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The Lord of the Rings: War in the North takes place concurrently with The Fellowship of the Ring. It follows an elf, a dwarf and a ranger as they attempt to impede Sauron's forces in the northern areas of Middle-Earth. The game features hack-n'-slash style combat with RPG features such as leveling up, skill trees and collecting of items. Each class (elf, dwarf, ranger) has it's own abilities. Eradan has stealth skills, Farin is adept at melee and mining for gems while Andriel specializes in magic.
Graphics
Graphically, the game is great. The level design is top notch and I felt immersed in the world of Middle-Earth. Voice acting and lip movement was spot on (although not as natural as other games). The gore is realistic and the animations are great to look at. There are occasional environmental glitches but nothing to harp on about.
Combat/Gameplay
You are able to cycle between the main characters at checkpoints which is really great if you want to spend your play through among each character. You are able to "give" the other characters items from your inventory and they'll equip them even if you aren't playing as them. A good thing is that the others level up alongside you even if you're not playing as them. You can play single player (the others will be AI), you can play local co-op or your can play online co-op. There are also challenge maps which are akin to "horde" modes. These can be played in the aforementioned formats.
Playing through the game you still keep your stats and looted items which is a boost to the replay-ability of the game. Items can be upgraded and customized for each character. The skill tree will allow you to improve your abilities and specializations. You can also increase stamina, melee, and other attributes using points earned when leveling up. This is standard RPG fare of course. The system isn't revolutionary but it is easy and fun to use.
Combat wise, you use ranged and melee weapons. You can increase the power of attacks through leveling and also learn special moves. These special moves help vary the combat but it is still hack-n-slash. In a way, it is highly similar to The Two Towers and Return of the King games. Thus, if you liked that style then you should feel at home here. The enemies are varied from weak (a.k.a. Goblins) to powerful (such as trolls). The AI for enemies is generally good but there are some odd glitches (such as enemies just meandering a short distance from you without attacking). Ranged combat is standard aim and shoot.
In terms of difficulty, that depends on how you level up your character. There are certain spots in the game where the difficulty spikes suddenly. One such instance is a siege in which you must stop two trolls from breaking down a gate. These are challenges that feel great to overcome. All the same, it seems that trolls are handed out freely and fighting them can get repetitive. At one point, the player faces a giant spider which is a healthy change that could have been done a bit more often in the game.
There are towns (i.e. Bree) that you can shop and repair weapons. In these towns you can also get secondary quests. One such quest is to collect Athelas for a wounded ranger.
Sound
The game sounds very good. It utilizes sound effects and score from the Lord of the Rings films which helps add on to the feeling of immersion. Sometimes they were a bit jarring when you recognized which parts in the films the sound effects belonged to and then saw how they were used in the game. A minor complaint but there it is.
Length
The game is 20+ hours depending on your level of exploration and how quickly you master combat and defeating the enemies. It is respectable for an RPG but some might feel that it should be longer. Keep in mind, you can play through and unlock new items and keep your old ones and stats.
Story
I won't delve deep into the story but it intersects periodically with the Fellowship. It isn't an impressive plot and in many ways just seems to be present to allow you to kill Orcs. Which is fine by me since that's what I want from my Lord of the Rings games. The characters are flat but that makes them seem more like the caricatures that Tolkien used in his books. He drew inspiration from the epics which were not known for major character development.
Overall, this is a standard RPG with a good system of combat. It is repetitive here and there but manages to be entertaining and a welcome relieve from disasters like Aragorn's Quest. I can't say that I whole-heartedly recommend buying it at release day price but it is at least worth a rental if you're a Lord of the Rings fan.
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I bought this game for coop play with my wife and I was not disappointed. We thoroughly enjoyed Borderlands and have been searching for something to replace that void. Finally, we found a great coop experience in Lord of the Rings: War in the North. First of all, I will say there are many similarities to Borderlands. You level up and then assign attribute points (strength, dexterity, etc) and then assign a skill point to a skill tree (a la Borderlands). Throughout the game you collect a lot of weapons/items and similar to the vending machines in Borderlands, there are portals where you can sell/buy items. This is great as your inventory can fill quickly. You can find incredible weapons and make them unique (like Borderlands) with certain magical stones, which is really cool.
Moving on, the attention to detail is fantastic. Whenever you put on something new (weapon/armor) your appearance changes and is reflected in the cut scenes. The story is very detailed and involved, but not boring. It seems the game is very lengthy and there are many side quests, though I can't say for sure because we haven't finished the game. Battling indeed is "hack and slash" but you do have to do more than just smash the Square/Triangle buttons. I will say in terms of sword/melee combat, it is similar to God of War. You definitely need a team, as you will quickly become overwhelmed with enemies. There are combos and finishing moves which are AWESOME. You can use range attacks as well as magical attacks and even special moves. The fighting is so much fun and what I look forward to most. We are playing it on Normal settings and it is very challenging.
