My first official ‘Jolley Selection Video Game Review of the Week’ starts with The Lord of The Rings: War in the North.

The story revolves around the entire Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Fellowship, Two Towers and Return of the King).

We first meet our ‘Heroes’ Farin (The Dwarf), Eredan (The Man Ranger) and Andriel (The Elf Mage) meeting up with Aragon at The Prancing Pony to discuss the quest that is set for them. Bare in mind this meeting is a few days before Frodo and the other Hobbits arrive.

At the end of the story, the heroes complete their task at almost exactly the same time that Frodo pops the One Ring into the fires of Mount Doom. So don’t expect this game to be short as it is very much the opposite but trust me when I say, you won’t get bored. You get very enticed throughout the game to a point where you do not have any concept of time which in my mind tends to be a good thing.

The Basic Plot:

As we know, Sauron plans on ruling Middle Earth by destroying the land with his armies and if he occupied the One Ring…. Well… I think everyone would be screwed beyond measure. Even for him I doubt he would have thought his armies alone were enough to decimate Middle Earth. That’s where we discover a new villain… Agandaur.

Agandaur is Sauron’s ‘Right Hand Man’ as it were. Not much is known about him, only that he is as powerful as he is ruthless (which is quite a lot). He was sent to the North of Middle Earth to build an army that would later be a major part in destroying the land. He would also have been the person responsible for enslaving Hobbinton (Boo hiss, boo hiss). This as you can imagine doesn’t dwell well for the people of Middle Earth so they had a choice… either do something about it or let Agandaur destroy everything they love even if Sauron kicked the bucket.

So these three heroes were very highly recommended to set upon the dangerous task of travelling up North fighting Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, spiders, all manor of dark creatures where they would eventually confront and defeat Agandaur thus putting an end to his and Sauron’s plans. So…… NO PRESSURE!

The Game Play:

Well don’t worry; it’s not just a simple of matter of pressing one button for an attack. You upgrade and unlock several combat moves and abilities throughout the game depending on what character you play. You can unlock over 30 skills! And that’s just for one character! You can also buy and sell armour, weapons, amulets, health potions and many more items. Some of which can be fitted with special elf stones (for example: You can slot a 75 fire power elf stone into a specific sword). But it’s not a matter of you accidently bumping into these extra special rewards oh no… you have to find them by opening chests, defeating enemies and finding hidden passages. Some pathways can only be found and opened by a specific character. If you’re wondering, yes you can switch character when you get to a checkpoint if you wish. You can complete optional side quests given to you throughout some of which can only be completed by finding an exact hidden location but trust me when I say it’s worth the look.

This is definitely one of those games where you will need to play it again to find any hidden items you will have missed and to upgrade your skills fully.

The graphics and artwork are magnificent. I can not tell you how many times I stopped to have a look at the environment and scenery. The detail from the environment to the characters is mind blowing; an appreciation that can go amiss by some people who are more interested in just fighting bad guys. If that is the main reason you want to play it however, this game is definitely up for the job.

I can’t tell you much about the music only that it is truly epic as you would imagine with it being part of The Lord of the Rings and all. I have put an example of one of their epically put together pieces right here so you can have a listen yourself.

In my opinion this is one of the best games I have ever played. It’s got everything from story, game play, graphics and much more.

If you listened to my show you would have heard me rating this as an 8 out of 10 but now I have decided to upgrade the number as I can’t tell you how great I think this game is. That’s why I have decided to rate this game………

9/10

So there we have it, my very first official Video Game Review of the Week. Keep an ear and eye out next week for another review. Until then… See you later!!!