both sides by adding unique heroes and go free-to-play. To be honest, if I had to rate this game today, it would get a 5; Dota 2 just blows it out of the water and there's no reason to stick with this game.

This is my third time playing in HoN as I've not yet tried PVP (heard that you immediately face experienced people and they will abuse you if you ****). I must say I HATE the size of the HUD. If LoL wasn't acting such a **** I wouldn't have tried to switch to HoN. I like the uniqueness of your champs though. I've been trying out Gemini which is a slow starter but very excellent in mid-late game. The bots in this game is a bit smarter than the bots in LoL- if you're playing hard ones of course, or else they'll just run at you and AA you until they die. Overall I think that this is a hard game to master, unlike LoL's simplicity for newer players, I wouldn't recommend this if you don't have the patience to practice against bots until you're DECENT. I also don't like the little gimmicks with the shop like wtf change your name's colour? EDIT *most important of all*: The **** voice acting is horrendous! The effects they add to them is just un-****-believably annoying. Had to mute the voices because they were bothering me. The turrets don't make sense too, if you attack them with your minions you get targeted suddenly for no god damn reason. It's also laggy when you move... Yup I just remembered all of these reasons why it's hard to switch over.

The game is dead. No competitive scene, steady decline in number of players and egoistic players. Spending money on this game also provides such advantages that cannot be overcome through earning in games. It is also difficult to join a game, for all the players are usually on European or South American servers.