Lord of the Rings: War in the North [Review]

FULL REVIEW

War in the North is a game by Snowblind studios, based on the story of three heroes that set out to meet Sauron’s threat in the north. This party of three includes a Ranger under the command of Aragon, a dwarf fighter (obviously) and an Elven Loremaster (mage). The three set out to create a diversion for Frodo as he sets out with the Fellowship towards Mordor. Their objective is to challenge and preferably kill one of the Dark Lord’s lieutenants, who is amassing a great force to attack from the north.

New fellowship

On the front the game is a co-op action game and adding some depth is typical character class, skill progression and quest system from an RPG. The Dwarven Champion fights with a two handed weapon and is effective in engaging a group of enemies. The Elven Loremaster is a mage with offensive and healing spells and dual-wields a staff and a sword. The Ranger is the most versatile class in combat, who can dual-wield weapons, use two-handed weapons or use a combination of sword and shield. Each of these classes are fair well equipped to deal out damage from a distance—the Loremaster fires projectiles from her staff, the Champion has a crossbow and the Ranger can be deadly with his bow.

All three classes also have unique abilities that can be used outside of combat. The Ranger can track-down hidden caches of treasure, the Champion can mine magical gemstones that can be inserted into weapons and armor and the Loremaster can brew potions using ingredients collected on the field.

War in the North

The combat in War of the North is pretty barebones with two attack types (heavy, light), blocking and rolling. Some degree of a proper combo system would have really helped the game, as the combat in its current state is repetitive. Landing blows on the enemy without getting hit does build up a combo meter that multiples the XP earned from the next kill and also sets-up the enemy for a critical strike. Successfully landing such a critical strike zooms in the camera for a gruesome dismemberment animation.

There are only a handful of enemy types in the game that includes light infantry, heavy infantry, archers, mages and trolls. There is a lot more variety in terms of enemy’s appearance, but their underlying behavior makes them feel all the same. Combat takes place in both indoor and outdoor arenas and this is one aspect where the developers have added a fair bit if variety.

Each time a character levels-up, the player gets three attribute points and one skill point to improve their character. Each character has three distinct skill trees, but the player can decide the character progression of just the one he or she is controlling. The player has very little control over the behavior of the party members during combat and no control over their level progression or equipment. The player can transfer collected loot to another party member, but the AI decides whether to equip it or not.

Middle Earth

In between combat areas there are towns and outposts that serve as a recuperation hubs for the party. In these hubs, the player can trade items, repair their gear, customize their appearance or speak with some of the NPC’s to get side-quests.

Considering the side-quests and main storyline, the game runs at a decent length. Additionally, there are also a couple of horde challenge maps that can be used to earn some experience points on the side. After beating the game, a new game+ mode gets unlocked that increases the difficulty of the game by one level and also increases the level cap. We are not sure what the level cap is, but the developers have suggested that player will have to play-through the game about three times to reach the level-cap.

War of the North is a fairly decent game that offers handsome amount of game time. However, it is difficult to recommend this game at its full-price, unless you are an ardent fan of Tolkien’s works.