The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on November 2nd, 2011

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A lot of people are going to overlook War in the North in favor of the plethora of amazing titles being released this season, and I completely understand why. In a time full of stellar sequels, it's difficult for anything new to stand out. But once the dust settles from the landslide of AAA autumn titles, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North will be there to provide a simple and fun way to satiate your loot-dropping addiction -- one eagle barrage at a time.

I can only say one good thing about War in the North: It could have been awesome. The conceptual framework is solid, and with some extensive tuning and polish, it would be fun to play. Just thinking of War in the North reimagined as an old-school isometric adventure (à la Dark Alliance) gets me pumped up.but it's too late for that now. Snowblind Studios' record proves that it knows how to make good action/RPGs. I hope that happens again in the future.

Overall, War in the North is a very successful effort for Snowblind. It's a fun title that you can enjoy with your friends or alone, and it incorporates a well-known property without mangling what makes that property great. It brings the hack-and-slash RPG to current consoles and PC, and it does so in a very proficient manner. More importantly, you don't need to be a fan of Lord of the Rings to have a great time playing it. If you're looking to get an action RPG fix, it would certainly be worth your time to give War in the North a chance.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North is far from perfect, but it's an incredibly well-balanced beat-em-up. Despite all of the little criticisms, there wasn't anything that kept me from heartily enjoying my experience. Lord of the Rings and dungeon crawler fans alike should delight in Snowblind's latest title. I'm glad to see Snowblind return on a high note, and I'm readily awaiting what they'll do next.

All in all, War in the North is a perfectly competent beat-'em-RPG, even if it doesn't do much to carve out its own niche in the Lord of the Rings universe. Its strength and weakness is that it's completely inoffensive -- the perfect middle-of-the-road game. Unfortunately, it's hard to see what helps differentiate War of the North from the pack, and the pack is where it's apt to stay.

I hate mentioning bugs, as they can be patched, but I did encounter one severe glitch that ruined an entire playthrough. I went about three hours on my first save file before stopping. When I came back, the game would freeze every single time I tried to load it. I essentially lost all of that progress and had to replay the game from the start.

Whatever caused that problem is a mystery; it could have just been a freak occurrence, it could have been something related only to my review platform (PS3). But regardless of how and why it happened, a glitch as serious as that is a big no-no when you hand a game to a reviewer. It's enough to dock points on what would otherwise be a solid 'B' game.

If that game-breaking incident isn't enough to deter you, then War in the North is a good choice for some classic action-RPG fun. It isn't amazing, but it's a competent effort and certainly one of the better LotR games to come along. Isn't it about time that the smaller characters, bland as they are, got their due?

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