Written by: PlayDevil.com Staff

 

 

 

The Lord of the Rings is a name with such history that it was hard not to be drawn to it and Warner Brother's new game, and "Lord of the Rings - War in the North" proved a worthy target for my attention. With the movies establishing a strong visual style for the fiction the game instantly resonated. A story running concurrently with the events of the book provided an additional hook, drawing in a cast of characters from the book's (and movie's) fiction.

 

Choosing from a selection of three characters (an elf, a dwarf and a witch) two others and I were sent to battle the evil forces of Sauron advancing from the North. Each character possesses different abilities, but the action itself revolves around fast paced third person combat. I selected the melee-focused dwarf, and entered the action.

 

Set during a fraught battle the opening scene of the demo peeled back to deposit me and the two other players within a castles battlements. High walls and arches framed the small arena with the general detritus of war lying about. It was an austere and dramatic setting, but as the camera zoomed in on to the action its imposing nature was reduced to a grey monotone, robbing the game of visual impact. 

 

Quickly opening a menu screen I reequipped my character with the items adorning in the inventory. Changes immediately materialized on my avatar and my diminutive dwarf was ready for action. Running down the stairs before me I was greeted by Orks and Ur-quai to fight my way through. With a familiar combat action mechanic (using two buttons to attack, one to dodge and another to interact) I slipped immediately in to smashing all that stood in my way with my dwarven battle hammer. Holding the shoulder buttons enabled access to more powerful moves, each of which required time to recharge after use.

 

Combat, with a heavy emphasis on dodging and avoidance, was entertaining but felt to lack weight as my hammer smashed in to enemies with seemingly little impact. Some animations did indicate attacks were successful, but for the most part I found myself monitoring life bars to ensure I was having any effect. This became particularly problematic as I was required to defend the gates of the battlements from two huge attacking Trolls. These beasts towered above the landscape and, upon arriving at the gate, focused nearly all of their attention on smashing the huge doors until significant damage was done. Raining blows down on both of them slowly whittled away their life bar but rarely did it really feel I was hurting the beasts, a fact that reduced my sense of satisfaction when they finally fell ending the demo.

 

As with some many games touting ‘RPG’ elements, many of Lord of the Rings – War in the North’s most intriguing features remained unavailable during the demo. Focusing on combat may well be the most immediately satisfying aspect of the game but lacked the strong ties to the fiction and the all-important attachment to the characters formed through time and customisation. If these connections can be made the low impact of the combat may pale in significance, but that remains to be seen.