League of Legends is definitely worth checking out

The last few years have seen Defense of the Ancients devour millions of man hours, both in its original incarnation as a WarCraft III mod, and in its refined Dota all stars evolution. League of Legends, by the original team, is here to provide the definitive version. It’s a multiplayer-only RTS battle between two teams. Each has its own network of auto-firing turrets, and steady streams of allied forces automatically pushing toward the foe’s base and attacking anything in their path wearing the wrong colors.

Naturally, we tested the LOL Collector's Edition mouse in League of Legends, where it gave us all the controls we needed, and had me casting spells and dealing damage quickly and easily. My previous complaints about the placement of the Hex buttons still held, however-the position is just a little bit too far back, at least for the way my hand rests on the mouse. The mechanical switches used for each button do allow for a devilishly rapid click-rate, but the combination of light button action and awkward position left me occasionally clicking buttons when I didn't intend to. It's worth noting, however, that every hand and thumb is different, so try before you buy whenever possible.

League of Legends -- Riot Games' modern interpretation of the eternally popular Warcraft III: Defense of the Ancients mod -- takes this cognitive dissonance to a whole new plane of existence. This, you see, is a competitive game in which two teams of players (three or five per team, depending on the map) choose from an array of 40 vaguely fantasy-inspired champions with unique abilities, and engage in a tense tug-of-war until one team pushes through the opposition's AI cannon-fodder minions and deadly turrets, ultimately destroying their heavily fortified base. Think of it as small-scale real-time strategy mixed with an action role-playing game... or "Warcraft III with just the heroes."

League of Legends doesn't cost a cent, and your child could potentially reach the top tier of the game without spending a single dollar on it. As this is a game designed for a male-centric user base, you need to know that some of the female costumes are a bit sexually suggestive. Low-cut necklines and bare torsos aren't rare to see in the in-game art. Many of the male costumes feature muscular physiques as well. This may be a good time to have a conversation about unrealistic body standards with your child.

League of Legends lets you choose from more than 110 Champion templates (characters), and you can customize the character to round out the character’s skill set with points earned from matches and achievements. A well-designed tutorial lets you play through the basics so you can learn how to attack, how to defend, and how to control your section of the map during gameplay. The tutorial also offers beginning and intermediate matches against both live players and computer-controlled bots.

Overall, I will give League of Legends a tentative thumbs-up, but I will only do so grudgingly at this point in time. There exists the promise of a great multi-player fantasy grind, and even now League of Legends is quite a bit of fun to play. But I’m still a little leery about the decision to go ahead and call the whole thing “finished” enough for public release. And, as a reviewer, I feel obligated to grade a game on what I see in the here-and-now, and not on what I’m promised in the future. League of Legends is definitely worth checking out, I just hope that we don’t see a good game get buried due to a premature push out the door.