The Lord of the Rings: War in the North review

Made2Game The Lord of the Rings: War in the North review score: 6/10
Formats: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Format Reviewed: Xbox 360
Developer: Snowblind Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive 

There’s a moment towards the end of Peter Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring, when Aragorn, Boromir, Legolas and Gimli fight to defend Frodo and the hobbits from a horde of orcs. Even though the Fellowship is ultimately sundered, it makes for some great cinematic viewing as the aforementioned quartet show off their consummate martial skills and incredible talent for orc-murdering. This is what a Lord of the Rings game should play like – you should feel legendary throughout, as though you have the power to take on an entire army of filthy Uruk-hai scum and emerge with narry a scratch upon you. Unfortunately, Snowblind Studios’ The Lord of the Rings: War in the North does almost the exact opposite – in fact, it manages to remove almost every ounce of sweeping grandeur and jaw-dropping majesty that Peter Jackson instilled in his adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic novels.

A new Fellowship
For starters, the trio of protagonists are brand new characters created purely for the game and, as such, are basically soulless, personality-deficient puppets, analogous to their more familiar, more popular counterparts. Eradan the Ranger is the budget Aragorn, chiselled and hooded, able to wield blades or a bow and use stealth to take out his enemies; Farin the dwarf Champion is practically a carbon copy of Gimli, Son of Gloin, all bushy beard, solid helmet and massive axe; while Andriel the Elfish Lore-Master is a hybrid of Gandalf and Arwen, combining magical attacks and support with decent melee output. The biggest problem with these characters is that they are so vanilla, mumbling nothing but gallant nonsense throughout the whole affair like the also-ran half-heroes that they are.

Whether playing alone or with friends, working together is often essential for survival.

The plot of The Lord of the Rings: War in the North follows the three adventurers on a journey that takes place concurrently with the original trilogy, as they are sent north by Aragorn on a mission of the utmost importance (sort of), to stop a nasty man named Agandaur from joining his forces with Sauron and enslaving the lands north of Eriador. The first question that springs to mind is that if Agandaur is such a threat, why wasn’t he mentioned in the books or films? Obviously he wasn’t invented yet and I’m being facetious, but I’m only doing so to illustrate a point: many of us have read the books or seen the films, and if the relentless stream of special edition blu-ray collections has taught us anything it’s that the story of the One Ring has been well and truly told.

War in the North brings nothing new to the universe or the canon, and in fact has to try hard not to discredit itself completely on several occasions, cack-handedly answering questions that Snowblind only asks in-game so we don’t have to at home. “Why can’t we just use the hugely powerful giant eagles to take the Ring to Mordor, Gandalf?” Awkward pause. “Because, my child, we, erm, can’t. Destiny and all that. Now stop asking questions!” Even the explanation as to why Mr. The Grey won’t allow the obviously talented trio to accompany the Fellowship is uncomfortably handled. It’s almost as if Snowblind are apologetic about intruding on the story and the result is a plot that feels like fan fiction, and which carries a similar amount of narrative clout.

Hack, slash, loot, repeat
Unfortunately it doesn’t end there. For a game based so closely on an established universe, War in the North manages to evoke an impressive sense of detachment. Mission structure boils down to a series of sealed areas that won’t let you progress until you’ve slaughtered enough orcs to move on (usually around 3,000 – or at least it feels like it). Combat is the standard mix of light and heavy strikes, ranged attacks, rolling and blocking, with a handful of unlockable special abilities stirred in. Dealing enough damage to an enemy will cause a little yellow triangle to appear above its head, whereupon pressing Y will execute a critical hit or, if they’re weak enough, a pleasingly gory finisher. War in the North is nothing if not violent, spraying orcish blood and severed limbs around like sticky, icky confetti – and it’s a good thing, too, as the action is one of the few plus points.

Nothing says "We mean business!" like a giant, pissed-off eagle.

