The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Previews
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First, it isn't directly taken from events seen in the movies or books; it's a new story featuring a new cast of characters. Warner Brothers does have the rights to use material from both the movies and the books, but they've decided to take the project in a different direction. The game is set in the same time period as the Lord of the Rings, and in many of the same places, but you won't be playing Argorn, Legolas, or Gimli. Instead, players will be able to choose from three different representatives of these races, each with a dedicated class; the human will be a ranger who is a good balance of melee and ranged combat, the dwarf is a burly hand-to-hand tank, and the mandatory hot female elf is a mage who specializes in ranged combat and control. They will battle Sauron's minions in familiar places like Rivendale and Mirkwood, along with other locations in the North-Western areas of Middle Earth, far from the fires of Mount Doom, or the seven tiers of Minas Tirth.Titan Reviews.
The Developer, Snowblind has a long history of this sort of action RPG, dating back a decade to Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. These people have a distinct style that has been used for other franchises like Everquest and the Justice League, plus the game engine they devised for Dark Alliance was also used for a few other titles, like the re-boot of The Bard's Tale, and one of the Fallout games. Needless to say, this new game is running on vastly superior hardware, and the first thing I noticed was how good the graphics look. I haven't had the chance to see Middle Earth this clearly in a video game before.
The gameplay is unsurprisingly that of an action RPG with a real time battle system. Along with hording weapons and loot you'll be able to upgrade skills, customize characters, and direct conversations. Unlike many RPGs these days what you say won't have moral implications. This is probably to keep the overall narrative intact and that's okay with us. LOTR has always had great emphasis on friendship in battle so it is no surprise that the game will focus on co-op play with up to 3 players at once; no worries if you like to play alone though. So take control of a hero of the North and 2 friends as they battle through an important story of their own that takes place during the War of the Ring.
