It's grim up North
Lord of the Rings: War in the North
One of the tragedies of seeing piles of new games is that one or two will always be an unpleasant surprise. Whilst Binary Domain impressed me, the new Lord of the Rings: War in the North did not. Having played the now serverless Lord of the Rings: Conquest, I was expecting a bit more than simple hack 'n' slash from the newer War in the North. However, the mission I was able to tackle in split screen co-op was a shockingly similar experience.
Taking on the role of a Dwarf, my co-op pal that of a human, we were tasked with defending the top of a keep. For the next ten minutes or so, wave after wave of similar looking orc enemies rose from the walls and proceeded to give me my worst beating since I quit playing rugby. Even by combining my ranged crossbow attack with my close quarters axe attack, there was seemingly nothing we could do to prevent being overwhelmed.
Being a hard game is no crime, I will be the first to admit that I am not always the best player, but being repetitive and similar to a two year old game should be considered worrying at best. With just over a month until release it is clear I was playing the final build. There could be fun to be had in co-op, but the mindless tapping of buttons is not quite what I had in mind when I think of Tolkien's masterpiece. Co-Optimus will be sure to bring you the definitive co-op review when the game is released - hopefully the full retail version of the game will be more appealing.