Heroes of the Storm
Overview -
'Heroes of the Storm' started life in 2010 as simply 'Blizzard Dota', a custom MOBA map for 'Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty'. After a trademark dispute in 2011 it was rechristened 'Blizzard All-Stars', with significant development beginning in 2012. An alpha period began in the spring of 2014, followed by a large closed beta in January of this year, an open beta a few weeks ago, and finally full release. You can read our coverage of the open beta here, and it includes a bit more discussion of the mechanics and history of the MOBA genre.
Video Review
Little has changed in the last few months in terms of the visual quality. It looks and responds a lot like 'Starcraft II', but performs very nicely and maintains a high framerate. Character modeling has a similar style to other Blizzard works, such as the interestingly proportioned heavy armor of Tychus and Raynor and the slick, reptilian/insectoid flesh of Zerg heroes. For the less social gamers who ignore team chat, communication is still easy via pings and the minimap.
Audio Review
Like the gameplay, the audio of 'Heroes' has a distinctly light, arcade feel. Headlines flash across the screen with pizzazz whenever the player scores a kill or earns a killstreak. Characters have hammy, trolly taglines they spout off at every opportunity. Many voice actors return from Blizzard’s other properties, like Raynor and Abathur. The music tends to match the theme of the map, and is decent enough but often heard only in the menu.
Final Thoughts
'Heroes of the Storm' is an easy MOBA to get into and stick with. I have been hooked since beta, and that is unusual because MOBAs typically do not appeal to me. While the prices are a bit high and the grinding a bit much, 'Heroes' is still something I will be playing for quite awhile.