Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a buggy, unbalanced mess of a game that doesn't even feel like it takes place in the LOTR universe.
The Pros
- Hanging out with your giant eagle friend will make you excited for The Last Guardian.
- Accurately represents the way spiders die - not upside down with their legs in the air like most insects, but right side up.
- It is a long game (maybe this is a con).
The Cons
- Doesn't actually feel like you are in the Lord of the Rings universe.
- Egregious balance issues plague all elements of the game, including combat, leveling, and loot.
- There are an inexcusable number of bugs and glitches.
Lord of The Rings: War in the North Review:
I will admit to playing, and even enjoying, a mindless crappy game because of the Lord of the Rings license. This is not one of those times. Lord of the Rings: War in the North is an action RPG that fails on many levels, not the least of which is that it doesn’t actually feel like it takes place in the Lord of the Rings universe. You have a man, an elf, and a dwarf traveling together on what amounts to a sidequest. They try to make you feel like a part of Frodo’s main story by having you run into the fellowship at Rivendell, but it really just makes you feel like there’s something more interesting going on somewhere else.
I’m not a fan-girl, I’m a fan-elf
It’s true, I don’t need to replay the story of the main fellowship, we’ve all seen it and done it a thousand times. I would have been open to following a band of heroes who set out to fight a dragon, or kill an evil orc king, or accomplish some random task that was utterly unrelated to the fellowship. However, quest aside, there really isn’t anything very LOTR about the game. Since elves and dwarfs and wizards are all part of standard fantasy lore, their presence alone is not enough to make the game feel like it belongs to that world. You do run into some characters from the films, but they are so stone faced and bland you can’t wait to stop talking to them and get on with it.
From Dusk to Dark
When you play a game of this type, you expect certain class archetypes. The person with the staff and magic is likely the healer, the dwarf is melee and probably a tank, and the guy that’s left is probably a well-rounded combination of ranged and melee combat. However the characters all just end up as melee characters. The magic wielding elf never seems to have enough power to keep the projectiles coming, and since power regenerates insanely slowly you just end up whacking enemies with your staff. Her healing dome spell is slow at the best of times and useless in the later levels as Uruk Hai and other enemies can smash it immediately. The dwarf and the ranger both have incredibly overpowered arrows but you never have enough of them. This is especially frustrating when enemy archers are positioned out of melee range.
Your AI compatriots however, never run out of ammo. They can shoot arrows all day long. Too bad their aim sucks. This is especially shocking as my reticule just has to be somewhere in the vicinity of the target to get a hit. Despite this, the game is strangely hard. Hard maybe isn’t the right word, because you don’t feel like any of the game’s challenge is skill based - no one gets better at this game. If you can hit the X button and roll around, you will eventually make it through. It feels hard because it never seems like your armor, skills, and weapons are well matched for your opponents. The situation is not helped when your compatriots choose to take a stand in the middle of an exposed walkway flooded with arrows, rather than over by the side where they are shielded by a wall. Or there are two trolls and 10 Uruk Hai hammering you with huge swords, and your buddies are off in the corner happily shooting their infinite arrows at the infinitely respawning low level grunts. You just watch and think “There? Really? That’s the best spot you could find? Sigh, well, we’ll be doing this one over again.”
I could go on forever about how they should have made arrows lower power but more abundant, or that the loot drops were rare and always useless, or how your spells never had enough power to bother with. The basic issue was balance. Most of the pieces were there, but the game wasn’t properly balanced so you always felt underpowered. You never, ever, felt strong or awesome, you always felt like you took too much damage and couldn’t deal enough. Your spells weren’t the big fiery panic button they should have been, they were incredibly underpowered, even when they were fully leveled up. You even fought zombies, that video game trope of the easy to kill baddie, and you had to hack away a ridiculously long time to kill them. These are all balance issues, and they could have been solved with a modicum of time and skill, but since it wasn’t done, the game is sunk.
