The Return of the King

User Rating: 7 | The Lord of the Rings: War in the North X360
I have also written this review on Gamefaqs.

Honestly, I had given up on the prospect of the release of another LOTR game. But lo and behold! Here is The Lord of the Rings: War in the North. So without any further ado, let the reviewing commence.


STORY (6/10)

The story of the game is quite straightforward: Sauron's supposed 'top lieutenant' called Agandaûr is mustering Orc, Uruk-Hai and various other kinds of forces to vanquish the free peoples of the North, to aid Sauron in his conquest of Middle-Earth. You (Andriel the Elf, Farin the Dwarf and Eradan the Human) are called upon by Aragorn in Bree to defeat Agandaûr. This entails that you will embark upon a journey to help allied forces survive, with the assistance of - among others - Great Eagles. In the process, you will travel to several places in the north, such as Mirkwood and Fornost.

And so I come to the negative points. It's quite troubling that the protagonists (the Elf, Dwarf and Man) never truly form a bond. You'd think that with the Dwarves' and Elves' mutual distrust, Farin and Andriel would never get along. However, somehow, they do from the beginning.

It's disappointing that this game features no character development whatsoever. It would've been a simple matter to include some brief cutscenes in which the party sets up camp to discuss their past, their relationship and their quest. All they know about each other is their name and race. Indeed, for a dangerous expedition to the north to slay hundreds of enemies, the party seems awfully indifferent about it.

After finishing the game, I thought: ''Wait, the Fellowship of the Ring has already succeeded in its mission? The Ring has been destroyed? When did that happen? It seemed impossible, because Frodo had been on his quest for a long time, but it seemed like no time had passed in the game.

Thankfully, the locations are true to the LOTR movie style. Not only that, but it's clear that Snowblind know their LOTR lore. When speaking to certain characters, they may reveal more about the history of the One Ring, as well as significant historic events and people. This game is probably the most profound of LOTR games concerning information.


GRAPHICS (7.5/10)

I've read complaints about the graphics being reminiscent of games released years ago. I do not agree. The graphics may not be on a par with the cream of the crop, but they're certainly not inferior to Dragon Age. In fact, I'd say they're more consistent than Dragon Age's, since some textures looked blurry in that game. With the wealth of enemies that charge at you, I'd say this is quite the accomplishment for War in the North.

What drew my attention from the beginning was the lighting. It isn't over the top; not too bright or colorful. Speaking of colors, the game is always quite colorful. However, I found that to become annoying in places such as Rivendell, where everything including stonework is a shade of yellowish green.

The textures aren't much to look at, as they're sometimes a bit two-dimensional. The cutscenes look a lot sleeker. I was impressed by the fact that enemies actually look frosty in snowy environments. Backgrounds of areas look good, and they look as though they were taken from concept art.

The frame rate is consistent throughout the entire game, at approximately 60 fps. From what I've seen, there's no motion blur, which is a good thing in my book. The game looks its best when you're traversing areas that are dark or have cool colors or shades of red.

Characters' facial expressions have been done moderately well, probably better than Mass Effect 3 - though that isn't hard to accomplish. They've got slightly more eyebrow activity.

In conclusion, I want to make it clear that - taking into account the amount of enemies - the graphics are certainly acceptable.


GAMEPLAY (6/10)

The gameplay is by no means perfect. In fact, a few things can be called unacceptable. I'll start with the negative and work my way to the positive.

First off, the AI of the two characters you can't control directly is terrible. Every time you're fatally wounded, the CPU-controlled companions will immediately attempt to revive you. This may sound like the most logical course of action, but if you're surrounded by orcs, goblins or what have you, the last thing you want your companions to do is to put themselves at risk of being killed. Your companions are also unable to detect secrets found behind markings. That means those secrets are lost forever. So why haven't Snowblind included the option to order your companions to find secrets? The answer is probably: to promote the usage of the multiplayer mode. Still, it's unfair to people who play the game alone.

Let's move on to the next flaw. The dialog system apes Mass Effect, where the uppermost option turns you good, and the lowermost option makes you evil. This is not the case in War in the North. No matter which option you choose, the outcome will remain the same. Sometimes, though, the option that's rude will end the conversation, meaning you'll have to speak to that person again. When you do, that NPC's lines will be reset. This forces you to listen to their speech again, or rather, to skip it as fast as you can.

