GameSpot: The Lord of the Rings: War in the North First Impressions

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is an original title from Warner Brothers Interactive, the latest holder of the Lord of the Rings license, and Seattle-based Snowblind Studios. The game will be the first title from WBIE that will take advantage of the Southern California based publisher's consolidation of Peter Jackson's epic movies and JRR Tolkien's book rights by blending elements of both in its narrative.

[Silver_Faux]

Good bit of info on the game. But it still fails to say if its a third person view or a top down view... judging from one screenshot in the interview though it apears to be a third person view (dwarf aiming system pic) so my hopes for a decent lotr game since rotk may be fufilled.

[Xof]

but this doesn't look like it.

"The impressive movie showed the game's trio of characters--a human wizard, an elven archer, and a dwarf warrior"

Sounds about as shallow and cliched as it could get. Plus, setting it in the north removes it from most of the interesting parts of trilogy. Actually, ALL of the interesting parts. If they're going to give us a third age game, let us play as Gandalf, Elessar and Frodo--not some generic archetypes. And if they don't want to use the same material as the movies, it's not like Tolkien didn't create a wealth of material to work with! How 'bout a game featuring Beren and Luthien? Or the first war against Sauron. Or... whatever it is that happened (I forget, it's been so long) when Sauron first revived, 100 years or so before Fellowship.

I mean--ANYTHING but the generic, cliched garbage! Who cares how it plays, this is Lord of the Rings: we need cool epic story!

[jjohan35]

If it would have been any other story, I would agree that it's cliche. But it's LOTR. This was what established the genre that made other stories turn it into a cliche.

[Xof]

It wouldn't be a cliche if they actually focused on the Lord of the Rings proper... but by making these "original" characters, they are very, very much going for the cliche. And it's not a LotR cliche, either--it's a Dungeons & Dragons cliche. The inclusion of a Wizard should raise more than an eyebrow, considering how in LotR mythology there are only 4 wizards roaming around, and they're essentially angels given corporeal form. LotR wizards are NOT the same as D&D wizards.

But these guys don't seem to get it.

And the ice magic? That's D&D crap. Magic in LotR is a much more subtle thing. Hell, EVERY SINGLE TIME Gandalf "uses magic" the effect of his "spell" could just as easily be attributed to poetic licence, or an optical illusion. Turning people to ice just ain't in the cards.

And to add insult to injury, we've got this twat in the interview talking about how great it is that LotR is so established... because it means he doesn't have to work very hard at establishing characters or a story. I mean--really? This game is going to flop, I'm sad to say I can't see any avoiding it.

...guess I went off on a bit of a tangent there. Sorry.

[JoySticksFTW]

Nerd time!

Aragorn vs Sauron's main forces was the biggest battle in the War of the Ring, but like four or five kings on the side of good died (Rohan's Theoden included).

The full force of the Dwarves, Elves that chose to stay behind, and other good Men cut off from the events of the South had to fight their asses off to survive. All in the North.

I'd sure like to know more about that stuff.

but yeah, I'd love to see a game channel the Silmarillion for inspiration

[lve2playbball]

I agree that the Silmarillion has TONS of stuff that would make for a great game. I'm with Elwenil about the games, every LOTR game that comes out seems to suck. The Battle for Middle Earth (1&2) were fantastic, I just wish it had an upgraded engine (it's using that old C&C Generals engine). I still get the urge to go back and play that game once in awhile.
HOWEVER I do not agree with Elwenil that Jackson f'd the last two movies. The elves things definitely bothered me--why would he kill off Haldir? Despite that, the Two Towers was a great movie. Jackson didn't leave content to "satisfy his ego"..that is BS. Who else can you think of that would have been better for the LOTR movie franchise? IMO there IS nobody else.
The third movie was great, but I think they left out too much. I loved the movie, but I really didn't like how they left out Elrond's sons at the "White City"..I also wish Aragorn's buddies would have been in the movie, like they were in the book. It really sucks that those weren't in there BUT that didn't ruin the movie.
Peter Jackson should definitely take the reigns for The Hobbit now that Del Toro backed out. Though, I think Del Toro will come back when the contact issues are sorted out...

Also...I have a tiny bit more faith in this game...a TINY bit...b/c Snowblind, they have potential

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Bethesda...PLEASE make an LotR game!!! I need a good one!!!

Screw it.

I want Santa Monica doing it. Haha.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

The reason the movies were so good is...they followed the books. Yes, they left some things out, but only where it wouldn't translate well. Jackson is a genius.

You DON'T try to add onto a story by the greatest writer who has ever lived. You simply translate his words into different mediums.

Peter Jackson understood and respected this.

These guys don't get it.

[Elwenil]

What? Jackson ruined the last two movies. They left out tons of good material in the books and added a bunch of crap to satisfy Jackson's ego. Elves in Helm's Deep. Need I say more? I'm not holding my breath about any sort of good Tolkien based game because all these publishers just see it as a franchise to milk and not something to make an epic game out of. They will never make a real game out of it, just bullshit RPGs that are too over the top like the online game or the usual hack and slash crap that most of the other games have been. Hell the Battle for Middle Earth games were the best so far and they were RTS. I still don't think they will "get it" unless someone like Bioware goes back to the old Baldur's Gate formula and makes a LoTR game like that, with that feel. Make it 3rd person, or whatever, but just give it some presence and some atmosphere like the books. Oblivion feels more like a Middle Earth game than most of the shovelware they have been crapping out of this franchise. Just my .02