The Lord of the Rings: War in the North

War in North is a rushed game. The Gameplay is simple and it doesn't take any risks, and the story had potential but fails to stand out.

If you're a diehard fan of Lord of the Rings and just have to have everything then War in the North will tide you over nicely till The Hobbit finally hits theatres. For anyone else, it's a competent rendition of an action RPG and worth the look if you're done with Skyrim, but I wouldn't go out of my way to play this.

While decapitating enemies never got old. other aspects of North fall short. [Holiday 2011, p.80]

Entertaining for fans of Tolkien's universe, but too repetitive and linear to appeal anyone else.

Although the story is original and its combat and roleplaying gameplay is a good idea, there are things that doesn't work well. Roleplaying elements are well-made, but they are not that important, and combat lacks depth, and the enemy AI is limited. An average game that won't make history.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North has a good story which is intertwined with the original saga, but it isn't a good game. Repetitive hack and slash action, a low difficulty level and a lot of small errors prevent it from being any better. Even though it doesn't pose much of a challenge it is still fun enough to play through the adventure with two other players.

When it works (and when you have friends to play with), the game is a perfectly average hack-and-slash RPG. However, the laundry list of aforementioned issues not only hold the game back, but inhibit it to the point that it's not fun.

No, War of the North is not the blockbuster expected by the most enthusiastic of the fans. If it wasn't supported by such a strong license, it would even stay under the radar. But here we are : the fact that it remains so true to Tolkien's world and references it so well, with some true epic moments (the combat against a giant, the journey mounted on an eagle, the encounter with a dragon...) just saves it. Despite the numerous bugs and an energic but average combat system, it works : one always wants to make progress, and discover more. Lastly, the split-screen play has but one merit, to exist, since it's so chaotic to play. On the other hand, the online co-op is a real plus.

There's a fair amount of content here, but it's tedious and repetitive enough that you won't want to play it for very long.

An interesting attempt to tackle the Middle Earth franchise, but lacks new source material. Snowblind Studios has attempted to tell a side story to the story established by the books, casting it in their familiar style of hack and slash games, but it fails to spark any direct interest in either story or characters. Combat becomes slightly tedious shortly after being introduced, but can still be fun for frantic multiplayer sessions either locally or online. For Middle Earth fans, this could be enjoyable in well-paced out dosages.

Too many frustrations interfere with the joys of killing orcs and collecting loot in The Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

Considering its overall lack of polish and gameplay depth, War in the North proves to be a mediocre hack 'n' slash that will only appeal to real fans of the brand.

It isn't amazing, but it's a competent effort and certainly one of the better LotR games to come along. Isn't it about time that the smaller characters, bland as they are, got their due?

A perfectly competent beat-'em-RPG, even if it doesn't do much to carve out its own niche in the Lord of the Rings universe. Its strength and weakness is that it's completely inoffensive -- the perfect middle-of-the-road game. Unfortunately, it's hard to see what helps differentiate War of the North from the pack, and the pack is where it's apt to stay.

While it's admirable that the team had opted to create an original story set alongside the events in the books, you'll wish that they had attempted to take more risks with the project. The characters are bland and lifeless, and the combat, while fun at first, gets pretty repetitive before too long.