The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a PlayStation 3 role-playing game released in 2011 developed by Snowblind Studios. It centers on area and route exploration, area exploration, and combat and party setup, with controls and information arranged around the DualShock 3 or Sixaxis twin sticks, triggers, and face buttons, with PlayStation Move only where explicitly supported.
- AI score · out of 10
- 6.1 / 10
About this game
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North is a PlayStation 3 role-playing game centered on area and route exploration, area exploration, and combat and party setup. Story beats, exploration, and progression resources support a longer campaign, with progress divided into stages, tasks, matches, or growth milestones that make immediate goals understandable. Its value depends on whether these rules continue to create judgment and room for mastery rather than on length, sales, or series recognition. Short campaigns are judged by repeat-challenge value, while longer ones are judged by variety, pacing, and recovery after failure. Characters, world building, environments, and music carry most of the atmosphere, while HD 3D scenes, Blu-ray data streaming, surround audio, and cinematic presentation need to preserve action, state, and text readability together. The genre-specific limitation is that dense text, menu layers, repeated battles, loading, or language dependence can slow progress. Platform conditions also include Blu-ray loading, HDD installs, system software, DualShock 3 battery life, Move accessories, resolution and frame rate, and retired online services affect present-day use. This description covers only this platform release and does not import features or conveniences from remasters, emulators, or other console editions.
Collected in series
The Lord of the Rings games offer different ways to enter Tolkien's Middle-earth, from commanding armies to exploring with a character of your own. These adaptations span several genres, turning familiar places into battlefields, shared journeys and homes to rebuild.
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PlayStation 3
AI review
AI reviews are subjective assessments, not player ratings. See each review for its evidence and limitations.Published date:
Complementary classes and local cooperation support otherwise simple fighting.
War in the North works best through its small party. A durable dwarf, a ranged healing mage and a ranger create complementary roles, and PS3 split-screen lets friends make simple hacking more enjoyable through coordination. The short campaign feels like a side story, with weak instruction and limited evolving objectives rather than a substantial Middle-earth journey. Full voice work and epic music help battles, while plain scenery and sparse cutscenes contribute less. Technical problems are harder to overlook: historical PS3 testing personally recorded discolored screens, audio faults and interruptions requiring a return to the system menu, alongside lengthy initial loading. These are concrete usability problems, not a penalty for old hardware. It suits tolerant Tolkien fans prioritizing local cooperation. The 2011 original does not inherit rerelease fixes, and historical faults are not presented as freshly tested current behavior.
Strengths
- Complementary classes and split-screen cooperation
- Epic music supports the setting
Weaknesses
- Short campaign and weak guidance
- Serious interruptions in historical PS3 testing
Who it is for: Tolkien fans who prioritize local cooperation and tolerate technical friction.
Play notes: Historical original-release faults are not current patch tests or rerelease behavior.
View scoring basis
| Dimension | Review state | Score | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dimension A short campaign and weak guidance offer limited evolving goals. | Reviewed | 5.8 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Complementary classes and local cooperation support otherwise simple fighting. | Reviewed | 6.9 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Music and voices contribute more than the plain scenery and sparse cutscenes. | Reviewed | 6.5 / 10 | Not provided |
| Dimension Documented historical PS3 failures interrupt progress and substantially weaken reliability. | Reviewed | 4.0 / 10 | Not provided |
Review sources
Not provided
Core information
- Developer
- Snowblind Studios
- Publisher
- Feral InteractiveWB Games
- Release date
- 2011
- Platforms
- PlayStation 3
- Content kind
- Game
- Release state
- Released
- Region
- Worldwide
- Official website
- Not provided
- Offline minimum players
- Not provided
- Offline maximum players
- Not provided
- Online minimum players
- Not provided
- Online maximum players
- Not provided
- Categories
- Role-Playing · Primary genre
- Tags
- Solo-friendlyThird PersonFantasyLevel ProgressionTurn-based CombatLong-term ProgressionExploration3D GraphicsLocal Co-opWarMain Story 20–50 HoursStory-driven
- Supported game languages
- Not provided
- Requires base game
- Not provided
- Standalone
- Not provided
- Age ratings
- Not provided
- Play modes
- MultiplayerSingle playerCo-op
- Perspectives
- Third person
Release editions
- PlayStation 3Worldwide2011
Game gallery
Sources
Not provided