There is no story to League of Legends, at least not a comprehensible one. The nearest thing to a story that the game has is the champion backstories, which are interesting to say the least. For example, one champion is a small girl with a teddy bear who is the most powerful dark mage to ever live. Another is a barbarian whose birthmark of an Ouroboros inspired his people to lead attacks on the civilized world. All of these champions participate in the College of War, which pits them against one another in practice matches. While the writing is hardly top-notch, some of the lore will be interesting to those that really care.

League of Legends is a very pretty game. It does not have particularly detailed models, but the artwork is fantastic, with a cartoony cel-shaded style pervading the entire work. Effects are clear in their implementation, which means that, even amidst the chaos of battle, you know exactly what is going on. Sounds and music are effective, if not especially notable. The music in particular is extremely generic, so turning it off and substituting your own is highly advised.

The meat of League of Legends is in the gameplay, and if you have ever played Defense of the Ancients or Demigod, you will know exactly how to play League of Legends. You have a hero viewed from a top-down perspective, and you move around the field much like a real-time strategy game. Your hero may gain levels much like your standard RPG, and they gain experience from killing either minions (computer-controlled NPCs) or other players. You also gain gold as you do this, which allows you to buy new weapons, armor, and accessories. Gold is also acquired over time. An interesting removal is the concept of denial, which simplifies the gameplay a little.

League of Legends does not really stray far from the Defense of the Ancients gameplay within the core game. The most common map looks almost identical to the Defense of the Ancients map, characters have 4 abilities with the ultimate unlocking at level 6, and there are no unit upgrades. The maximum level is 18, but this bears little on your ability choices as at level 18 you will have maximum level in all abilities (5 in standard, 3 in ultimate). The one place that it differs are in the summoner abilities, but that is more of an out-of-game choice than an in-game choice. This is the formula, plain and simple, and there is almost no deviation.

Where League of Legends offers the most amount of customization is outside the game itself. When you initially boot up, you are given a screen much like Blizzard's Battle.net. You can choose to start a game or customize your summoner. Customizing your summoner is where League of Legends sets out away from the source material and really becomes its own game. There are three ways to customize your gameplay: masteries, marks, and summoner spells.

Masteries function much like talents in any other MMO. there are passive abilities which increase the effectiveness of certain elements. There are three trees that you can master: offense, defense, and support. The offensive tree includes abilities such as increasing your hero's critical strike chance, dealing more damage with a summoner spell, or attacking faster. The defensive tree includes abilities such as increasing the effectiveness of your summoner heal spell, increasing the amount of armor you have, or reducing damage from magic. The support tree is everything else, such as the cooldown on your summoner teleport spell. Every time your summoner gains a level, you gain one point to put into any mastery you choose. Masteries are the key to victory, so choosing your role is very important.

Another important aspect of summoner customization is the marks system. These marks function like a summoner inventory, and they provide bonuses much like masteries do. However, where masteries focus on specific elements, marks are much more general. It is assumed that you will be able to buy marks from the lobby store when the game finally releases it, but as the store is currently closed, there is no foreseeable way to get marks. You unlock new mark slots as you level up, and certain marks can only go in certain slots, with the most powerful ones - the quintessance - being unlocked every twenty levels or so.

Finally, there are summoner spells. These are spells that you can set in the period before the game starts, and give you specific bonuses on very long cool-downs. Summoner spells include healing all nearby allies, instantly reviving yourself, teleporting to a friendly unit, or damaging a non-champion unit. Summoner spells are not especially required to play well, but in a pinch they can save your life. The Heal spell is particularly useful, as it can mean the difference between life and death.

League of Legends is a worthy successor to the Defense of the Ancients crown. It has an excellent visual style, enduring gameplay, and some new innovations that really count. While it may not be a big departure from the formula, it is just classic enough to draw in old players while having enough new to intrigue and entertain both new and old players alike.