Introduction
Today we are going to review a Lord of the Rings game, we are going to wage war in the north, while Sam and Frodo are going to take three movies to walk to the mountain of Mordor. This is a co-op game that takes place aside the main story of Lord of the Rings. This is a simple role playing game where you will be mostly killing a lot of orcs! The story is not very long, and you will most likely finish it before reaching level 20.
What did I think before playing Lord of the Rings War in the North?
I was very interested in playing a role playing game together with my wife. We love to collect goodies and loot, comparing stats with old equipment, and somewhere in between totally destroy the orc hordes and other creatures that dare to attack us. However, we would soon learn that the classes that you can choose from are quite unbalanced! Who ever knew, a dwarf can shoot better than a trained ranger!? For more information we went to the Steam page of Lord of the Rings War in the North.
The Steam Page
https://store.steampowered.com/app/32800/Lord_of_the_Rings_War_in_the_North/
The first thing that you may notice is that this game is no longer available on Steam. This is most likely due to an expired license agreement. So, to play this game you will need to already have this game on Steam. Or perhaps, you have the physical game! Now, on to the actual items, the events will fit in and take place next to the main story, and you get to hack and slash as you collect loot. Every class has their own gear!
Rating
I rate Lord of the Rings War in the North before playing with a 5.7
while I love to give this game a higher rating, the fact that you cannot buy this game anymore is a huge problem.
Story
The story takes place in the background of the original movie. As you will meet characters from Lord of the Rings, but you will have your own journey with a company of three. It is your goal to keep the orcs in the north busy while Frodo delivers the ring to Mount Mordor!
Rating
I rate the story of Lord of the Rings War in the North with a 7.7
There are multiple dialogue options, but this is mostly to explore some lore. It will not have an impact on the story.
Gameplay
The gameplay starts with you needing to choose between the three main characters. One of them is a tank, whom somehow deals an insane amount of damage. There is a mage who can heal, and an archer. However, the tank just deals the most damage while almost being to tank every hit. When using the explosive crossbow, you can kill huge groups of enemies in one blow.
As you kill enemies, you will slowly gain experience points, when you level up, you can choose attributes to put points in. Going with a balanced build is usually the way to go, otherwise you will not be able to equip some items. This works for every character. As you level up, you will also gain skill points. There are three small skill trees in which you can invest points, choose wisely, as a respect costs way too much in the beginning!
The battles can either be long, or short, it depends on what level you are in. There are some boss battles, but you can take a whole load of potions with you to heal up. There is limited inventory spot, and you can only bring 40 arrows with you. Luckily, some levels have shops where you can restock! Once you have beaten the game, you can play it on a higher difficulty! For the secret ending, make sure to not ask the eagles for help in the final fight!
Rating
I rate the gameplay of Lord of the Rings War in the North with a 6.3.
While the gameplay is fun, there is zero balance, and the items can either be overpowered, or very weak, there is no real middle ground.
Sound and Graphics
Graphics
The graphics of Lord of the Rings War in the North are quite fun to look at, but there are not many different areas to explore. There is also not a huge variety of enemies to kill. However, the slow motion kills are amazing! There are some graphical glitches, but this game is already more than ten years old. For its age, this game looked pretty good!
Sound
The voice actors are doing an incredible job in this game, and I like the soundtracks a lot. There is something oddly satisfying about hearing the orcs get chopped up into pieces, or hearing that explosion and then seeing the orcs fly!
Rating
I rate the sound and graphics of Lord of the Rings War in the North with a 8.5
The graphics have aged well, and the soundtracks are amazing!
What did I think after playing Lord of the Rings War in the North?
My wife and I enjoyed the co-op in this game very much, the idea of sharing items is always great. Since you need two computers to play, you do not have a tether, which is always nice. There is also the ability to perform a co-op kill! Which even gives bonus experience points. It is strange though, that the tank does more damage with ranged attacks compared to the ranger!
As you are with a company of three in this game, you will have an NPC following you around, we had the mage follow us around, while her damage was weak, we could order her to make a protective shield. Which came in handy many times! The skill tree could have been a little better but with how short the game is, it barely bothered me. You will probably not surpass level 20 before beating the game once.
Rating
I rate Lord of the Rings War in the North with a 7.1 after playing.
I liked the co-op the most!
What are my personal thoughts about Lord of the Rings War in the North?
If you are looking for a fun hack and slash games with some role-playing elements, this game might be perfect for you, the problem, you already need to have the game. But if you do, this game is a fun escape from reality!
Rating
My personal Rating of Lord of the Rings War in the North is an 8.6.
I had so much fun when playing this game with my wife!
Last Words
Pros
- A story that takes place during the main events of Lord of the Rings
- Fun hack and slash action with gory kills
- Play through missions alone or in co-op
- Create the character you want with three skill trees
- Find amazing gear to supplement your build
- Let the NPC's help you during tough fights
- Many bosses to slay
- Plenty of ways to dig deeper into the lore
Cons
- The classes are very imbalanced
- There are some graphical glitches along with sound glitches
- The gear is not very balanced
- Some of the levels are too linear
If you want to have an easy time in this game, just pick the dwarf, dwarves rule! Especially if they are armed with an explosive crossbow
Final Rating
7.1
Let me know what you think of Lord of the Rings War in the North in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
If you liked reading this review, maybe you would like to share this review with your friends!
25 Responses
Same, I really enjoyed it playing it with my friend... playing this game in couch co-op mode is very entertaining, despite the flaws of the game 🙂
It has some flaws, but it is a very fun game!
Thanks for review 😉
You are welcome!
Really good game indeed. Thanks for review.
You are welcome!
It really sucks everytime I hear of a game no longer being available in storefronts because of licensing issues and such, like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was for a number of years before its recent re-release. It makes me think about and worry about other games in the future we'll no longer be able to play, especially ones that require servers to play. I really hope publishers start considering these kinds of issues for the sake of game preservation.
It is indeed a huge problem, licensing is expensive. As for online games, you may never know when they will expire. However, maybe you have read the review on Well of Souls? It is an MMORPG that is over 25 years old, and the game guy is still keeping the servers running for a loyal fan base! So, there are some good examples out there!
It's sad that the game is no longer available on Steam, but we get weird streaming adaptations.
As a big fan of the world of Tolkien's, this is probably my favourite LotR game just for the fact that there is so much lore in this. Half of my first play through, was me interacting with every character pickings all possible dialogue options and staring at the scenery in each zone. Gandalf even addresses the whole "let's have the eagles carry Frodo into Mt.Doom, theory.
If you are interested in Lore, this is indeed a perfect LOTR game!
What did the Gandalf say about it, though?
I may have played this one ages ago, but I forgot the name of the game. I got stuck at the level defending the wall from the invading forces...
I think it even has been delisted on Steam.
Super!
my preciousssss
I was expecting this.
I play it with my girlfriend on the PS3 about 3 years ago. Awesome Game!
This is indeed a very awesome game!
nice one, too bad it isn't sold anymore on steam
I like how this game looks, didn’t know that this game was realizing in 2011
Impressive game, I love LOTR games
Nice game, thanks for the review!!
You are welcome!
Don't like Lord of the ring but thanks for the review
Oh my god, I have never heard someone utter those words, everyone can have their own opinion but I am kind of shocked lol.