You can’t really blame people for continuing to milk that Lord of the Rings license, but with RPGs, MMOs, Action games, RTSes, even a Battlefront title… what more is there? Oh, a kiddie title starring Aragaon, and this, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.
What’s different about this one? Well, it doesn’t center on the main story, instead allowing you to play as three different characters (human, elf or dwarf) in a pitched battle against the orc that takes place while Sam and Frodo go forth on their little love affair. Where are you? Somewhere up north.
One big gimmick for this title is that it’s the very first M-rated game for the series, which means that you can see all the blood and gore you’d expect those big, sharp weapons to inflict. You can play it solo with two computer-controlled characters but the title was made for three-player co-op. Each character will have different abilities that will need to be combined with the others to advance easily. For example, the human is a mage, so mostly relegated to defense and healing spells, the elf’s a tracker and archer, the dwarf’s a brute fighter, you know, the usual. There is a bit of an RPG element to the game, as you’ll engage Mass Effect-ish dialogue with characters and can craft items and weapons and level your character up any way you see fit.
The studio behind this is Snowblind Studios, of Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. Check warinthenorth.com for more.