Other issues include an annoying and useless repair mechanic, an anemic rune mechanic, a complete lack of loot, a menu system so bad you end up writing down lists of item specs because it’s the only way to compare new items to those already equipped, and a debilitating lack of pertinent information. For example, it would have been really nice to see the health bars of your friends.
Oh, and you like trolls? I hope so because you are going to fight a lot of them. Here’s a tip. Hit. Roll. Hit. Roll. X. B. X. B. Trolls are tedium defined.
One of the worst sins is that the game is buggy. One of my AI allies somehow got stuck in an overhang 8 feel off the ground. Arrows would freeze and hang in midair. Bosses would seemingly get confused and stop, or rapidly float back and forth, stuck on some invisible path.
We Merry Three
The game supports three player co-op (which is so odd, why not two or four like everyone else? I suppose it’s because the engine couldn’t possibly have handled four players, it could barely handle three), and it is helpful to have a real person in there fighting with you. When you invite someone into your game, they enter at their own level. Say you are level 20 and your friend is level 5, and you invite him into your game. He still has his level 5 armor, skills, and weaponry, meaning it’s impossible to invite a lower level person into later levels. You will have to take your high level to his low level game. It’s OK, because playing against enemies way below your level will be the one time you feel awesome in this game.
Single player issues still plague multi-player, for example It still would be incredibly helpful to see other player’s health bars, instead you just have to give a running narrative of your health over your headset.
Multi-player is not immune to bugs either. Frequently enemies would disappear the moment they died. I don’t mean they would fall to the ground and fade away or animate out in a puff of smoke, I mean they would blink out. It’s a bit disconcerting when the enemy you were just hitting is no longer there.
Things I Like
I like that if you fill the enemies with arrows the arrows are still sticking out of the enemy until he dies, and some guys are running around with tons of arrows in them. I like that if I am playing as the dwarf he takes the lead in conversations, and if I am playing with the elf she takes the lead. I like the eagle character model and animation, as well as that of the dragon and the Nazgul mounts. I like the way the elf’s coat moves in the wind. I like...umm...nope. I’m out.
Things I Hate
I wanted to like this game. I am a big Lord of the Rings fan and was ready to enjoy this experience. I would have been quite receptive to a mindless Dynasty Warriors-style hack and slash, or a Diablo-style dungeon crawler. What I got instead was an unfinished mess that should be played and studied as an example of bad game design, and it didn’t even feel like Lord of the Rings. There is no excuse in this day and age for such a buggy mess. I am very sorry to say you should avoid this game at all costs.
Comments
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justagamer2
I don't think I've ever had such a bad experience with any game. (playing on PC.) The game itself is just mediocre and very watered down and ridiculously short. It doesn't feel like the blockbuster game that it should for ~$60. But I could accept it for what it is except for all of the bugs.
This game seems to be designed primarily for co-op play but it is just broken. Unless you play the game from start to finish you get desynced with the other player and sometimes you can work around it and sometimes you can't... which sucks when you have to start all over after hrs of building up your characters. There are plenty of other bugs that break the game and I have an ATI card which the game has problems with (ex: stuttering throughout but crashes outright at Carn Dum.) I still can't finish the game and its been almost six months since it was released.
They released one patch that actually made my game even more unstable. They literally DO NOT HAVE A CUSTOMER SUPPORT TEAM! The development studio (Snowblind Studios) doesn't exist anymore and if you try to call Warner's customer support number they just refer you to their web forum. But there is nobody there from the company to answer questions or give updates on a new patch, the forum is just filled with countless people venting about the problems.
Kyles Kaos
This is such a GREAT game! I got it for Christmas along with Skyrim and Arkham City, and I've enjoyed them all!! Granted this isn't Skyrim; this game does shine on so many levels. I thought it totally represented Middle Earth the way that Tolkien had envisioned it, and the game play was amazing. There were a few bugs I had encountered, but Skyrim had them too, so no points lost for that. I absolutely recommend this game to LOTR fans and fans of hack 'n slash/dungeon crawlers. It reminded me in a way of Hunted:The Demons Forge, another game that I totally loved.
anthrax242
Man this is the most sickest lord of the rings game i have played it has a kick ass armor system great wepons and a egal that can talk. the combat system reminds me of the old lord of the rings but ive played the game game and i never ran into any glitches so i give it a 9.3
Rallydefault
Wow, is this review written for the same game I am playing?
