DOTA 2 is one of the greatest multiplayer experiences in video games today.
- One of the greatest multiplayer experiences in gaming.
- Winning requires solid teamwork and communication
- Edge-of-your-seat battles and deep gameplay
- Over 100 heroes to chose from
- Countless possible builds and strategies
- Clean UI
CONS :
- 40 minute to 1.5 hour matches can be ruined by a person who simply doesn't care, respond, or listen, somebody who just feeds the opponents points
- Can be highly addictive, a day can pass just playing this game because of the length of matches. If you lose 3 games in a row, you still want to win one so you play but the matches are around one hour long so that is possibly 4 hours of your day to get one win and three losses, etc.
- Menu is clean, but not easy to get around like for communicating with recent players and finding recent match info
- Matches take 5 to 10 minutes to find players, pick units and head to lanes.
- Still has a lot of bugs present that can ruin your 1 hour match, such as items getting stuck to the screen, rendering it difficult to see and target, the recipe tree not working, numerous random disconnects or hero selection shortcuts not working. Disconnect from a game and reconnect to it if game breaking bugs are happening.
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As you begin to master DOTA 2 you find it becoming an emotional, edge-of-your-seat type of game, that consequently becomes highly addictive. The multiplayer aspect is what is addictive, we play this game for the team work, communication, and pats on the back after close calls or obliterating the opposing team.
This top down game has 102 highly detailed and almost evenly fleshed out heroes to choose from, giving you a large variety to choose favorites and ones to master. A shop sells spells, potions, armor, and weapons which can all build to better with more money. In DOTA 2, the finely tuned recipe tree and item recommendations allow players to ease into the game without having to read what every item does. Once you're geared up, venture out into one of the three lanes and get ready to battle. The first few minutes of battle are as important and intense to the battle as the middle and end of the match. Here you must time your creep kills precisely while harassing your lane's opponent.
After early game, communication is crucial for victory and a new excitement is added to the mix, so it is like you're playing three different types of gameplay, beginning, middle, and end, yet all in the same game. Humble teamwork is the road to victory. Sometimes you have to be willing to follow a team-mate's commands and you continue to do so if his plans turn out successful. The downfall of DOTA 2 is when you are forced to play with players that don't care about winning, communication or you. This is one of the more anxious and depressing times because one inapt teenager, who is not playing for a true multiplayer experience but rather to just play a game, can bring down an entire match and, therefore, waste around 40 minutes to 1.5 hours of your time.
All in all, it is a great multiplayer experience if you play with trustworthy and kind people who listen and are at least ok at the game. You can have several ok players on your team and if you have great teamwork and communication, you can take out much better players. The other only weak points are the bugs which I have encountered while playing on my Mac 10.7.5 OSX. I've had game-breaking bugs but the makers have created a system that allows you to reconnect to the game if you are disconnected, which is a great feature.