I will say there are some down falls. One thing that took time getting used to is you cannot jump and you are confined in the areas you can explore. In other words, this is not a sandbox game like Borderlands/Grand Theft Auto/Just Cause 2/Red Dead Revolver/etc where you can go basically anywhere and destroy anything. However, once I grew accustomed to it, it made sense to maintain the story flow and timeline. Other problems involve some glitches which I imagine will be resolved. When playing coop, sometimes a message will appear saying "Waiting for other players...." which appears generally when your partner is trying to advance to the next area. We figured out you can cancel this message by going to one of the teleport/shop portals select travel to [INSERT AREA] and then canceling it. This is not a big deal. One last thing, sometimes our third wheel (in our case, the Dwarf) goes charging into battle often times when we want to use some potions, re-equip, etc. He is fearless, but frustratingly not team oriented in that aspect.
Other than that, the game is incredible. It is Lord of the Rings to the bone and very immersive. Sound/graphics/story = all top notch. If you want a great coop experience, BUY THIS GAME!
UPDATE 11/12/11 *SPOILER ALERT* DOWNGRADED TO 3 STARS:
My wife and I played Lord of the Rings basically non-stop last weekend and sporadically over this week. In game length/story, it is inferior to Borderlands, in my opinion. The game is actually shorter than we expected we are pretty much done with it and are both at around Level 20 in terms of character development. I say PRETTY MUCH DONE because the game won't let us advance/complete the game. There is a map called Siege of Nordinbad, which we have completed. Generally after you complete a map/scenario you have to talk to certain people in order unlock the next map location. However, in this case, there is a known glitch which even after talking to the required characters, the next location will not unlock (SPOILER: CARN DUM). Looking at the developer forum , they are currently working on a patch but it has not completed internal testing yet so I imagine it will be some time before it gets through to us end users. Also, interestingly, it doesn't seem to affect all users as some people are reporting having completed the game.
Buy Lord of the Rings: War in the North Now
I bought this game about a week ago, and my wife and I have been playing split screen co-op. The game itself is pretty fun and plays well. As we have been playing there have been minor glitches here and there, but it wasn't until today that we hit a complete show-stopper. After putting in decent amount of time, we can no longer progress. The game bugged and will not update a key progression related quest. We are not the only ones, and apparently the only response is "start over". There is a list of other major bugs that will supposedly be fixed in a patch on the official War in the North "Bug Reporting and Technical Issues" forums.
Unfortunately, they won't give any ETA for the patch and there is no guarantee that it will fix all these problems. Seems that there was a major failure in their QA department, and this same group of people are the ones who will be validating the patch. Note that the list on their forum only covers confirmed bugs, this means that with the current quality there are probably plenty more. This game was obviously rushed out in an attempt to make money with no regard to the end user.
I would strongly recommend against buying this game until it is confirmed that all these bugs are fixed.
Read Best Reviews of Lord of the Rings: War in the North Here
My husband and I bought this game because we were eager for something new along the lines of Baldur's Gate and Champions of Norrath, which we still LOVE, even after many years of gameplay. We figured this new offering would be our best bet of continuing this trend because of the Snowblind Studio connection. To help others, especially fellow couch co-op fans, this review offers some comparisons. (If you're not a huge Baldur's Gate/Champions fan, this review might not be your best source of information. Otherwise, this review should help provide some context.)
PROS:
Graphics-wise, LOTR/War in the North is far superior. It's much less flat, visually speaking, and you can really appreciate the beauty of the scenery, etc.
It's a lot of fun, once you get used to the controls.
It's nice that there's armor and weapons that you can buy, find and upgrade with magical gems. If you're playing the elf, you can even gather herbs etc. that will enable you to make interesting cakes and bonus potions (for extra strength, shielding, etc.) Playing the elf, I really loved this. And I could give my creations to my partner too. That was a nice bonus.
Once you get used to it, the game is pretty darn addicting and entertaining, even if frustrating at times.
POTENTIAL CONS:
In co-op, this is a split screen view. If you're accustomed to running along together on the same screen, you might find the split-screen a real let-down. Playing couch co-op, the whole split-screen aspect minimizes your field of vision, which can lead you to be attacked from outside your field of view when you're least expecting it. Plus, the whole split-screen thing doesn't have the same "together feel" as when you're both on the same screen. Our first time playing through this game, half of my problems stemmed from the fact that I kept losing my partner, or vice-versa. (My opinion only. I know some others love the split-screen. I guess I'm just not one of them.)
