Let’s honestly admit – we are a little tired of the Universe “Lord of the Rings”. Over the past decade, such an incredible number of amateur literary fan fictions, reprints of the novels fell on us John Ronald Ruela Tolkien (John Ronald Reuel Tolkien) in glossy covers, cosplayers of Frodo, Gandalf and Sauron, which is already by the release of the “Return of the King” the Universe began to lose a little in its former attractiveness. The developers of the video game stubbornly continue to believe that it is only worth releasing any product with the treasured “rings” in the name, as he will certainly expect love, adoration and millions of money. Creators The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, apparently guided by a similar principle.
Brotherhood of Peter Jackson
We saw the magnificent Dragon Age: Origins, in a pleasant enthusiasm we study the worlds of the recently released Skyrim … Of course, the Universe, invented Tolkien, It is impossible not to respect. But at the moment, only her film adaptations are considered successful. Everything that is accepted in such cases to call games based on was very so -so. For some reason Snowblind Studios I thought that she could create the first significant interactive entertainment on the “Lord of the Rings”.
The developers approached the matter with commendable perseverance. They were not ashamed to write such a story for War in the North, which would intersect with the events of the movie trilogy. And even if many locations we have to visit in the cinema were not noted at all – but the appearance of Frodo, Elrond, Gandalph and others are copied with maximum reliability.
While the Khobbit Kille with friends is busy with a great trip to the Mordor, another company (ordinary man, elf, dwarf) makes reprisals against distraught creatures in the north of Middle-earth. New interactive The Lord of the Rings Most of all, it looks like a meager role-playing game with a developed action-component. There is a class distribution “by default” – where is there without it. The dwarf loves a close battle on axes, takes the main kicks on itself and distracts attention while the sweet couple “Elves plus
man” spreads enemies in a distance of enemies. Moreover, the lady in the reserve has a lot of lotions to maintain the combat spirit and the general level of health of the detachment, and the glorious person accepts not only bows, but also two -handed swords.
Simply put, the division into classes is very, very conditional. Yes, only the elven has the ability to improve the Sopartians, but she also does not hesitate to tumble with a staff in close combat or shoot from her weapons to distant distances. In the fight, everything turns out so that the greatest significance is acquired not by the conditional class preferences of the heroes, but by the specific location of the latter in the area and the ability to adhere to the attacks. That is, the same shorty dwarf will be able to be useful both as a “tank”-first-trap, and as a covering shooter from a crossbow. On the other two participants of the party, this rule also spreads.
As noted, much greater importance during any skirmishes with skeletons in armor or creeping creatures is well -coordinated. And here we slowly approached the discussion of an important component War in the North – The joint passage mode. The game is arranged so that throughout the entire action there will not be a single moment when the cooperative is out of place. Everything works on the principle of attaching to the scenario in Left 4 Dead. You first announce that you do not mind playing with a random partner, that is, create an open campaign. Start passing, and already during the game other users join you. In the same way, you can become a member of someone’s story.
Only in the cooperative regime of the battle are the spectacular as the developers imagined. Artificial intelligence demonstrates tolerable successes – virtual companions are safely eager to help you to recover after a knockdown, magical abilities and skills are used to the place, they take a blow when it is extremely necessary. But only now they do not always think of helping you to soak a particularly tenacious creature. Three for one for a quick murder – this is not about artificial intelligence. This is only possible with living allies. And sometimes, after all, representatives of the warring side turn out to be horrible to what unbearable-their bunch of mat, and not one, while the rest beat the opponents more.
Though War in the North It is nominally considered a role -playing game, but more in it is laid precisely from the action movie, and not from RPG. The development of skills is really important only for the magician. And only because she is the chief doctor of the whole detachment. Even during the passage of the latest chapters at the normal level of complexity, you will be surprised to notice for yourself that all this time they did an excellent job without the help of Abracadabr. From skills really necessary for three classes at the same time, we would only note passive – those that are responsible for the best handling of your favorite weapon.
But the battles here are really decent. Heroes take a picture of a picture, in a slow mode, they conduct spectacular finishing off (earning more experience on it than usual) and without false modesty, they publish combat roars. Animation during combat scenes is performed at the level of the average console slasher, which is in relation to the product of efforts Snowblind Studios Sounds like an undoubted compliment.
After a few hours of acquaintance with War in the North The main advantage of the game – its combat system – becomes a kind of stumbling block. So much was said at various specialized exhibitions about the plot itself, which was obliged to closely interpret with the history of the movie trilogy Peter Jackson (Peter Jackson), but only now it is served in such miserable portions that sometimes it seems like quest writers from Snowblind They collected a story from unnecessary scenario strokes, which she considered unnecessary Francis Walsh (Frances Walsh).
Dialogues here are clearly not enough, and the main time is occupied by the battle. Monotonous battles with no less predictable freaks. You beat them, kill, go through a small section of the map, meet the crowd again, and then – fight, rest and fight again. The camera is clearly asks higher – so War in the North I would go for Hack’n’Slash. Much later after the start of history, you will rejoice at any random event. “Oh, a huge bird is talking, great!”” Wow, a new man with whom you can chat, – I dreamed about it for a long time!”” Finally, this harmful old man, whom I have killed for the fifth time in the last three hours, really died-what a joy!»The game exhausts you with monotonous races in gray locations. Really U Tolkien It was so sad? We will never believe.
One thing is pleasing-the whole thing goes quite quickly, and not only the repeated “bosses”-trolls and prolonged battles will remain in the memory, but also a meeting with heroes familiar from films, new details of the plot, tempting the opportunity to look at everything from a slightly different side. And cooperative, of course.
Before us is clearly not the best game in the Universe of the Lord of the Rings. But if you are not looking off, you watched three films Peter Jackson and remember the smallest details of the story of the baby Frodo, then communication with The Lord of the Rings: War in the North will definitely bring you incomparable pleasure. The game does not break the general chronology of the events of the Universe. Moreover, she helps to recall the most pleasant moments and morally prepares fans for the exit of the “hobbit”. The film will appear on screens only next year. So, you still have time to remember that Tolkien – this is great.
Pros: spectacular battles;Low threshold of entry.
Cons: exhausting many hours of races according to the same locations;repeated “bosses”;too predictable cooperative;The plot is served with too small portions and is not impressive.