Dota 2 is the official sequel to the highly popular mod for Blizzard's Warcraft III, Defense of the Ancients. A mod that has been worked on by many, and therefore it was hard to determind where the rights belong. A lot of legal hocus pocus were going on between Blizzard and Valve last year, and it ended to valve's favor. The Dota name and franchise is now legally a part of Valve, probably thanks to the sneaky acquisition of IceFrog the year before.
Dota 2 is a real-time strategy game in the sub-genre called MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena). A genre that has grown rapidly the past few years, with different type of alterations in favor of success. Dota 2 is a close second to being the most popular MOBA, right behind the giant League of Legends. Just like LoL, Dota 2 is gaining success throughout it's competetive e-sport scene, and it's clear that valve is highly pushing it towards the first position. Dota 2 world championship, otherwise known as "The International", has the biggest prize pool in e-sport history.
Gameplay is easy to understand but very hard to master. The map consists of 3 lanes that are constantly being pushed by NPC creeps. You are controlling a hero amongst 4 other in your team, and are fighting against 5 in the opposing team. The goal is to push your heroes and NPC creeps to the enemy base, where you have to destroy the ancient. It sounds pretty easy, but it requires hours upon hours to get a hold of the base mechanics, the more advanced mechanics and the professional mechanics. Plus the over 100 heroes you get to play and face.
After 2000 hours I have only touched what I call the more advanced mechanics, and I am not even close to professional level. The most experienced players have around 5000 hours of playtime and have spend the majority of their past 3 years to Dota 2. Since the game is Extremely competetive there will be a lot of curse words flying around while you play. These type of games are known for very hostile encounters with other players. There is an optional tutorial that you can take before going out there, beware though - the tutorial does not cover any Russian.
Dota 2 might be competetive, extremely enraging and the learning curve is steep as crap, but it is still the game that I have spend the most time playing on Steam . Somehow I keep returning to it, so I suppose I am enjoying it. You better have people to play with though, and you better not be good friends - because this game will take your beloved friendship and wipe it's *** with it until you hate each other.
Only play this if you plan on getting some mental disorder. Time will fly and you will realize you still suck and people hate you no matter what. I've paid for it, but now it's free so why do you need a review anyway?
Just try it for yourself... and let me know.