Dota 2 trailer is as action-packed as it is confusing

In keeping with the theme of Dota 2's marketing campaign – whose key message seems to be, “if you love Dota, you'll love this, and if you don't know what Dota is, screw you” – the title got an official trailer to coincide with the game's impending public reveal at the Gamescom-based International tournament. Fan of the original? You'll thrill to this clip's Michael Bay-style dramatization of the game's strategy action. Still waiting to find out what all the fuss is about? Here's an advert for a fantasy game where you can pick a fast Elf or a strong Barbarian.

In keeping with the theme of Dota 2's marketing campaign – whose key message seems to be, “if you love Dota, you'll love this, and if you don't know what Dota is, screw you” – the title got an official trailer to coincide with the game's impending public reveal at the Gamescom-based International tournament. Fan of the original? You'll thrill to this clip's Michael Bay-style dramatization of the game's strategy action. Still waiting to find out what all the fuss is about? Here's an advert for a fantasy game where you can pick a fast Elf or a strong Barbarian.

Above: Images surfaced this weekend of what purports to be the game itself. For the purposes of this article, let's say they look pretty legit

We've been following Dota 2 since its original announcement, and it's great to see a fan-made project flourish under the direction of Valve – the studio has a proven record for noting and developing exceptional user-generated game content, and looks ready to do well again with this Warcraft 3 sequel/spinoff. However, if you've not been keeping tabs on this title – a continuation of an underground mod to a decade-old game, named for an acronym that doesn't exist anymore and with a play style all its own – it'd be interesting to hear what you make of this trailer, whose glimpse of the game's action and variety is tempered by a pretty generic sort of approach and makes it look more like a beat 'em up than the role-play strategy it is. Of course, it's intended for a Gamescom audience, at which Dota 2 is a top-tier presence – but what do you, presumably not in attendance at the German convention, think?

Aug 15, 2011