Heroes of the Storm

It's hard to find as fun and fresh a package as this one in the free-to-play MOBA genre. I think it'll pay to stick around, because I'm never quite sure what they'll cook up next.

Lots of colorful Blizzard characters cross paths in the sensational Heroes of the Storm.

Put like that it almost sounds sinister, like this was made by a committee of scientists in lab conditions. Really it's been made by people who understand the joy of play and, much more crucially, that it's not just about the numbers. In the end it doesn't matter that Heroes of the Storm has 37 heroes, and the competition has hundreds. It doesn't matter that it has more maps, or no items, or shorter games. It doesn't even matter how many players it has. All that matters is it's more fun.

The most any studio has done to open up a complex genre to a new audience. Inviting, entertaining, and deceptively deep.

Heroes of the Storm is like a MOBA highlight reel, cutting right to the best moments and doing away with all the boring bits. It's a fast, lean, and relentlessly fun 5v5 experience.

The focus is on the fun, and it shows. Whether you're just looking to revisit your favorite characters from Blizzard franchises in new ways or looking for a more competitive experience, various gameplay modes allow players to enjoy things at any level of engagement

It's a game that dearly wants you to have fun, and fast. It's quick, colourful and without pretension. The map-specific gimmicks inject dynamism into matches that, given its relatively reduced hero complexity, might otherwise risk strategic stagnation.

Heroes of the Storm has unfairly been branded as a "just a casual game" due to the removal of many tried and true MOBA mechanics. With over 100 hours of play under my belt, I can say with authority that those claims are untrue. Heroes has a ton of depth, it's very well balanced (though not perfect), and nearly every cast member is a blast to play. It achieves almost everything it sets out to accomplish, so I really hope it catches on with the non-believers and continues to grow.

A Blizzard-themed MOBA that's easy to get into and increasingly fun to play as you improve.

Heroes of the Storm proves to be one of the deepest MOBA experiences out there, with ample strategies, a simplified meta-game, and more than enough representation from Blizzard's finest.