War in the North Review

[The_Blue_Rider]

snip

there has been a good Lord of the Rings game though :O Its called Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, available for Xbox, PS2 and PC, its easily one of the best hack n' slash games I have ever played, it has tonnes of awesome upgrades for each character, a shitload of characters to play as, as well, amazing levels and great extras as well.
Although Legolas is a little overpowered, at higher levels he can fire 3 arrows at time :/ still fun as shit though

Also Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, its an original story in the LotR universe, running parallel to the books/movies, its an actual RPG and its complete awesomesauce

check them both out

 

[Jumwa]

I passed this title up because my partner and I didn't think we'd have time to really enjoy it before Skyrim came out and stole our souls; damn you game companies, for thinking everything needs to be released just before the holidays! Then the reviews started hitting and people were trashing it, saying it's dull and uninteresting.

This though? This pretty much sold me. I'm too ridiculous of a Tolkien dork not to. Will grab it up during a Steam sale perhaps, because now it definitely IS too close to Skyrim to give it any of our precious time.

 

[Dastardly]

War in the North Review

Lose yourself in Tolkien?s lore

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I always find myself disappointed when a game or book from a major franchise has too much canon in it. Of course, the obvious offender here is Star Wars, but I feel Lord of the Rings isn't far behind.

Such care was taken to create an expansive universe (or galaxy, or continent) full of cultures and languages and histories that all go beyond the story and characters being presented. It's all those unexplored roads that make the universe feel huge and full of mystery. It feeds our curiosity, but only a snack.

But how large can the universe be when you keep running into the same five guys over and over? Hell, I don't see some of my own co-workers half as often as every Steve-iel the billionth elven ranger runs into Gandalf or Aragorn. (Or as often as every two-credit smuggler crosses paths with Han Solo)

I understand you want threads that tie you to the canon, or it might as well not be Lord of the Rings. I understand a certain amount of iconography is necessary to give it all the right feel. But I also feel that cramming in characters and references can become a crutch that leads to lazy writing. We think we're winking at the audience, saying, "See? Still Lord of the Rings in here," but really we just have our blinders on. And I think it shrinks the world of the source material a little every time.

 

[Anachronism]

I was extremely sceptical about this game, because as far as I could tell, the only reason it was a big deal was because it was the first LotR game to have an M rating.

Now though, I'm seriously considering buying it. I'm a huge Tolkien nerd and love the world-building just as much as I love the books, so the amount of effort that has apparently gone into making this game authentic is a very big draw for me. Hell, the fact that Elladan and Elrohir - characters who aren't that important in the books and don't even get mentioned in the films - appear would probably be enough to get me interested.

 

[TitanAtlas]

snip

there has been a good Lord of the Rings game though :O Its called Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, available for Xbox, PS2 and PC, its easily one of the best hack n' slash games I have ever played, it has tonnes of awesome upgrades for each character, a shitload of characters to play as, as well, amazing levels and great extras as well.
Although Legolas is a little overpowered, at higher levels he can fire 3 arrows at time :/ still fun as shit though

Also Lord of the Rings: The Third Age, its an original story in the LotR universe, running parallel to the books/movies, its an actual RPG and its complete awesomesauce

check them both out

Acctually i owned them...

The Return of the King was with no doubt a major piece of crap. From annoying invisible walls, to ridiculous mini-games, with irritating camera angles. Was not worth a dime. Hell, even gamestop sells the original for 2 euros on my country. That's like 3 dollars i think.

And Third Age, is ok, but not a good game. It doesn't capture the needed feeling people desired on a LOTR game based on the main campaign.

 

[Nami nom noms]

quick question but does anyone know if this game has local co-op or just online?
it's the deciding factor on whether i purchase.

 

[PAGEToap44]

Ok. Now I want this game. I wish I had more money.

Ach well, I'll be very content with Skyrim for now and I'll let out the odd murmur while playing it of, "Yaaaay, this is a bit like Lord of the Rings..."

 

[Briney-]

Nice review, Greg. I'm thinking about picking this up in December once I've had time to mess around with Skyrim.

 

[Hungry Donner]

I thought War in the North was supposed to be an open world RPG like the Elder Scrolls? Am I confusing this for a different LotR game?

Apparently I was thinking of "The White Council" instead. *shrug*

 

[thethingthatlurks]

Wasn't this supposed to be an RTS at first? I could have sworn I read a preview about War in the North being an RTS like Battle for Middle Earth. Oh well, memory, old age, etc...

 

[Shoggoth2588]

This could very well be the first Lord of the Rings game I get for myself. It looks a lot like a Bioware RPG (specifically, Dragon Age 2) only...I don't wanna say better but it does look like that. I've never really been into LotR but this could be the exception. Also, did anyone else find it funny that the eagle, while talking, looked like its beak was moving like lips? It was more noticeable on the corners of its beak.