War in the North is not the next great enthralling RPG game that you've been waiting for. It's not the be-all, end-all of LOTR games, nor will it ever be discussed as one of the greatest games of the year.
But it's a whole lot of fun. If you approach this game with an open mind and tuck in to just slay some orcs, you will be quite happy. Sure, there is A LOT of tapping the "x" button, due to that being your main attack and all, but that's like faulting early Final Fantasy games for having you choose the "attack" command 80% of the time- way too nitpicky, and if that's your attitude, then yes, you will HATE this game. But if you actually take the time to acquire skills, mix in some archery, and COMMAND your companions (simple though those commands may be), you will be in for a really fun game.
The art direction is astounding, the tie-ins to not only the movies but more importantly the BOOKS (what are those, right?) are fantastic! If you are a big Tolkien fan, you're going to find WAY more in this game than models of Peter Jackson's Middle Earth.
Just rent it with an open mind and some hours to sink into it, you'll love it.
mahpiya
I find it to be sad, that not one mention, that I have noticed, has been accredited to the art.
It takes many talented professional artists, to create a beautiful looking game. Confined to the restrictions of usual frame rate issues, concept and art direction, and long hours ... I feel this seems to have been overlooked.
Yes, yes, I understand gameplay is very important, but having a visually stunning world, helps a long way. Anyway, please remember those who work their butt off, to help enhance your perception, of being part of somthing amazing.
luckey7
This game looks like it could be good but looking at the reviews i might miss my original xbox playing lord of the rings lol that was a long time ago! :)
I might think about getting this game but first im gonna get skyrim tomarrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
therydog100
Dear Bethesda:
Make a good Middle Earth game. We know you can do it. You made Skyrim didn't you?
From ~ Everyone. (Or maybe just me.)
KJH6926
This game is good but not great ...definitely a solid 3 though....:~X
Gallifrey
The game is unbalanced... you plow through bosses like a champ, then all of a sudden your party is destroyed be a mob of low level henchmen...
I wanted to love this game I really did.. but its just frustrating.. also I am FED up with the other henchmen shouting about healing people and battle cries... I feel like they are all related to Storm from the X-Men.
blueboykc
i guess its too bad this game wasnt funded by activisions deep pockets..
Epaine
I agree with most of what OFLOW said, and I was going to say I disagree with Morgan on most everything... BUT I got hit with the glitch "Carn-Dum-Chapter-8-Part-4" where you can't advance the game if you die in this one part with two trolls and when you reload it locks a door so you can't get to a switch to advance.
So basically one plays 15~20 hours and then hits this and is at the mercy of either a multiplayer workaround (good luck finding someone on that level)... if you can even play multiplayer... or waiting for a patch to come out. Otherwise you can just throw away those 15~20 hours and start over with this potentially happening again unless you can backup your save (again good luck with that).
They've been alerted to the problem three days ago on their forums, and it doesn't seem like patching will happen anytime soon. They've also been alerted to other places in the game where people can't advance and basically there's no hope to continue.
As a different review site basically says... the save system is terrible. Until they patch this crap and put in a real save system, I would say avoid the game and the hassle. It's a good hack/slash game despite most reviews being quite critical, but a bug like this without a reasonable workaround is unacceptable and Morgan is right in her warning to avoid this. I would also say be cautious with Snowblind games in the future if their QA is this bad or development was pushed way too fast.
kings_legacy
Playing this game reminds me EA Return of the King. Except they took out all the combo moves and the epic fighting music from the movies and you got War in the North. What they did add is RPG elements and weapon and armor changing which is pretty good but I agree it could have been better.
If they combined the combat system/ music from EA game with the armor and weapons changing (with improvements) Snowblind could make one hell of a LOTR game.
As is, War in the North is decent game and a fairly good distraction until Skyrim comes out.
