Combining characters across all of Blizzard’s properties made Storm of Heroes feel like the Smash Bros. of MMO games. It’s a clever move on their part and one that I felt drew fans of yesteryear back to the good fight. Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo and more combine heroes and villains to bring a full-on war between factions. The amazing promotional trailers made wanting to play Storm of Heroes even more enticing. Even if you’re terrible at MMO games, you can still enjoy the sights and sounds of nostalgia in a new world.

This benefits the player and Valve equally, because Valve offers players items they genuinely want to buy, not have to buy or be left behind. Valve makes money, Dota 2 players look pretty. But Dota 2 players who haven't spent any money can still stomp into the ground players who have a cosmetic set for every hero. Moving away from League of Legends (since that debate is a particularly stomach-turning can of worms), consider Plants vs. Zombies 2. PopCap was sold to Electronic Arts after the first game, and EA moved the sequel to an all-mobile platform that's free to play, but it's the wrong kind of free to play. It's the kind with micro-transactions that offer a better gaming experience.

Because The CW typically airs its crossovers at the end of November, Crisis on Earth-X debuted only 10 days after Warner Bros. and DC Films' premiered their own massive team-up event with Justice League . While the reviews for Justice League were undoubtedly an improvement upon previous DC Films entries Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad - and the film topped the domestic box office in its opening weekend and performed well overseas - the dominant narrative has been that it didn't quite meet expectations. Certainly, the movie has its fans, and redeeming qualities, but Justice League wasn't as big of a success - critically, financially, or with fans - as many were hop

It's hard not to get teary-eyed watching Tyrael descend from the sky voluntarily even out of context, but when the trailer arrives just at the right point in the game's story, there's no denying its impact. Although Diablo 3 is incredibly replayable, the game's story does matter and it's hard not to become attached to its characters in between long sessions of looting. We dare players to make it through the game without getting invested in this st

As someone who plays Dota 2, I thought "'worth'? What do you mean 'worth'?" It hit me pretty quickly that they meant worth money. The concept of paying real money for a hero eludes me, as a Dota 2 player, with a game that has more than 100 heroes available to everyone, free of charge. While League of Legends is technically free to play, players can get a better experience by buying access to better champions - champions that have "worth." Dota 2, not so. There's not a single item in the game that can be purchased in any way to give players an advantage. This got me thinking how Dota 2 really is the only MOBA Game Beginner Guide that does Free to Play right, that is, in a way that benefits the player as much or more than the company.

There's no denying that all of the WoW expansion cinematics are pretty fantastic and using only a few for this list was a hard task. The Burning Crusade trailer runs with the same theme as the original and the others start working more and more lore into the reveals. However, these five stood out the most for their impact and genuine wow (no pun intended) fac

Plants vs. Zombies 2 already has 10 "premium plants" for a total cost of more than $30 altogether, tax included. And that's just plants. You can also pay for upgrades and in-game coins. To my knowledge, Plants vs. Zombies never went higher than $20 for the whole game, with no micro-transactions, so I can only assume PopCap is making a truckload off of this. Now I know people like to point out how less than 10 percent of people who play free-to-play games participate in micro-transactions. This makes it seem like the companies are doing what's best for the player by offering a portion of their game for free, while only making a small chunk of change on the side to get by. It's a compelling narrative that doesn't hold up to scrutiny. This number conveniently leaves out how much money they're actually making from those ten percent of people who want a full gaming experience.

Again, Pokémon is my favorite series and without any title in 2015, I found Yo-Kai Watch to be an excellent substitute. Comparing the two is definitely easy but after playing Yo-Kai Watch and watching the cartoon, it’s worth noting Yo-Kai Watch can stand on its own. The mix of kooky characters is great and each one having its own personality makes the game a unique experience. Yo-Kai Watch is a wonderful RPG for those in search of something that’s just plain fun. I would consider this game as my best 3DS title of the year.

The voice over narration perfectly sets up the conflict that the Horde and Alliance have remained locked in for the last ten years and by focusing on unnamed heroes, rather than icons of the Warcraft world , players are able to imagine themselves as the Orc warrior going berserk or the Dwarf hunter exploring the snowy mountains. Maybe it's just nostalgia taking over, but we're tempted to roll a new character every time the drums of war start beating in this trai