The Lord of the Rings: War in the North Preview

IGN put up a pre-E3 preview for Snowblind Studios’ action-RPG The Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and they seem to be reasonably happy with the direction the studios is heading with the title. Here’s a sampling:

War in the North is all about hacking and slashing. This is a game made by Snowblind, the folks who developed the ultimate hack-n-slasher, Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. The combat isn’t intricate or complex. Though each of the three playable characters has his or her own strengths, mostly you’ll be alternating between light and heavy attacks.

Each also has a series of talents that can be developed depending on how you spend your experience points across three different skill trees. Farin is the tank of the group and can earn a shield charge and a war cry (to draw enemies towards him). Eradin is skilled at long range attacks and can use stealth to disappear from enemy sights to infiltrate their position. Andriel is the mage, with a handy “Force push” attack to knock back enemies and a staff that fires energy to fry orcs, trolls, and anything else that gets in its path. All three have access to the best special ability of all: Calling in Beleram.

As long as it’s out in the open, any party member can call down Beleram for assistance. This can be a great help when facing dozens of orcs at one time. Beleram swoops in, snatches several up and tosses them aside. And against a troll, he drops right down on the big ugly and can usually take it out with a few gnarly snaps of his beak. In non-combat instances, Beleram can smash through some walls and carry you to new areas. He’s pretty much the perfect party eagle.