 

[odddem007]

quick question but does anyone know if this game has local co-op or just online?
it's the deciding factor on whether i purchase.

I believe you can play local co-op. I will check when I get home from work tonight and let you know.

 

[Aptspire]

Boromir is coming
also, I do like the visuals seen here, maybe I'll eventually pick it up...

 

[GeorgW]

Loved the impression
I don't think I'll get this one. I love that they took such care of the lore, but as I'm not that big of a LOTR fan, I don't think I'll appreciate it much. I hear the gameplay is repetitive, if it'd been more compelling I'd have loved to dive more into the lore though. Also, Skyrim.

 

[JET1971]

I really like the concept of this game and wish more movie/game adaptations would delve deeper into the worlds they are showing. you watch a movie/read a book based on one story line and get to know a part of that world and it leaves you with the desire to see more of it. instead of just trying to show the same thing such as the fellowships quest wich we have plenty of in the books, movies, animated movies, cartoons, they show us whats going on elsewhere in the world. Rehashing the same story in multiple mediums and one is going to suck compared to the other, but if you do a storyline thats part of the same world during the same time and you can show more of that world without the "the **** was better" comparisons. If tied in properly to the main storyline you could have a much better game or movie.

I myself would rather play a game or watch a movie thats based on the same world and tied in to each other but not the same story.

 

[haruvister]

The co-op element attracted me to this game initially. Then I saw the middling reviews on Metacritic. Now my melon is well and truly twisted because Tito says it's a bit of a scorcher. Perhaps a purchase in a future Steam sale...

 

[Ovoon]

It's horrible.

Easily the most disappointing game of the year. The visuals look unimpressive, the story and voice acting are horribly weak, and they capture middle earth in a very poorly done way. The game is 90% combat driven, when middle earth is not about that at all. It's as if they took Peter Jacksons vision of middle earth that worked well for movie form, and tried to mix the book style in there. And it doesn't work. If the setting were anything like LOTRO, I'd be hooked. But since LOTRO spoiled me with it's excellent style and lore, I can't play this game.

Think about it, an RPG, made by the guys that did Champions of Norrath, set in Middle Earth, based off of the books. Should be great. But it has it's missed potential.

Why are an elf, a man, and a dwarf partied up? You don't get to know.
Why would an elf, a man and a dwarf party up? Logically, they wouldn't. But they need racial diversity in middle earth apparently. I was expecting a hobbit bounder as the 4th party member at this rate.


And whats with the mage? Her spell casting animation is atrocious looking! And why is the elf a mage? WHY GOD.

Everything that sets Tolkeins world apart from other generic fantasy video game settings is diminishing. Because everything in this game lacks style, and culture that exists in middle earth. It's now a generic fantasy setting, loaded with constant slaying of monsters, and mages. I haven't seen a classic setting butchered this bad since The Force Unleashed tried to prequelize the original series.

As far as the RPG and combat mechanics go? They're alright I suppose. The combat gets boring fast, and there will be many times where you swing at nothing. Also, there are invisible walls all over the place. RPG mechanics? Eh, theres a pretty decent loot system and the RPG elements are alright.

Oh, and the dialogue is boring. Oh so boring.

 

[Greg Tito]

Why are an elf, a man, and a dwarf partied up? You don't get to know.
Why would an elf, a man and a dwarf party up? Logically, they wouldn't. But they need racial diversity in middle earth apparently. I was expecting a hobbit bounder as the 4th party member at this rate.

This bothered me for a while as well, then I remembered the friendship and journey of Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli across Rohan, through the Paths of the Dead and finally to Minas Tirith (yes, there are others with them, but an elves, dwarves and men are already working together in the War of the Ring).

That's not so much different than the game, even though they don't really explain why they are together, I agree.

 

[Lamnidae]

I've been waiting some time for this title now and I'm glad I got the Collector's edition. Because paying 60 euros for this game alone isn't really worth it... At least now I got a cool troll juggling a dwarf with it... And a nice artbook...

The game is really really... SHORT!
The game has a area map... But you can only go to 33% of it's locations
The gameplay is ANNOYING!
(The item swapping and leveling between the characters in singleplayer is so, not there... Really annoying you must walk an entire area to play as another companion)

I really wonder if the developers have ever played games in which you have companions?

WHY CAN'T WE JUST HAVE SOME DECENT ITEM COMPARISON INTERFACE?
WHY CAN'T WE LEVEL ALL COMPANIONS AT ONCE?

Anyway... This is really the only thing that really drives me mad when playing this game...
It would have been great, if not for the limitations mentioned above...
Still I can't stop playing it... Need more ITEMS! And some DLC's

I hope they will solve this problem with a patch...