Lord of the Rings: War in the north review

I finally had a chance to play Lord of the Rings: War in the north after it being out for quite a while. When hearing about the game I thought it would be a dreadful story with even worse gameplay. This was not the case at all.

I decided to purchase the game on OnLive and give it a go. What seemed like a few hours had passed but, in reality it was 5 hours. I haven't played a game that sucks you into the story that you lose track of time in a long while.

Gameplay

I was a fan of the old LOTR games for the playstation 2 so I was glad to see that they had kept the co-op gameplay in. To compare the game I would personally say a mix between the original games and old school hack and slash RPGs such as Baldur's gate or Champions: Retuarn to Arms. My favourite part of the gameplay was the added gore in the game, when you use a heavy attack while the enemy is dazed they will be sliced in slow motion.

The skill trees are different depending on what class you play but, all three classes have 3 trees to level up as you progress throughout the game. I found that the game is a lot more difficult if you are playing by yourself than if you were playing with others.

When you have completed the game for the first time, the game unlocks legendary mode that allows you to continue playing your character at the same level and with the same equipment but will start the game back at the start with a lot harder enemies.

It look me roughly 9 hours on singleplayer to complete the game not including all of the side quests. Although it most definitely did not seem like I was playing it for so long.

I really hope that there are more games like this in future as I thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Story

Being a big Tolkien fan I was dreading to see how they butchered the storyline and embraced myself for the worst. All I can say is that it was fantastic. It fits in with the trilogy's storyline very well and does a very good job at making it a game that you really need to find out what happens next. I would recommend to anyone who liked the Lord of the Rings books and movies as it adds some answers to some what ifs that were annoying some people.

Graphics

The graphics in game are really good, there were no glitches that I found on any of the maps or with any of the characters. Throughout the game there is come cut scenes that are extremely good. I would put my controller down to watch in amazement at some of the great scenes that they had made. You can edit the cinematics in the options menu to make them more enjoyable if you like to watch the cut scenes which basically takes away the conversation options for you and chooses them for you.

Overall score

As a whole I really enjoyed this game and would highly recommend to anyone who likes a good story as well as someone who likes a good old hack and slash game.

I am going to give War in the North a fantastic 9.5/10.