Torchlight and a few other standouts aside, the Xbox 360 isn't well-known for gore-splattered dungeon crawls. This might be the reason Warner Bros took Snowblind - developer of the enjoyable Champions of Norrath - and gave it the dormant Lord of the Rings license, plus a few oceans of blood to smear all over it.
This is the first Lord of the Rings game with a PEGI 18 rating and it earns it - limbs fly, blood spatters and corpses ooze. War In The North places you in the greaves of one of three characters (a ranger, a dwarf warrior and a magic-casting elf) and throws you against Sauron's Lieutenant Agandaûr and his dark hordes.
The game is basic in its execution - hit your enemies with weapons or shoot them at range with arrows or spells, levelling up as you go and getting better gear and abilities. As you strike them more, you can hit Y for a critical strike, tearing limbs from your foes. While wholly enjoyable as a single-player game, co-op mode - either online or split-screen - is a great laugh, especially at the harder difficulties which require a little more forethought and strategy.
War in the North at no point pretends to be anything more than an epic and borderline two-dimensional slug-fest through hordes of similar enemies. It's repetitive, but Snowblind has honed the experience to something surprisingly addictive. Though seven hours of bloody entertainment, War in the North is a safely made game. Combat is fun and meaty, weapons have a satisfying crunch, the world is beautiful, but it never tries to do more than its genre has done before.
While New Game+ lets you restart the adventure with all of your gear and experience, there's not much variation to the storyline, and the light RPG conversations add little in the grand scheme of things. That said, if you're aching for a solid, fun co-op game, War in the North might be worth a stab.
11 comments so far...
CunningSmile on 23 Nov '11 said:
Can't help thinking that released at any other time this game might have got at least a 7. Released the same month as Skyrim? Suicide.
Mark51078 on 23 Nov '11 said:
Slightly disappointed with the score but also thinking that as this is likely to get completely lost under the behemoths that are MW3, Skyrim and, too a lesser extent, AC: Revelations and Battklefield it's not likely to hold it's price too long and could be a fun bargain buy... or a solid rental.
OXM ETboy on 23 Nov '11 said:
I may well get this. Need a good co-op brawler to see me through Christmas, and my brother's a big LOTR fan.
Mr Scarecrow901 on 23 Nov '11 said:
I was hoping this game would surprise everyone by being amazing, but I guess not. May pick it up when it is below £15 just because LOTR is the best thing that has ever happened fantasy wise!
SidTheSloth on 23 Nov '11 said:
Shame
Think it's a bargain bin thing for me too...
Thing is though, even at £15 i have to ask is it better than crimson alliance (of which the demo seemed pretty cool and the same genre as this)? License wise yes, cost/playability?
Hmm, maybe there's a demo i can check out to see!
comabob on 25 Nov '11 said:
played this for about 20 minutes today 0 did a quick quest without leaving the hub...
honestly after playing skyrim for 90 hrs the past two weeks, rayman for about 3 hours and THEN 20 minutes on LOTR
it was like going to 5 star steakhouse followed by desert at a french chic restaurant - and then going home to find some one has shat in my fridge.
is the combat worth sticking around for? i havent seen any yet but it would have to be pretty cool o convince to me to no send it back to lovefilm and just play rayman/skyrim
comabob on 26 Nov '11 said:
So ive given this another couple of hours - im now at the start of chapter 3 and think ive had enough.
the combat is decent at first but the enemies take WAAAAAY too long to bring down and overwhelm in handfuls. nno being to level up your oher ai partners is beyond stupid too...
had a quick look online to see how long he game is - (2 chapers complete and the repetition has already sunk in) - and apparenly theres 6 to go!!
so yeh - back to lovefilm you go...
SidTheSloth on 26 Nov '11 said:
Cheers - you've confirmed my suspicions at least, the videos i'd watched of it suggested as much.
Have you played the arcade game crimson alliance? If so, which would you say's better/worse? Liked the demo of CA and everything i'm reading here is pointing me towards that for some co-op action!
Having said that, do you think this would be as bad with another player instead of just AI companions?
Have to say that Lovefilm renting/trialling thing sounds pretty cool too, wonder why more don't do it, surely stops you buying plenty of stinkers and you at least get some achievements and play time? Is there a catch to it - limited number of rents/limited choice etc?
comabob on 26 Nov '11 said:
Its better than Crimson Alliance (mainly cos i hate CA's micro transaction setup) but its really VERY subpar.
If your after some dungeon crawling that can be played in co-op - Dungeon Siege 3 is worth a punt - its going quite cheaply now and was entertaining while it lasted (its only like 7 hrs long) if not DS3 - torchlight, Deathspank or even Sacred 2 (i sank 90 hrs into Sacred 2 and loved it) - AVOID DnD Daggerdale though - its dreadful
LOTR prob would be beter in co-op - but it will still be a real slog - when your fighting enemies with a dozen arrows sticking out of their face and they STILL take at least 4 or 5 hits to go down - WHILE you cant direct/redirect your combo chains - while you cant block to interrupt your attacks - and while your dodge roll - STILL gets you damage (bu you don ge knocked down if you roll/dodge
)
And that was on normal diffculy - theres 2 harder ones after that....
There was one section where there were 2 trolls to fight at once - it would knock me down - while i was crawling around waiting for some one to heal me - the priest character knelt to heel me - RIGHT IT FRONT OF THE TROLLS - so she will be healing me - and then the troll will attack - knock us both down and shed get right up and start healing me again - and the the SECOND troll would attacka dn knock uus both down again - this happened repeatedly for around 5 minutes before i got fed up and restarted he checkpoin (which lost me 20 minutes hack n slashging progress)
My package on lovefilm is just under 12quid a month - with that i get as many rentals as i like (as long as i return them quickly to get anoher) - and 2 discs at home at a time...
You basically pick minimum of 10 things for your "rental list" setting stuff at what level priority youd like it (high, medium, low) and lovefilm send you whatevers available at the time...
So my lists highest priority was Saints Row 3 and a doco called "Knuckle" about gypsy bare knuckle boxing - and they sent me LOTR and Hobo with a Shotgun instead - IN the past though - i have goten Dark Souls, Fallout NV and Hot Pursuit all on day of release so...
Like youve said though - despite not getting what i wanted MOST - i did get to watch Rutger Hauer shoot drugdealers and got a few hours playtime on a game i probably would have looked a buying once it hit 10quid.
they offer free trials too - it is possible to cancel before the trial ends and re-sign for anoher one under a different name though -
my wifes dog Charlie had an account for a while - and my 7 month old
CunningSmile on 26 Nov '11 said:
Don't forget with LoveFilm if you have an unlimited membership you can also stream a huge selection of movies instantly at no extra cost, and since it's one of the new things coming to Xbox you can stream those through your big screen TV rather than your laptop.
For absolutely no reason they've just upgraded me to 3 discs at a time from 2 at no extra cost
SidTheSloth on 28 Nov '11 said:
Cheers gents, much appreciated!
I've had dungeon siege on my amazon list for months now have kept it in mind so maybe i'll got for that instead - there's just something about LOTR... If they put dog turds in a jar with some LOTR picture on it i'd have to spend a long time talking myself out of buying it!
That lovefilm thing sounds pretty immense to me, wonder why more people don't do it? With demo's all but disappearing off xbox live it seems a good way of avoiding buying a shitter...