League of Legends- The Perfect Remedy for a Cold

Since Thursday I have been out of commission, I'm sick and have not left the house. When you have no books that you have not read yet and do not feel like watching T.V., it becomes difficult to figure out what one can do to pass the time. It finally occurred to me that I downloaded a game by the name of League of Legends several months ago after playing during its beta testing and loving the game. After playing League of Legends, or LoL as its commonly called, after a few month hiatus, I am glad to say that my love for the game during the beta testing has not diminished but has in fact expanded.

In LoL, you play as one of many characters on one of two teams consisting of up to five people on each team and combat with one another in arena-like combat. The object is to destroy your opposing teams base by slaying enemy players and destroying enemy fortifications to allow the advancement of your teams "minions" which are NPCs that are generated in your base and rush your opponents, attacking anything in their path until they get to, and destroy the enemys' base..all while defending your base as well. It might sound complicated but once you get the hang of how the game works, where you presume your opponent is going to move next and (my favorite part), how to get the jump on him to ensure you eliminate him before he does you.

LoL is pretty much a copy of the type of play that first came onto the gaming scene when the Warcraft III custom game "Defence of the Ancients" came out. It has similar characters, with similar abilities, and is the same type of game play, only polished and presented in better, newer, and prettier graphics. One major advancement that LoL has over Defence of the Ancients is the inclusion of bushes, which allows you to hide in choke points and pathways or wherever bushes may be present, to help you sneak up on your opponent and attack him unexpectedly. LoL also includes specific abilities that you can obtain as a player, such as boosts in movement speed or in damage, to help your character perform better.

Amumu-The Sad Mummy- One of the Many Characters in League of Legends

League of Legends is by far one of the best games for passing time. It combines violence and strategy with a sense of humor and in some cases, even cuteness (one character is an adorable little girl who lights things on fire and has a tremendous flaming teddy bear named "Tibbers" as her personal minion). If you wish to spend 10-20 minutes, you can play a small 3 on 3 game. If you want to play for a little more or less than an hour, than a full on 5 on 5 battle is more to your liking. The games are quick and fun, some of the items that your character can purchase take a bit of time to memorize (oh yea, and each character has a beginners item set to buy in case you are not sure AS WELL AS a recommended way on how to play them and what to watch out for) if you want to customize your play style but other than that, I find LoL to be a superb game. Being a HUGE Defence of the Ancients player a year or so ago, I have found my new home for a great single player RTS game, and that home is the League of Legends!

(I recommend watching the video, its pretty :D) :League of Legends- Season One

Bioshock Infinite - An Omen of Good Things to Come

So as an avid fan of the Bioshock franchise, I am brimming with excitement for the newest installment of Bioshock entitled "Bioshock: Infinite". In this chapter, we are plucked out of the sea and ascended into the skies in the floating steampunk city known as Colombia. Instead of being trapped in the underwater ex-Utopian city known as Rapture, you now find yourself in the drifting American metropolis in the early 1900's.   

The reason I say it is an omen is that after playing the first two games and becoming accustomed to the dark leaky and eerie feel of the anti-moralistic city of Rapture, being chased around by drug addicted psychopaths and of course, the scuba-diving behemoths known affectionately by their little girl counterparts as Big Daddies, this new incarnation changes the venue to the radically different world above the clouds, filled with clear skies and sunshine. I think Bioshock will become more than what it already is, i feel that it might become a Final Fantasy type game, not in its game play, but its differentiating story and setting while still keeping a  play style similar to the previous titles that we know and love.

Big things are going to happen for Bioshock, its transition to the skies can be seen as a metaphor of a possible, hopeful, rise to something far greater than we have ever imagined.