![]() ![]() In Tolkien's works magic is only used by Gandalf, Saruman and their three fellow Istari, yet it's always present in fantasy RPGs. SpellboundĪ contentious issue surrounding recent Lord of the Rings games is the representation of magic. They've never made a PC game before in their company's history, but that doesn't mean they won't surprise us. It's being developed by Snowblind Studios, who were responsible for Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance. As a group, you'll be exploring the more mysterious lands of the north, customising your characters and levelling up, the whole RPG shebang. One of the major selling points is going to be online co-op play, with three people given the opportunity to knock ore heads together in Aragon's name. (Although some kind of elf romp might not go amiss, but we digress.) It just means there will be some blood in it a bit. We imagine it won't be the kind of mature that sees Gandalf and Frodo indulging in a bit of man-on-hobbit action. According to Warner it's going to be a mature RPG. War in the North is going to be focusing on a number of aspects of Tolkien lore, mixing in a number of concepts from the books and the films. It's a crowded marketplace the game will be coming into, but with the strength of the Tolkien license behind it and, hopefully, some honest appraisals of the mistakes made by other studios with their games, Snowblind and Warner could be onto a winner. That's what happened in Lord of the Rings: Conquest, but Warner believe they can reinvigorate those teats and get the juices flowing the white stuff again.Įnter Lord of the Rings: War in the North, an action-RPG set in the seldom-explored northern areas of Tolkien's Middle-earth. When A Successful franchise gets milked too much, the teats shrivel and the tasty gaming milk curdles and turns into a fetid paste. Due out just in time for the Christmas rush (and the hysteria that'll accompany the next film, Return Of The King), there's another five months left to polish this game, and with an Evil campaign yet to be revealed and an all new LOTR back-story, it's more than possible this could end up being a very solid and entertaining RTS. Luckily, since then it's improved almost beyond all recognition. When we saw this game four months ago at the VU Games conference in Berlin, one candid insider described it as 'a shit on a stick'. We've even been promised a Helm's Deep level, which could give the game some much needed magnitude, as it's currently feeling a little on the thin side. There's also a variety of mission types in place - some involve surviving only the units gi\ an to you at the outset, while others provide more complex base-building tasks. Mission Not So ImpossibleĪpparently, the finished game will judge how good a player you are and adapt the difficulty accordingly, so it won't matter if you're a bit cack-handed. Best of all, though, is the Balrog, which minces up its opponents with a giant flaming whip. Several characters from the movies make an appearance early in the piece, including the aforementioned forehead-on-legs Gollum and mop-topped Legolas, as well as several vicious Cave Trolls. Not only is the interface simpler than a dropped-at-birth chimp, there's little to no tactical musing required to win a level, very much in contrast to Battle Realms. Spectacular, the gameplay was fast, uncomplicated and very easy to master. We got our grubby claws on an early build of the game this issue, and while the graphics proved far from You'll even be able to play on the side of evil, though this option is yet to be unveiled. So, you can expect to be tasked with navigating Gimli and his dwarven brethren through orc-infested mountains as they make their way to Rivendell, and battle through forests teeming with giant spiders in an attempt to track down that bug-eyed schizoid Gollum. What you definitely won't be seeing in War Of The Ring is Legolas mounting Gimli from behind like a bull and using the bearded midget's whiskers as hairy reigns to gain maximum leverage, while Aragorn holds him still and shouts, "Squeal you dwarven piggy bitch." What you will be seeing however, is a 3D isometric RTS based around Tolkien's epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, developed by Liquid Entertainment, the brains behind the excellent eastern-flavoured RTS Battle Realms.Īimed more at the strategy newcomer than the veteran, War Of The Ring is set to branch away from the storyline of the books and films, and throw you into missions that develop the trilogy's backstory. In fact, let me set the record straight right now about what to expect from this game. ![]()
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