Heroes of Newerth is an updated remake of the popular Warcraft 3 mod, Dota. Currently being developed by S2 games, Heroes of Newerth is almost an exact take on the game. This was of course taken into account since the development team has received permission to actually do so from Icefrog, Dota's one-man development team. Since Demigod released, it seems the gates have been sprung open for many other developers looking to capitalize on the underground following. HoN seems to be taking the lead when it comes to the 1 to 1 iteration, but does it still innovate? My time with the beta so far has me thinking "yes".
Dota games are notorious for their leavers. It is a tiresome habit and it ruins most games because the game heavily depends on teamwork. The odds quickly shift with the loss of a teammate. There are times when players simply disconnect unintentionally for one reason or another but the team still suffers. Players have taken it upon themselves to use third party programs to ban these leavers and give them an exact date and time of said loss. HoN has built-in a great leaver protection system that allows players to reconnect and jump back into the game(even after a computer restart). I myself found this to be an issue when I accidentally unplugged my ethernet cable, and I reconnected with no problems. This kept me in the same game with my friends and I wasn't banned for being a leaver. For the people that do purposely disconnect there is an experience penalty and an average that keeps track of your leaver percentage. It is tacked onto your profile stats and helps to point out who is really there to stay, and who will quit after being "first blood".
HoN will have 60 heroes on launch day and thats far more than League of Legends' 30 and Demigod's 8. Most heroes are familiar such as the devourer which is very remeniscent of Pudge, but you will also play as cosmetically different heroes like the Poliwog Priest who plays exactly like Rhasta but looks extremely different. For the most part, the heroes will also have the same skills. I ran into the Tidehunter who is now called the Kraken and had his regular Dota skills with a different ultimate. The item creation also feels intact but I found myself a little lost since this was my first time going through all the shops. S2 games has helped to alleviate this by allowing you to click on an item and immediately see the items needed for the recipe, as opposed to looking through all the shops to find the correct items. This was a very noob-friendly transition as I knew what I was supposed to be doing but didn't know where the items were. The game's performance is spot on and overall I am content with the pacing of the game. The 30 to 40 minute games are still there.
HoN also offers many other unique features that Dota cannot due to its mod nature. Sever side hosting provides some very much needed lag-free gameplay. Lag has been a heavy issue as well since every attack, spell or click matters in the game. HoN also includes new maps so that the original Dota map isn't the only field that players can take part in. There is even an anti map-hacking system which will detect any third part programs that allows players to see the other teams through the fog of war. This was another big issue with games as it ruined the fairness for the other players. Throw in some familiar Dota features like denials, last hits, assists, different modes (Single Draft, Random Draft, All Random, Easy Modes), stat tracking, new auto-balance features and you have yourself a game worth staying for. The best part about all of it? The game is only 30 bucks with preorders giving you some added goodies.
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