LotR: War In the North - Review @ GameBanshee

Dhruin

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GameBanshee sends word of their review for Snowblind's Lord of the Rings: War in the North. A late snip to set the tone:
It would have been easy for Warner Bros. to push out a quick-and-dirty product in a year's time and call it a day. Considering how common it is, and how many tragic stories of developers forced to rush out licensed games in half-finished states there are, it's easy to have reservations about such a title - even one with the Lord of the Rings name behind it. Instead, Snowblind has crafted one of the better Lord of the Rings games to date, and, not counting The Lord of the Rings Online, the franchise's best RPG to boot. With two-and-a-half years in development, the attention to detail and care comes through, and Lord of the Rings fans and RPG fans alike should find something to enjoy in the end, so long as the repetition in combat doesn't wear too heavily.
More information.
 
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A surprisingly generous assessment; it seemed like an incredibly generic action RPG. The co-op focus makes it a no-go for me until it drops significantly in price, but I might get this eventually.
 
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hahahahahahaha

I surely missed this.

I saw this at Target (my new game center) and I had always assumed it was an online only game. I have no interest in Diablo 3 or Dungeon Siege but I will definitely give this one a go. I have never played a real LOTR game.

BTW, my local Target has a buy 2 game (PC or video) and get one free. The trouble is I just bought a bunch of cheap games so getting 2 more is going to be sorta Tuff.
 
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there was a pretty decent arcade like LOTR game for PC a few years ago... where you play all the key characters in the game...?

anyone remembers the name?
 
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right!
if it's as allright as that one, i'm considering it also..(but in a half a year after the price will get cut by half at least)
 
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What made that game for me and my brother was the way they transitioned from film-footage to in-game footage. It was almost seamless.

I just used gametap to legally buy a steam CD-key at US prices (us europeans get gouged on steam). I'm playing through it now and having fun, I expect the fun-factor to rise once a friend gets it. Its a very competent hack n slash, but not without some annoyances such as npc allies blocking paths and having no "woops, the player is trying to get past me, I better move forward quickly" behavior built in. They move VERY slowly or not at all. Ended one section with the 2 A.I. controlled allies standing at the 2 exists from a room. I spent 2 minutes trying to bash past them, then moving back into the room to coax them to follow me and move away from the exits, then rushing at them again.

I know it was "only" 2 minutes but stuff like that can put you off a game no matter how fun it is.
 
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blows.. for me the movies were a good addition but it was just terrible you couldn't skip them!(especially after redoing the same chapter because its so hard)
 
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I went ahead and bought this for the 360, because I'm always on the lookout for a good RPG co-op experience I can play with my wife.

It's really pretty well done. Nothing earth-shattering, but we found ourselves playing until 2am Friday night, and had to force ourselves to put it down. It has decent character progression, a good loot system, and has 3 progressive difficulty levels ala Diablo. We'll see if the loot system keeps it interesting that far into the game as well as Diablo does, but it definitely scratches that itch I often got playing Diablo.

And for those who don't know, this is by the same studio that did Champions of Norrath (and the sequel) for PS2. I know those games aren't regarded as serious by the RPG community, but they were well done for what they were, and I'd say LotR:WitT definitely meets that criteria if you ever enjoyed those games.

I'm coming from the co-op experience, of course, so YMMV when playing single-player. It's probably worth waiting until it comes down in price if you'll just go it alone.

If you're looking for the next great RPG, then look elsewhere, but if you're looking for a fun way to waste time in a way that only RPG players can do (and if you can find a good deal), it's really not a bad little game...
 
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