Archive for the ‘Other Games’ Category

So the last two weeks have been pretty busy. In short I moved house. The other thing that happened this week is I got my hands on a HoN beta key. In short this game is awesome. WoW has been getting a lot less play time lately, and HoN seems to be filling the free time I know have. WoW is not dead to me but it is always good to step away from the game for a few weeks to do other things.

HoN for those who don’t know is a Dota clone. Its pretty much exactly the same. Of course they have got icefrogs blessing to make the game. Dota has a few big problems that it is not able to over come. That is, it is totally dependent on warcraft 3 HoN removes that and is developing a stand alone client for us to play the game so many of us love. The client clocks in at only 243MB. I have only played a few games but man is good. They have taken one of the best games I have ever played and given it all the things I ever wanted that dota could not add in.

The bigest one is match making. It records all your stats on there database and when you create a game you can say who’s allowed in. So no more leavers running games and then just creating a new account to get around there bans. It works very well. They have added screens for hero selection, to make the process a lot better.

Finally we have a tree structure for buying recipes. From anywhere on the map you hit the “b” key which brings up the shop window. Same rules apply, you have to be next to the shop to recieve items, but you do have a “stash” for items brought for base. But the big thing is when you click on a recipe, you can either auto buy all the items needed for it, or you can select individual items and buy them one at a time. No more having to search though different shops to find things!

Also a handy little feature is being able to reconnect to the game if for some reason you disconect. You have a 5 minute window to reconnect to the game after a D/c. Its little things like this that make the game so great. It takes dota to a whole new level. Its like an actual game now.

I haven’t even mentioned the game engine they are now using. Its now very pretty. The graphics are still a bit doggy on the Mac client, water reflection does not seem to be working right. I have also played on my windows 7 machine which runs very well, with everything turned up.
This is where I would normally chuck in some screen shots, but I’m under NDA. We are now free to talk about the game but we can’t post any screenshots or in game video. But if you Google HoN you will fine your self some screen shots and also a video or two.

If you want a beta key then join there face book page. You still have a few more hours before they send out the beta keys so get in while you can. Its also patch day today with new heroes and some game changes that look great.