Although this is only a two-person game in couch co-op, the game uses three active characters (the elf, the ranger, and the dwarf). This means that the computer/PS3 plays the extra character, who turns out to be a real moron half the time. For example, you and your partner might be looking in your inventory, or trying to make sure you've gotten all your loot, when all of a sudden, the third character (in our case, the dwarf), charges into battle and stirs up all kinds of baddies, which leaves you exposed to getting whacked out of the blue, even when you're in your inventory, trying to see what kind of loot you just picked up. This leads me to the next point...
Inventory doesn't pause the game. Many times, we were looking at our inventory, and all of a sudden felt our controllers vibrate, because surprise, surprise, the idiotic dwarf stirred up some troll again, who's suddenly attacking us even when we positioned ourselves away from trouble to check out our stuff. This aspect can be REALLY irritating. Because the inventory doesn't pause the game, and you've got this third character running around willy-nilly, it's like you're playing with some half-witted friend who thinks it's funny to get you slaughtered. Plus, if the third character is near death, you must rescue them whether you want to or not. For us, we just wanted the dwarf to die already, so he'd get out of our way. But alas, that only ended the gameplay. And killing him isn't an option. We know because we tried.
No recall potions/gate scrolls. This means that if you're out of healing and mana/power/rejuvination potions, and about to face down a couple of trolls, you're in big trouble, because you can't simply "recall" or "gate-scroll" your way back to a shop and stock up whenever you want. This can be really frustrating, especially because the shop doesn't sell unlimited quantities of healing and mana. The shop might, in fact, only have four mana at any given time. Once you buy them up, you've got to make those potions last until the next shopping trip, which can be a while, since there's no recall potions/gate scrolls. There are, however, little "mini shops" along the way. This was nice, but not as nice as being able to recall to town from anywhere. I'm probably just spoiled though.
OTHER OBSERVATIONS.
For most people, this will probably have a higher learning curve than Baldur's Gate/Champions. On a positive note, you'll be able to unlock a lot of really cool attacks. However, you'll need to press multiple buttons to make them happen, and it can be a bit overwhelming, especially your first time through.
This game can get really chatty. If you love an extensive story and plenty of character interactions, you'll probably love it. If you just want to hack and slash your way through dungeons, etc., you might find all that chatting a bit irritating, especially on your second play-through. For example, there's a giant eagle that talks like the Mr. Rourk from Fantasy island. He shows up over and over again, all the way 'til the end of the game. By the final scene, we were so tired of seeing him, that we wanted to roast him up with a side of mashed potatoes and gravy. (Yes, I know you can skip through the chattiness, but it just seemed like there was an awful lot of it. Plus, we were quite hungry after all that gameplay and felt like that giant bird would feed us nicely.)
Ranged weapons are tricky. In Baldur's Gate/Champions of Norrath, ranged weapons were a simple one-button affair, just aim and press one button. In War in the North, it requires two buttons, and a LOT more aiming because it's more of a 3D type of experience, meaning that you need to aim up and down too, not just from side to side. Also, when you access your ranged weapons, the view immediately changes, making it seem more like a first-person shooter, as opposed to a third-person shooter. This took some getting used to, and we never did quite care for it. However, some people might love it, and it certainly does make it more challenging.
FINAL RATING: Even though I've listed more cons than pros, we still found it enjoyable, even moreso on our second time through (in spite of the chattiness), because by that time, we were more accustomed to the controls and ranged weapons. We stayed up until 4 a.m. last night playing it, so in spite of my cons, that really says something. It wasn't boring, that was for sure!
I'd probably give it three stars because I found certain aspects frustrating. However, in all fairness, I couldn't. Any game that will keep you up until 4 a.m. because you can't stop playing it certainly does the trick. We've tried other games through the years, such as Sacred 2, and they didn't even hold our interest for more than a couple of hours. This one did, so I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.
Want Lord of the Rings: War in the North Discount?
This game all depends on what type of gamer you are. If you like action RPG games and don't mind hack n' slash this game will be perfect for you. If you're more of a indepth RPG non hack n' slash type gamer this game might still appeal to you but you might stop playing after awhile. This game is made by the same people that made the great PS2 action RPG games, Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, Champions of Norrath, and Champions of Norrath: Return to Arms. If you don't know what those games are look them up they are great games even to this day.
I really enjoy playing this game and the graphics are better then what I thought they would be. I knew what I was getting going into this game since I played the other action RPG games by Snowblind Studios. I know this game came out at a time when there are so many great games coming out, but most of the games coming out this year are mostly sequels to big name games. I bought this game wanting something that wasn't a sequel and on a whole not disappointed in my purchase. If you like action RPG games don't hesitate to buy this game!!