Another highlight is Beleram the Great Eagle, who elevates proceedings every time he turns up – usually just in time to save the day. Early on you earn the ability to summon him when you’re outside, and watching him take out a cave troll or mounted crossbow doesn’t get boring. It’s also often necessary, as Snowblind seem to have ignored that sense of legendary skill I mentioned earlier, instead presenting us with three of the most underpowered and ineffective protagonists ever seen in a videogame. Even standard grunts take an age to kill, their non-existent AI causing them to hurl themselves upon your blade time and again to very little effect. Most enemies will take several meaty hits directly to the face before going down – only to get straight back up again. This often makes War in the North frustratingly difficult, and throws any sense of mythical strength and fantastical prowess right out of the window. At times it’s simply a slog.

Regardless of which character you choose you will always be accompanied by the other two and, although the AI does a decent enough job of reviving you when you’re beaten down, War in the North is best played in co-op mode. It’s far easier to coordinate the special combined attacks, and allows you to make use of each character’s strengths. For example, Andriel can be specced as a kick-ass healer, Eradan as a sneaky, high DPS support class and Farin as a solid, powerful tank – done this way the missions and challenge maps become much more fun and rewarding.

That’s no trinket you carry
Speaking of which, loot-aholics will be in hog’s heaven throughout War in the North as the item drops and hidden chests come thick and fast. An impressive selection of boots, helms, gloves, shoulders, mailcoats and jewellery is secreted in every nook and cranny, many imbued with the usual attribute-enhancing magic, or sockets in which to equip elf stones that increase stats or add elemental damage. Though your companions will pick up and equip the best loot they find, the option to access their inventory and outfit them yourself would have been welcome. You can choose to “give” them better gear, but greater control over their equipment would have provided and opportunity for deeper tactical play.

The combat in War in the North is elevated by its brutality, though some may still find it a bit tame - you sick puppies.

It’s a good thing that all this killing, looting and levelling is just about compelling enough to keep genre fans hooked, as in most other respects War in the North is something of a waste of a license. Considering it’s set in locales unexplored by Jackson or even Tolkien himself, Snowblind have literally done nothing to put their own signature on the universe. Everything from the character models to the scenery is lifted directly from the films – even locations that could potentially have been unique and special are decidedly old hat. The spooky Barrowdowns, for example, look just like everywhere else only darker and with caves. Also, I thought invisible barriers in RPGs had been left behind in 2005, but Snowblind seem to have kept some and stuck them in War in the North – they don’t even bother putting in knee-high walls at the base of their hills, just plain old insurmountable goose grass.

The score is what we’ve come to expect from anything associated with Rings, but the voice acting is only so-so throughout. The Sir Ian Mckellan soundalike is passable, while the others sound like they’re trying too hard. The distinctly Tolkien dialect of the novels takes on an almost Shakespearean quality in the movies, but here sounds out of place and forced. It’s not helped by the fact that at some point during development someone at Snowblind played Dragon Age and decided War in the North needed dialogue trees. This is all well and good, except they forgot to include any kind of choice or consequence. The dialogue options invariably lead to either a pointless explanation of the events of a ten year old film trilogy, some form of uncomfortably bastardised lore or back to the beginning of the conversation. You can play the whole game and miss very little by simply choosing the default option every time.

Although fan favourites like Elrond and Gandalf (among many others) make an appearance, it always feels a little bit awkward.

The biggest shame is that there is a decent hack-and-slash RPG buried under the layers of been-there-done-that mediocrity, and perhaps Snowblind’s greatest mistake was using the Rings license – a universe that gamers and movie fans alike have been repeatedly beaten over the head with for the best part of a decade. Because we know what happens to Frodo and the Ring, because we know how it ends and because, more importantly, we know all we need to know and a great deal that we don’t, we really couldn’t give a toss about a bunch of bland adventurers attempting to overthrow a pantomime villain miles away from the central crisis. There’s no motivation in the narrative, no drive and, besides Beleram, not a great deal of imagination. When coupled with game design that we’ve seen literally scores of times before, it’s hard to show the love.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a game made for the sake of it, and one that other developers would do well to learn from. It’s not a travesty by a long chalk, but it’s equally as far from the masterpiece of fantasy fiction on which it’s based.

Words by Mick Fraser (Twitter: @Jedi_Beats_Tank)

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