When it comes to visual grandeur in multiplayer online battle arena games, it is obvious that DOTA 2 by Valve is the undisputed king, thanks to its incredible art-style, animations, and even champion customization. This will definitely change in the near future because Riot Games have really been showing us what they can accomplish themselves with the ever continuous upgrades for League of Legends' graphics, both in the champion models and the game environments improvements. I remember how... unflattering this game looks when I played the beta and unfortunately, some of the older champions are still cursed by this ugliness yet Riot is a little slow with introducing replacement models for them. But this recent release of the Howling Abyss map clearly shows that once everything is said and done, LoL will be quite a looker. This map is stunning thanks to the fact that it doesn't feel like it takes place in some generic map. It's a bridge and you can see the icy areas around you and what lies far beneath it. In the map's previous incarnation, the Proving Grounds, all you see outside of the bridge itself is nothing but darkness. Then, with this new map, you get little things like seeing the cold breeze swirling in the air, little ice bunnies littering the area, and environmental destruction that punctuates the flow of the battle. The best thing about this map for me is the towers: how beautifully they crumble when they are attacked, just like the towers in DOTA 2. Keep going Riot, I can already see how wonderful the three lane map, Summoner's Rift, could be thanks to the Howling Abyss, and even the Twisted Treeline remake not too long ago. Hope that eventual change will arrive soon.
A unique, fully realized shopkeeper for each side of the battle? Brilliant.
No comments:
Post a Comment