The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Review

Written by Craig Will (puffkix) Wednesday, 16 November 2011 10:30

Snowblind Studios is best known for the phenomenal Hack ‘n’ Slash RPG Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, a great game that swallowed many days of my younger years. The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is an opportunity for them to bring the same care and devotion evident in Dark Alliance to the beloved Tolkien works. And for the most part they succeed.

This is a brand new adventure in Middle-Earth, complete with sparsely explored locales, new characters, and completely new tales of heroics by your band of three companions (AI or Co-Op controlled). It’s also surprisingly huge. Though, maybe less surprising considering the source material is so epic. The characters don’t reinvent the wheel: there’s the Dunedain Ranger, Dwarf Warrior, and Elf Mage to choose from. This review won’t comment on how the different classes play though; there will be a follow up article that focuses on the classes. For now, only the Ranger will be represented.

It’s obvious that over the years Snowblind hasn’t lost the focus that makes hacking and slashing such a visceral combat experience. While JRPGs and MMOs focus on the grind, and western RPGs offer guns and space opera stories, the action RPG genre really lends itself well to weighty combat. Each blow with an axe, every thrust of a sword, each thud of an arrow looks and feels like it hurts. A lot. And Ware in the North takes it a step further by adding gory decapitations and dismemberments that better fit the literature the story is derived from than any T-rated game could do.

While the combat will draw you in, you’ll want to stick around for the story. And the loot. Since this is a brand new adventure, there is a lot of new ground covered. Basically, you control one third of a small fellowship during the same time that the Fellowship is focused on in the original trilogy is formed and sent on their mission. The goal of your group? Stop Sauron’s forces in the north (hence, War in the North). All manner of foul creature have been joining forces in the dark corners in preparation of the war that will soon cover Middle Earth. It’s fun to see familiar places and faces (including members of the famous Fellowship) before being whisked off to areas mentioned in passing in the movies where you’re free to explore and learn more of the rich history that Middle Earth has to offer.

Did I say that the story would be what keeps you around? It’s true that it’s an engrossing storyline, especially for those with an appreciation for the franchise, but the loot is what will make you giddy. Every chest, every secret stash, every lootable pile of bones will have you holding your breath in anticipation. Why? Because there are so many cool weapons and armor to be found and over 50% of the time you will pull up at least one awesome item in a loot grab. There are six areas to equip armor: head, shoulders, hands, torso, legs, and feet. Each piece of armor, in addition to increasing armor rating or adding special bonuses, can be part of a set. Equip a complete set and you’ll be rewarded with a trophy/achievement as well as an equip bonus. Some armor can even be augmented with elf stones.

Optional side quests are often of the fetch variety but are generally still engaging because of the implications they hold for the universe. Finding out, on a quest for Arwen, what goes into Miruvor really gives a greater insight into things that the films only briefly touched on.

Now for the not so great stuff…

Nearly every time I load up my save there will be quests that have disappeared. I was worried the first time it happened because I had already collected the items to be turned in and didn’t really want to go recollect them, and since quest items don’t sit in your inventory it was impossible to tell if I still had them. Fortunately, talking to the quest giver relaunched the quest but didn’t remove the items, allowing for a quick turn-in.

While combat is the bread and butter of this game, and it’s done competently, there are still some kinks. Combat works like this: wail away on a guy until a yellow arrow pops up over him and then press the heavy attack button. If he’s weak enough you’ll kill him by chopping his head off or even just having him explode into a cloud of blood. If not, then he’ll get knocked down and then you’ll have a chance to again click the heavy attack button to execute him. Once you’ve unleashed a heavy attack on a vulnerable enemy, the combo counter appears (because you’re in heroic mode), and counts up with each successful hit you throw. A repetitive, yet completely satisfying combat system, but for one oversight; sometimes the heavy attack button won’t heavy attack. So instead of decapitating a guy and then launching straight into a flurry on the guy behind you, you’ll actually get attacked from behind by the guy that shouldn’t have a head anymore. This not only breaks the flow of combat but it also kills the combo meter you’ve been building up.

Finally, when is the wear and tear weapon and armor degradation system going to die? I understand that in the right setting heading to the blacksmith every level to repair your weapons and armor can be more immersive but unless I can do it myself (for XP, of course) I don’t want it in a game. Maybe add it as an option for those that are just that hardcore but please don’t force it on the rest of us anymore.

Those are the only real issues I’ve found with the game, though there can be some lengthy load times and combat can take a turn for the frustrating when hordes of armored enemies enter the fray. Only a heavy attack will open them up to regular attacks and only for a limited amount of time, so swinging away at multiple enemies without damaging them gets quite annoying.  Some may consider these problems severe enough to walk away, but fans of the series should definitely invest their time into the epic yarn that Snowblind has spun.

To end on a baffled note: Why do characters look like their film counterparts but don’t use the same voices? Where’s Elijah Wood when Middle Earth really needs him? Well his voice anyway.

Final Score: 7.5/10