Some other nuisances are the bugs in the game. On two occasions, Farin ceased to exist. His icon was still on the mini-map, somewhere in the distance. Maybe Gimli was right when he said never to trust an Elf! There was also the case of Bilbo telling me to hand a poem to Arwen, while I had already done that. Finally, there's the bug that discourages multiplayer co-op: 'saving disabled'. What this means is that if the two players are not of the same level, the non-host player loses their most recent checkpoint save data, along with all the progress made and items gathered. You can remedy this problem as soon as you spot it by taking turns being the host player.

Boss fights are easy - hilariously so when you've beaten the game and have started over on a higher difficulty. I know that makes no sense, but the game actually becomes easier on higher difficulties. It would appear the game's difficulty can't keep up with the increasingly powerful loot and skills.

I also need to say that it's slightly disappointing that you don't get to fight Wargs or Fell Beasts. You only encounter one Warg, and it avoids you. As for the Fell Beasts, they choose to keep their distance as well.

Andriel's attacks have nothing to do with Elven magic. Elven magic is supposed to have a connection to nature. In the movies you see Arwen conjure up a flood. That's the kind of magic I wanted to see, not ''ooh, let me cast this shiny bubble made of light''. While her attacks are magic, they're not 'magical'.

The overall combat is fine. The characters have their own melee, ranged and class-specific skill. For example, Andriel the Loremaster can use Sanctuary - a protective bubble that shields you from projectiles and heals you over time. Farin has a more combat-oriented skill and Eradan has a stealth-based one. The skill tree starts out with one skill in each area, and you will unlock one or two skills each time, which are usually modifications of the first skills.

Each character can equip different weapons. Eradan can use two-handed swords, can dual-wield weapons, and can use a shield. Farin can wield two-handed and one-handed weapons and use a shield, but can't dual-wield. That's probably because he's fat. Andriel can use a staff and can also dual-wield the staff along with a sword.

Ranged combat is smooth, over-the-shoulder action. I'm glad it wasn't turned into an abomination like a first person view mode with a 'shooter game' type of aiming reticule. Melee combat is satisfying enough, with some nice gore such as decapitation.

Hero Mode is entered when you kill an enemy with a critical hit. When active, Hero Mode allows you to build a combo chain that increases the amount of experience earned. You lose it if you get hit or don't hit an enemy soon enough. This mechanism draws you into battle more. It makes you want to dodge attacks.

The loot is what it's all about. You can find armor and weapons and use gemstones to enchant them. You can also find armor sets that confer status bonuses. For example: if I equip a Bowmaster set, I will gain bonuses to Agility, which increases damage done by bows. This makes the game much more RPG-like, as you can customize your character. It also adds replay value.

All in all, the gameplay is satisfying and not too repetitive, but shallow. I suggest you play the game with one or two friends, to find all secrets and to avoid frustration due to the AI.


SOUNDTRACK (8/10)

The soundtrack is excellent. As before, I'll go from the negative to the positive.

The acting is mediocre at best, with the Eagle Beleram's voice actor performing well, in stark contrast. As with many games, there are too few voice actors. One of the Eagles had the same voice as all Elves. Please note that no original LOTR voice actors were contracted, and that familiar characters are therefore portrayed by other actors.

The sound effects are clear, realistic and no less satisfying than the gore that accompanies them. I do miss the sound of swords being sheathed, but that's just me.

The musical score is magnificent, and it's in the good old bombastic LOTR style. I can still remember the music playing in Rivendell and other places, so that's good. You won't hear any familiar pieces, though. That's because the music was composed by Inon Zur, known from such games as Fallout 3 and Dragon Age. But hey, who wants to hear the old movie tunes again anyway?

There isn't any more to say. The actors either try too hard or don't try at all. Sound effects are fine. The music is exemplary, and kicks that much needed spark into the game.


CONCLUSION

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a simplistic yet entertaining hack and slash RPG with a great soundtrack. Quests lack the possibility for role playing, but the loot provides for your basic role playing needs, and the game has a good replay value because of it. The graphics are good, if a bit too colorful at times. Just don't expect a riveting story, or characters as colorful as the graphics.

Overall, I rate this game a 6.9 out of 10.