The Lord of the Rings War in the North

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a role-playing video game developed by Snowblind Studios. It is based on the events taking place in the northern regions of Middle-earth in the background of the main story of J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, more specifically in Peter Jacksons The Lord of the Rings film trilogy universe. The Plot for the game is that, the 3 heroes players can choose from, go on their own journey, similar to the Fellowship of the Ring the characters journey to different locations to help the War, their actions help the Fellowship, in a way that is not seen in the films or books. Players take control of a hero of the war, and are able to play through the game alone or co-operatively with other players.


Gameplay

In a preview article in PlayStation Magazine, it was discussed that players will have skills that are upgradeable, characters that can be customized, and that conversations play out similarly to Mass Effect without the moral ramifications. Each character also has ranged attacks which they can use, Farin (the dwarf champion) has a crossbow, Eradan (the human ranger) has a bow and Andriel (the female elf mage) can cast ranged spells at enemies. All characters also have light and heavy attacks and can roll, block and counter enemy attacks. Players can also issue orders to their AI companions if they are playing solo. There are also hubs in the game which function as points where the party may rest, accept new quests, speak to people and stock up on new supplies. Hubs are towns or villages.[4] Comic-Con 2011 featured gameplay of War in the North.[5]
Each class also has a unique ability. The dwarf for example can mine for gems which can be used for crafting purposes and he can also smash walls down where hidden treasure can be found. The game also features unlockable difficulty modes such as a nightmare difficulty. You can replay through the game and keep all your equipment and skills from the previous playthrough. Dialogue will normally present a few choices where the player can get just the facts, delve deeper into the lore or get optional side quests. The gameplay also relies upon the player working with friends (or with AI companions) to use tactics to defeat certain enemies.

Reception


The Lord of the Rings: War in the North received mixed to positive reviews. Koalition awarded the game 8/10 stating that "The cooperative multiplayer aspect is fantastic and the game is balanced very well".[16] Gamefront gave the game a positive score of 8.5/10 praising the game as being "a successful effort for Snowblind" and stating that "It’s a fun title that you can enjoy with your friends or alone".[15] IGN awarded the game a "Good" score of 7/10 praising its graphics and level design but criticizing the plot as being bland, the characters as lacking personality and the game suffering from repetitive gameplay.[14] GameSpot gave a score of 6 out of 10, stating issues such as odd enemy behavior, technical issues with multiplayer and a general feeling of disappointment.[13] On Metacritic the game holds a 62/100 for the Xbox 360 version[10], a 66/100 for the PC version[11] and a 63/100 for the PlayStation 3 version[12] as of January 29, 2012. The German edition Der Krieg im Norden received a positive review from the Zillo Medieval magazine praising the possibility of playing in previously unexplored areas of the games world.

Read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lord_of_the_Rings:_War_in_the_North

Minimum System Requirement


OS: Windows Vista®/XP/ or Windows 7
CPU: Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 GHz / AMD 64 X2 4400
RAM: 2GB
GFX: GeForce 8600 or Radeon HD 2600 (2006 or later graphics card)
HDD: 10GB free hard disk space

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Rome Total War Barbarian Invasion

Seeming as I gave a preview for Age of Empires 3 it seems only fair to do one for the expansion pack for the critically acclaimed Rome Total War. I downloaded the demo of it and have played through both of the supplied levels. Both were an enjoyable experience, as to be expected with Rome Total war, they did enlighten me about some of the changes. It showed off some more armies, in fact every army in the two battles was new.
Here is a list of some(or all) of the new armies:

Western Roman Empire
Easteren Roman Empire
Germanic Frankish Tribes
Romano Brittish
Alemanni
Huns
Goths

As the name implies, and these armies reveal, it is based more on the barbarians. An interesting thing to know would be if they are expanding the campaign map to include northern countries such as Scotland. I think it would be very fun to defend Hadrians wall. They might not improve on the campaign though, which would be a great shame. Even if they dont increase the size of the campaign map there will still be new armies to play with.

Another thing that has been changed is, in the original, there was a information box so when you but your mouse over the unit it would tell you the name of that troop, the energy levels, moral and a couple of other things. Now the box is a lot more informative. For instance it used to say: Shaken. Now it says: Shaken- Because they have suffered heavy casualties or something like that. This may not seem like a particularly important change and it isnt but it could well be one of many little changes that come together and make the game a much more enjoyable experience.

A further change is when you fight at night, one man from each squad carries a burning stick to light up the battle field. I am yet to discover if this can be used as a weapon but it makes the battlefield look cool.

Onagers have been changed. They are far more accurate(or at least it appeared that way when they were firing at me) And maybe because it was at night but when they fired with the fire load it looked IMMENSE. There really isnt a better way to describe it. It is a shame there were not flaming pigs in the battle.

Overall I think this will be a worthwhile expansion regardless of whether you have finished the campaign or not. An interesting thing is it is published by Sega, not Activision. I didnt even know Sega did publishing. It is interesting that Activison have dropped out of the boat when there is the expansion pack and Spartan: Total warrior.(Preview coming soon[maybe]) Both of which are bound to make money. Oh well, all fool Activison.

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