The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition
Developer: Aspyr Media
Publisher: Aspyr Media
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Switch, PC, Xbox Series X (Reviewed)
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $19.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
There was once a time when literally every movie was given a video game of some kind. Many of these ranged from being only a few hours long and downright disastrous to being shining gems that were the outliers of the movie game genre, and many of those happened to be those tied to The Lord of the Rings. J.R.R. Tolkien’s books and Peter Jackson’s film trilogy created a wealth of material that thrived on early console generations but beyond direct movie adaptations other games were developed years later and a few of these happened to slip under the radar. One such game was The Lord of the Rings: War in the North which tells a side-story of a small group of heroes setting out on an adventure of their own, one meant to help pave the way for the Fellowship’s movements. So now that the game has been released slightly enhanced by Aspyr Media as The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition, is it worth diving into all these years later?
Story
The game begins partway through the first film, in the small village of Bree where the ragged town is suffering under heavy rain and a few travelers are hunkered at The Prancing Pony inn. Here, the trio of heroes, Eradan the Dunedain Ranger, Andriel the elven battlemage, and Farin the dwarven warrior, are meeting with Aragorn having heard of a vital update and mission. Aragorn informs the three that the Black Riders have been sighted nearby and have torn through the forces of men stationed in a nearby outpost in search of someone and that someone will soon be on their way to Bree in search for safe passage.
As such, Aragorn cannot investigate himself and tasks the three to venture out to Fornost, a large area of ruins to the north where the forces of Sauron are meant to be gathering under the command of a twisted former human warrior that is now corrupted by the dark lord’s influence into being his “right hand man,” Agandaur and eliminate them, or at the very least serve as a distraction to bring the majority of the forces away from where Aragorn plans on traveling. As such, the trio begins their adventure to chase after Agandaur, leading them on a separate mission that crosses paths more than a few times with familiar faces all in an effort to help ensure that the Fellowship can make their way forward.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North tells the same untouched story as it did back in 2011 and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Sure, it is a bit bare-bones when it comes to depth as none of the three characters that players can play as in their party have much backstory, but the core storyline is strong and fits in perfectly with Tolkien’s lore and the setting of Middle-Earth it is meant to take place in. With this combination fans of The Lord of the Rings will find themselves overjoyed to see cameos of their favorite characters or stopping by signature locations to fight in or simply visit while passing through. There are even little dialogue trees players can have with NPCs throughout the various villages, some of which update as players progress through the game and revisit later on.
There are many minor side-quests here and there that players can undertake in villages and peaceful locations but none of these are complicated. Some provide some extra world building but most tend to focus on simply giving players something extra to do and give the world a more lived in feeling than sending the trio from battlefield to battlefield. That being said, there are some major side-quests as well that focus entirely on how well players are paying attention at times and secrets they uncover along the way, these side-quests spanning across multiple locations and being quite in-depth for the type of game that The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is.
Gameplay
At its core The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is an action RPG through and through, but not like a modern one that tries to muddy the formula with various other elements or try to add in a stamina meter or respawning enemies and the like, just a classic hack and slash game brought fifteen years into the future. New to this version of the game is the fact that players can swap between the three members of their party at will rather than selecting only one member of the trio to fight as at any given time. Thankfully, regardless of who the player is playing as, the AI will take control of the other two and fights admirably enough and uses their skills effectively, though they won’t use potions if players supply them. Should the player or a member of the party be downed, they can be revived by simply going over and holding A for long enough to bring them back to their feet, though failure to do so will result in a game over and return to the latest checkpoint.
The combat itself is fairly straightforward as mentioned before. Every character mostly controls the same way with a collection of light and heavy melee attacks and different ways they can be chained together into combos as well as their own version of a ranged attack with the ranger utilizing arrows, the dwarf bolts, and the elf an infinite but needing to regenerate supply of magical blasts. Regardless of who players are controlling, players can lay into enemies and, if they are really laying it on thick, can send an enemy into a critical state where they can be executed with a flourish and boost of XP. This will trigger a “Hero Mode” where the player will deal increased damage, chain together hits for more XP, and trigger executions even faster. The trio all share XP though there will always be some variation depending on which characters level up first and grow a bit stronger.
Each of the three characters have their own unique set of skills that they can learn, some passive, some active that require mana to utilize that will regenerate while dealing damage to enemies or using a potion. Some, like the Ranger’s, allow for stealth attacks and brutal finishing blows or long-range use of arrow tricks while the dwarf is a tankier force with many skills drawing aggro and buffing his allies. The elf on the other hand serves a dual role that can see her healing the team while protecting them from projectiles while also unleashing arcane arts of her own. This essentially breaks the team down into a dps, tank, and healer, but it is more complex than that thankfully. There is also a slew of armor and weaponry players can find and purchase to strengthen their party though some of it will have certain level and stat requirements such as strong weapons requiring a certain Strength level.
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is fairly rote when it comes to standard level progression as, outside of the occasional secret tucked off slightly in a corner, players will be moving from battle arena to arena and taking on enemies until they vanish, occasionally calling in an attack from the giant eagle they befriend early on if they have some magical feathers available. That is far from a bad thing but it also means that progress is straightforward without much random branching or variation. One nice note is that the title supports both online and local co-op, meaning up to three players can play together at the same time without any issue, each taking the role of one of the heroes.
It is interesting to note that while we didn’t experience any bugs with our time in the game per se, we did experience multiple instances where massive quantities of items spawned in a random location either inside of a town, floating in the air in a level, or half-embedded in the ground. These items ranged from everything to the bonus weapons provided with the game’s launch to massive quantities of healing potions, eagle feathers, and other boons. This was obviously an unintentional glitch but not something that broke the game by any means.
Audio & Visuals
It isn’t much of a stretch to say that The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition was simply given a quick pass-over to bring the game up to 4K standards with a solid frame rate that makes it far better than the original but this is not a fresh coat of paint here. Plenty of the janky animations and movements remain here and there and while it is nice to see armor and weapons change as players equip them, the actual character models leave a lot to be desired, especially in conversations. Literally every character model, including the giant eagle, Aragorn, Gandolf, and others, will likely enter a default facial expression after they are done saying their lines in a conversation, eyes half-open and mouth slackjaw, which is rather amusing looking on a massive eagle but an issue nonetheless. Thankfully the enemy executions and dismemberment are nice and brutal still.
The voice work throughout the game is fitting with the cast sounding like they are a perfect match for the setting, though it is worth noting that obviously the team did not acquire the original actors to reprise their roles here in the game but the replacements sound similar enough. The background music is also fitting for a game set in Middle-Earth, though it is a bit too similar in some combat stages.
Overall
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition dropped out of the shadows as quickly as it vanished into them back in 2011 only this time this janky action game has the time to be appreciated for what it is. A classic somewhat dated action game without the random frills worked into modern games at a discount price. With a new journey to venture on with familiar faces and locations along the way that many may have never seen before, The Lord of the Rings: War in the North – Legacy Edition is a satisfying action game even with its issues.
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