• Site: Heroes of Newerth
• Publisher: S2 Games
• Developer: S2 Games
• Genre: Strategy

By Brad Cook

Just as a cell is the simplest building block of life, so too is the unit the most basic element of a strategy game. When one unit confronts another on the battlefield, the strengths and weaknesses of each come into play — the outcome of that clash, which can last mere seconds, might spell the difference between victory and defeat for the opposing armies, each of which is comprised of many units.

Heroes of Newerth boils down that unit versus unit confrontation, giving you control of a Hero from the Hellbourne or the Legion — the former consists of invading demons created from fallen soldiers and the latter is an uneasy alliance between men and beasts, the last line of defense against the attackers. Choose your Hero from the more than 60 available and join up to four teammates in the struggle over the fate of Newerth. (You can also go solo in a one-on-one contest.) You can help decide which new Heroes will be added to the game at HoN Dream, where players can design Heroes and vote on the ones submitted by others.

The game comes with an impressive pedigree: it’s based on the classic custom Warcraft III scenario Defense of the Ancients, although its story roots lie in S2 Games’ previous efforts, Savage: The Battle for Newerth and Savage 2: A Tortured Soul (see the sidebar below to learn more).

Your goal is to destroy the opposition’s command structure, which is heavily guarded by a series of towers as well as a group of computer-controlled defenders known as “creeps.” You begin each session with a stash of gold, allowing you to buy some basic items from the more than 100 available in the game.

Heroic Efforts

As you kill creeps and opposing Heroes and destroy enemy towers and barracks, you accumulate additional wealth, along with experience points. The more gold you earn, the better the items you can buy, and ever-increasing experience points allow your Hero to ascend levels, from first through 25th, and become more powerful. Heroes fall under three main types — agile, strong, or intelligent — that play different roles, although some may offer a mix of the three.

To ensure maximum gold and experience for you and as little as possible for the opposition, be sure to master the concepts of last-hitting and denying: the former involves striking a creep, barracks, or tower just as its health is about to hit zero, allowing you to reap the rewards; the latter involves doing the same to your side’s defenses so the enemy gains nothing from their defeat. (Hold down the A key when you click an allied creep, tower, or barracks to strike it.)

Each side’s creeps come in two types, ranged and melee, and emerge from the appropriate barracks, growing stronger as a match progresses. When your team destroys an enemy barracks, your creeps of that type become more powerful; when all enemy barracks crumble into dust, your side gains high-level creeps that quickly turn the tide of battle in your favor. Neutral creeps also roam each map, offering opportunities to gain extra gold and experience; just don’t assume they offer easy kills, as some of them can go toe-to-toe with the toughest Heroes.

For the Discerning Strategy Gamer

Whether your side wins or loses, each match you play adds to your cumulative statistics, including your kills and deaths, the number of creeps you’ve denied to the opposition, and more. Like most strategy games, Heroes of Newerth features ladder rankings listing the best players, and integrated clan management tools allow you to easily start and run your own clan, or join an existing one. You can even watch replays of past matches to see which strategies worked and which ones didn’t.

And if you want to create your own maps set in the world of Newerth, you can do that too with the included editor. Just as this game is based on a popular Warcraft III map, perhaps you’ll leave your mark on the strategy world with a unique creation that will engage other strategy game enthusiasts for years to come.

Dazzling Effects. Never has pwning your enemies been so beautiful to watch.

Feature Creep. Some Creeps are there just for gold farming, while others assist one side or the other.

Tower Defense. A Hellbourne tower does its job.

If you liked this game, check out:

• Torchlight

System Requirements:

• Mac OS X version 10.4 (version 10.5 required for GeForce 7300, Quadro FX 4500, Radeon X1600 or higher video cards)
• Intel processor (2GHz Core 2 Duo recommended)
• 1GB of RAM (1.5GB recommended)
• 128MB video RAM (256MB recommended); Integrated Intel GMA 9500 and X3100 chipsets not supported