The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Previews

A selection of new GDC- and PAX East-based previews of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North surfaced on the ‘net over the weekend, so I thought I’d give you a quick run-down of what they have to say about Snowblind’s action RPG.

GameSpot:

War in the North occurs around the same time as the War of the Ring in which Frodo and Sam make their way to Mordor as the rest of Middle-earth fends off Sauron. And much like that story, War in the North focuses on the fellowship of a dunedain (ranger), dwarf, and elf attempting to fend off Sauron’s armies in the north headed by one of Sauron’s top lieutenants, Agandaur. Using this fellowship as the foundation for gameplay means that you’re never alone. You always have direct control over one member of the fellowship whether you’re playing alone or with two other people. But if you are playing solo, then the AI will take over the other members. Additionally, if you’re playing as the dwarf but feel like switching to the ranger, you’ll have opportunities to switch at various hub areas.

The reason you might want to switch, and the reason why you’re always playing with two other characters at any given time, is that members of the team have their own strengths and skills that are designed to work more effectively when used in conjunction with each other. For example, Farin the dwarf is the tank of the group, which means he’s most effective when engaged in melee combat. In fact, one of his special abilities, called war cry, is even designed to draw enemies toward him and away from his teammates who might have a harder time standing toe-to-toe with more powerful foes. This war cry skill also makes him impervious to knockdown strikes, but he can still take damage, and you would do well to use evasive moves while in this state. Meanwhile, Eradan the ranger is formidable at both close and long range, but he has the ability to surprise enemies with his special stealth skills. Finally, Andriel the elf can be used primarily as a support-ranged character because one of her skills lets her cast an orb that simultaneously heals other members of the fellowship and deflects enemy projectiles. However, she can also dual-wield various weapons, which can make her effective in close combat.

Joystiq:

The one thing that War in the North really gets right is the loot. During my 20 minutes or so with the game, I found tons of gear with which to customize my character, whether it was dropped from enemies (if their gear survives your encounter with them, it’ll drop on the ground, visible only to you — client-side loot drops are the order of the day here) or hidden inside barrels and chests littered around the environment. Putting gear on changes the look of your character, so you get a feeling of ownership and individuality and the pursuit of that next great sword, bow (or my axe) is going to scratch that itch for you virtual hoarders out there.

The idea of the fellowship is clearly the entire foundation for what Snowblind hopes will be a worthwhile experience, but in my brief time playing Lord of the Rings: War in the North, that dynamic didn’t seem fully realized. Each character had skills enough at their disposal and was clearly strong enough to take on all enemies, whether through hanging back and striking from a distance or by getting into the thick of the fray, showing off their melee prowess — and that’s a shame because with some more clearly defined roles and limitations for each class, the game would have felt more like a co-op experience and less like a routine hack-and-slasher.

VGRevolution:

This isn’t just an action game, you have to remember it is also an RPG. You are your own hero, you are not Gandalf or Legolas, you have your own weapons and gear, so you must equip yourself to put yourself on the level of those legends.

Snowblind did not skimp on that feature. You will pick up gear from loot and treasure chests(everybody gets their own loot so no worry of people running around stealing) and you will equip yourself accordingly. Luckily Snowblind realized that you won’t always pick up loot that is for your class, meaning you might be better off giving it to a friend. They added an easy to use feature allowing you to hit Y on the inventory screen and choosing who to (gift) it to in your game. Also to put your worries aside everything you earn levels and gear will go back into your own game.

Crave Online:

One of the big selling points the PR rep running the demo made was that this game is intended to be the first M-Rated Lord of the Rings game. (Decapitations!,) he exclaimed. While that is great and all, I would have preferred that they spent time on creative gameplay and storytelling rather than on excessive blood.

Despite my issues with the generic-ness of this game, I enjoyed the graphics in one of the cut scenes. There is a CG-rendered eagle that looks pretty incredible considering the engine used. The rest of the game looks pretty weak, but these eagles were the lone glimmer of hope I have for this game.

And Total PlayStation:

When we finally did get into combat, Snowblind’s dungeon crawling roots were immediately apparent. Though presented from a third-person view with a user-controlled camera rather than the top-down isometric view of their earlier PS2 hack-and-slashers, there was no less of an emphasis on quick strikes and of course an overabundance of particles.

The fights themselves could be easily transitioned into and out of ranged or melee combat by simply holding a trigger and whipping away with notched arrows (complete with the same whistle heard in the movies). Each of the races also had their own special abilities, mapped to the face buttons and toggled into use by holding a shoulder button. From there, it was simply a matter of unleashing melee attacks against enemies to power up the characters’ Hero Points against specific foes which would then show a prompt for a slick finishing move that hacked off limbs and heads alike.