The Lord of the Rings: War in the North PlayStation 3

I love split screen co op and I picked this up to give it ago, and I must say this is fantastic - great game play, great story and I love back story - you even meet all the Charictors from the films - so I would say if you like - Swords, Coop and LOTR then this is a must buy = 5 stars

I bought this game by chance, not knowing what to expect, and was very surprised to find that it was made by Snowblind Studios, the creators of one of my childhood favourites, "Champions of Norrath". The game is designed in a very similar rpg style, though has been expanded massively with excellent free-flow combat, gripping cut scenes and a simple, yet intriguing storyline. The game also remains true to the Lord of the Rings saga, featuring many of the main characters such as Frodo and Aragorn (though only briefly). Finally the true brilliance of this game comes from it being multiplayer co-op throughout, with well over twelve hours of gameplay plus challenge maps. Five stars all the way.

Having been obsessed with Tolkein since the age of nine (and being shunned forevermore because of it...) I was dubious about this to say the least. There's nothing worse than having something you love heartlessly violated by a company who don't really know what they're doing (and no, we won’t mention the latest Devil May Cry previews…) So I have to admit, I totally ignored this game for ages… but I want to tell you not to make the same mistake that I did! ‘War in the North’ feels a bit like Dark Souls Tolkein-style. Never fear, it won’t have you tearing your hair out as much as From Software’s brutal RPG, but it should give you an acceptable level of challenge even on Normal Difficulty. Movement and battle feels pretty similar to Dark Souls though, the whole thing is relatively uncomplicated and feels pretty smooth. Graphically the game is flawlessly beautiful and should appeal to anyone who loves fantasy, LoTR or otherwise. (Some of the tombs felt very Skyrim-esque too, so worth a peek if you were a fan of that!) Also worth mentioning that the storyline was, to my delight, pretty well crafted. Each ‘chapter’ has its own driving storyline, so don’t worry about putting the game down for a few weeks and forgetting who you were supposed to see or what on earth that weird item is in your inventory for. The thing that definitely needs to be said is that the co-op is amazing. Single Player mode is fine, but it’s the co-op that really makes the game stand out for me. ‘War in the North’ has all the standard online capabilities, but also boasts 3 player local co-op, which is what I got really excited about. It’s so hard to find games with enjoyable localised co-op that doesn’t feel limited or, frankly, a bit of a pathetic afterthought. Online is all very nice and whatnot (and convenient if your friends live in other countries or miles away!) but nothing quite compares to being able to kick back on your sofa and slay some monsters together. ‘War in the North’ is undoubtedly one of the best co-op experiences I’ve had all year. Since each of the characters have different skillsets, you can definitely feel like you’ve got your friends’ backs – and hope that they have yours! Movement felt refreshingly open and free – between checkpoints each player can move completely independently to explore whatever they want to. The whole thing makes for really good experience. Annoyingly, there are a few flaws with the general mechanics that do bring the game down a little for me. The save system is baffling and unpredictable at times. There’s also pitifully little by way of instruction, (a helpful 2 or 3 pages of manual tell you the very basics, and then it’s off at the deep end!), but it’s not too difficult to grasp and besides, we need to get out of the habit of being guided through everything step by step! A little bit more explanation would have been nice though. On the whole, well worth a play. I'd award this a solid 4/5, only knocking marks off for the somewhat bumbled save system and the feeling that a few too many parts of the gameplay go explained. If you enjoyed Dark Souls, Skyrim, Dragon Age or any of the PS2 incarnations of LoTR games, this is probably for you. With smooth mechanics and an unbeatable co-op experience, ‘War in the North’ should definitely be added to more people’s game collections. Grab a copy, grab a friend, grab a drink, and get slaying!

this is game i brought just randomly because i used to play lord of the rings conquest a while back, compared to that game this game has improved allot, graphics are much better, gameplay much smoother, but the only thing i dont like about it is, its kind of the same thing over and over again, the people who love lord of the rings games,will love this one too, 4/5