BitterClingerDE
Morgan, I miss your WebbAlert! However, I do have to say this review is WAY off. How can you say your weapons and armor never match up? After getting my mithril enhanced 2H sword and 4 pieces of the Alliance armor set in Rivendell, I was a one-dwarf wrecking crew (on normal difficulty). Also, I can't say that arrows were particularly powerful. In fact, I only used my crossbow on enemies that could only be damaged by ranged attacks. Finally, if you don't like where your AI companions are making a stand, move to where you want them and command them to defend. If you play the dwarf, you can select the skill that gives Warcry healing ability and stack that with Andriel's healing bubble. You can make a helluva stand with both of those active. By and large, this review seems like it was written about a game you HAD to play rather than on a game you would've chosen to play. Keep up the good work and think about reviving WebbAlert! ;)
V_Translanka
Maybe it was put in development before the delay on filming for The Hobbit (which was due to Peter Jackson having health problems of some kind)...? Then since they couldn't even kinda coincide it with anything they just got lazy? lol
The Hobbit>LotR
Kisitiene
Okay, this is a terrible review of the game. :/
This game is NOT long in the least bit and your first playthrough can be done in about eight hours. I am on my third playthrough on Legendary and it's still simple. Sure, I got hit by a mage orc and lost all my health in my second battle but that was the only time that has happened and I was instantly raised and killed him.
I will admit there are some glitches to this game. For example, I play Andriel (elf) and during Heroic (and now Legendary) I am unable to use my Triangle button to do a heavy attack and start Heros Mode (when you gain a hit counter and extra experience). In fact, the only way I can gain extra experience other than kills is to headshot everything. It's not that easy at first (especially with my co-op partner running into the fray and hacking at everything since his triangle button works) but when we set down some ground rules things are going great. I get all the archers and mages first while he uses War Cry and makes all the other enemies pay attention to him. Then I start shooting my magic to his group and slowly pick them off while he's hacking away at his own pace. I don't know WHY this review says magic isn't powerful because it is. My Sanctuary lasts a good while and the time it lasts is the same time it takes for the cooldown gauge so when it's gone, I can cast another one. I also can powerup my ranged magic shots by shooting from inside of it, and when it's close to the end I can use the same button combo that I use to summon it to make it explode and hurt all the enemies around me (keep in mind these are skills you can choose to learn by leveling up).
Also, the AIs are NOT useless. While I was working on the Human Shield trophy (25k damage received in one level) my co-op partner had to keep hitting the down button on the D-Pad to make the AI defend because he was killing all the enemies that I was trying to get to hit me.
Overall, while this game is short there is fun in multi-player and the skills are very interesting. IF you talk to NPCs it gives you insight and background you don't know about from the books or the films. I'd suggest checking it out if you are a true LotR fan.
Profraggin
I hate the way Morgan reviews games. Adam is way more accurate and looks at games in a different way. This game is not perfect, but it deserves better than a 2. Dark souls is a great game, but its meant to be hard. She complains about balancing issues in War in the North, but Dark souls is way unbalanced. If you are not going to try this game because she gave it a 2 you are ripping yourselves out of a great experience. Sorry Morgan not every game can be point and click.
blueboykc
morgan webb white knights assemble!!!!
Topsy_Cretes
I actually enjoyed this game a lot more than Green lantern which got a 3 out of 5. This game at least deserves an average score the day one patch fixed a ton of the glitch problems. You do go after a top general of sauron and its pretty interesting to meet the fellowship and to get more insight into the lore ( without reading the books). If you like the Lord of the rings check it out you'll like it. By the way if you have a choice play Co-op.
2ply
Pro: The giant bird's beak moves like a fully articulated mouth/lips when talking (hilarity).
blueboykc
yeah ive been playing the hell out of this game and while i admit it has some problems and annoyances its no where near as bad as this review makes it out to be..its a super fun game if you like the genre..i really dont think this review or the score do it justice...i also dont get morgans anger towards the game..she acts like it kicked her kitten or something..
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