The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Critic Reviews

While a few things could use some revision work, overall this game is a masterpiece for Tolkien fans and shouldn't be missed.

The fun of co-oping through Middle Earth with three unique characters overshadows some of the game's shortcomings, making for a very enjoyable game that I'm happy to recommend.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North is far from perfect, but it's an incredibly well-balanced beat-em-up.

There's something here for you guys who like the general approach of solving problems with a whole lot of sword-swinging, experience upgrades and looting – but the gameplay gets a bit worn the longer you play. So is the story enough of a draw to push this into the buy column for you? How about the prospect of having a game experience you and your friends can share? If neither of these things would push you from the undecided column to the must-buy column, approach this one with a bit more trepidation.

What keeps me coming back to War in the North is the fact that the game does a remarkable job of divvying out loot. Enemy drops, breakable items, and eager shopkeepers are all there to make sure that you always have a consistent IV drip of high-fantasy swag at your disposal.

War in the North is hardly the most memorable adventure through Middle-earth, but you won't regret any of the time you spend fighting across its grim battlegrounds.

A solid action RPG with plenty of loot to collect. I really got a sense of Champions of Norrath the more I played it, and wanted to continue grinding, which is uncommon for me.

War in the North is a solid game that has some challenging battles despite of the bad AI. The game can't stand up towards other big releases during this time of the year, but the three player co-op will keep fans of the franchise and the genre busy for many hours.

The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a fun but flawed experience.

It's a genuinely good game with a lot to offer both Lord of the Rings and action-RPG fans, and it definitely has that "Snowblind" (Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance) feel to it. As long as you go into it expecting a diamond in the rough, that's exactly what you'll find.

The hack 'n slash category isn't exactly thriving on consoles these days, so if you've been hard up for a cooperative loot bonanza, War in the North is worth sinking a weekend into. Its lack of variety and polish, however, makes it hard to imagine it having any sort of longevity.

Lord of the Rings: War in the North isn't the most innovative or original experience you will play on the Xbox 360, yet the co-op gameplay is very enjoyable. I can certainly see many gamers sitting back with their buddies enjoying mashing away through the games many levels while living out their LOTR fantasies.

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.

While it doesn't reach the heights we wished it would, War in the North is still a solid experience with more than enough content to justify checking it out. The combination of action-packed combat, RPG elements, and iconic Tolkien vibe make it worth a look for anyone looking for a bloody good time, even if they don't typically care about the stories of Frodo, Gandalf, and the rest of the fellowship.

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.

The tale may not be as finely crafted as Tolkien's, but it's reverent of his work and worth experiencing – just keep in mind that you'll have to kill a lot of orcs to do so.

When it works it really works well and its attention to the canon and lore of the Lord of the Rings is phenomenal, but it does too many things poorly to put it in the same league as a game like Dark Souls or The Witcher 2.

It has some good ideas, but it falls short in depth and developing an interesting story. It's an enjoyable game, but it should have been much better, as it seems to lack the faith to try some new things or further develop the main characters.

War in the North is also quite a lengthy game, which although sounds great on paper does work against the overall experience.

Apart from the three player co-op, there's not much to recommend about War in the North. Fighting the same enemies over and over again gets old fast, especially as they take way too much damage for the combat to feel satisfying.