Guardians of Middle-Earth

Monolith has managed to introduce a relatively difficult genre to consoles, only to fall at the simplest of hurdles. [Issue#94, p.79]

Guardians of Middle-earth is the first game to bring the immensely popular MOBA -genre to consoles. Thankfully it does it well. Small, but clever changes makes controlling heroes easy, and the fights are both engaging and fun.

It would be unfair to say that it does not have potential, but it's currently unbalanced, with few players and serious problems with connectivity to the servers. It may seem strange to some players, but it's still a well done adaptation of a genre with such particular gameplay.

There is definitely something to like with Guardians of Middle-Earth and Monolith has done a good job breaking down the key points of MOBA and bringing it to consoles with its own controls.

Guardians of Middle-Earth has many flaws. It's not pretty, spells are too bright and chaotic (you can't see what's going on), and there are some technical issues - lags are permanent, as well as random disconnections (and you can't return to a game you just involuntarily left) and sometimes you have to wait up to 10 minutes for other players. Plus the AI is stupid. So why such a high grade? The game has no competition on the consoles and gives tons of joy. The gameplay is very pleasant regardless of the player being hardcore or casual.

The game brings the MOBA genre to consoles and the LOTR franchise and made a nice start for it. The controls are simple to pick up and the game offers diversity in characters and upgrades. However, the game lacks this diversity in levels and is bugged bij lag and long waiting times in between matches. A nice start, but not yet the result we hoped for.

For representing an untested genre on consoles, Guardians of Middle Earth acquits itself pretty well. If only the online functionality was as airtight as its core strategy, we'd have a truly great mashup on our hands.

Even if you don't particularly care for Tolkien, there's a lot to love here in spite of the annoying server issues.

Guardians of Middle-earth sacrifices a lot of complexity to work as a console game. Hardcore MOBA fans will disapprove of the changes, but genre newbies looking for some team-based, Tolkien-inspired fun will happily take these heroes and villains to war.

Although hardcore professional players may scoff at the general lack of skill in public games, most of you will enjoy the experience, and the fact that the developers were able to actually create a solid MOBA experience on a console should be commended.

In Guardians of Middle-earth, console players finally have the chance to investigate a hitherto unknown area of gaming, and it's arguably one of the most positive experiences I've had in the genre.

With Guardians of Middle Earth, Monolith's purpose was to bring the MOBA genre to the console audience, trying to adapt the mouse & keyboard gameplay to the gamepad without sacrificing too much. Mission accomplished, since GoME really brings the MOBA spirit to console, but the lack of game modes and the few maps will bore you in short order.

Although Guardians of Middle Earth's gameplay can be enjoyable, and it does an admirable job of bringing those who play it into realm of the game's locale, the long loading times, lacklustre sound, and "at-best-average" graphics really bring down the whole experience to that of a mediocre title that could have been much better.

Guardians Of Middle Earth is a clumsy debut of the MOBA genre on consoles. Some flaws of the gameplay make it only recommended for true fans of the genre and of The Lord of the Rings.

Guardians of Middle Earth gets the basics right--it's a playable MOBA that you can drive with a control pad. But in the process of streamlining this notoriously complex genre, it sacrificed a bit too much at the altar of accessibility.

If you are craving some LotR action or want to play a bold new MOBA, there is a lot to like about Guardians of Middle-earth. It's a shame that its lackluster community and frustrating technical issues get in the way of that.

It isn't entirely awful - even dodgy MOBA games can provide a lot of fun - but the myriad flaws suggests that it's badly misunderstood its audience. It's like being handed a love letter that was written by someone who had Googled 'seduction'. The effort they've put in is clearly endearing, but sorry - we're just not interested.