[GDC 2011] A Different Kind of Snowblind
Oh, there are flurries in LotR: War in the North, but it's more than just snow.
Published: March 12, 2011
As licenses go, Lord of the Rings is damn near the pinnacle -- and not just because of the bankability of having both the Tolkein folks and the New Line fellas sign off on your work, but because a few games made based off the book license and the most recent Aragorn's Quest notwithstanding, most of the interactive takes on LotR have been surprisingly good, namely the hack-and-slashers.
Who better, then, to take a stab at building a next-gen co-op hack-and-slash than the reigning kings of the genre last generation, Snowblind Studios? The folks behind the fantastic (and gorgeous) Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath series are embarking on something that's far more than just another licensed game, however; this one is proving to be one of the most collaborative efforts between film, books and video games in a while now.
Yes, we know that sounds a little hyperbolic, but consider this: Lord of the Rings: War in the North has been given the blessing of Middle-earth Enterprises, the folks who manage the Tolkien estate, to actually create and flesh out an entire part of Middle-earth that was never actually explored in the Fellowship/Two Towers/King trilogy. This effectively gives the developer free rein to do anything they want -- so long as it actually ties in with the main story.
Thankfully, that is indeed the case, as the story takes place in the North that was spoken about briefly as the source of a massive series of battles that helped repel Sauron's forces and enabled the Fellowship to actually survive the trip to Mordor. Gandalf said it himself: "With his far-reaching right hand, Sauron may have done great evil in the North. Yet all of that has been averted because of a handful of heroes stood in his path." Now granted, we shamelessly stole that from the one sheet the good folks at WBIE gave us, but it does illustrate how tightly they're threading the characters from the mainstay books into this new side story, and indeed there will be moments where the trio of Elf, Dwarf and Human venture into areas from the books and films before or after the moments they were captured in text or on screen.
Moreover, the game isn't shying away from the bloody battles seen in the flicks, instead focusing on just how brutal and visceral the fights could be. Yep, you're going to see an M-rated Lord of the Rings game, and with Snowblind developing it, fans of their previous work will know there's no shortage of unique item drops, equipment to manage and crafting to be had. In short, there's a lot of hacking, slashing and... giving?
It's all part of the game's strict co-op focus. This was meant to be something played with friends (though in a pinch AI will do), and the story focuses on the Human Ranger (think Aragorn for those who aren't down with the lingo), Elf Archer and Dwarf Warrior, each with their own innate abilities. As we went hands-on with the game last week at the Game Developers Conference, we were treated to some simple examples of this on the impressive three-screen setup WB and Snowblind was rocking. On the Dwarf's screen, cracks in cave walls would show as small slivers of light pouring through, while the Elf's vision allowed consumables like mushrooms to glow and be collected, and the Ranger could see footprints when tracking someone or something.
In all three's case, things like enemies an treasure chests were obviously synced up, but even in the case of the latter, all three characters could loot a chest and have access to "all" of the spoils, but then could trade items that were specific to the other races. These items, ranging from weapons to armor to equipment, were of course reflected on the characters themselves both in the inventory screen and out in battle, and though we didn't get a chance to see it, full sets of weapons and armor could be collected were one vigilant enough.
When we finally did get into combat, Snowblind's dungeon crawling roots were immediately apparent. Though presented from a third-person view with a user-controlled camera rather than the top-down isometric view of their earlier PS2 hack-and-slashers, there was no less of an emphasis on quick strikes and of course an overabundance of particles.
The fights themselves could be easily transitioned into and out of ranged or melee combat by simply holding a trigger and whipping away with notched arrows (complete with the same whistle heard in the movies). Each of the races also had their own special abilities, mapped to the face buttons and toggled into use by holding a shoulder button. From there, it was simply a matter of unleashing melee attacks against enemies to power up the characters' Hero Points against specific foes which would then show a prompt for a slick finishing move that hacked off limbs and heads alike.
When it came time to battle bigger enemies like a club-wielding troll, combat got a little more animated. A simple roll (when timed right, which we didn't always do, but that was mostly because we were too busy hacking away) could avoid most attacks, and when it finally came time to fell the beast, the camera locked into a nice little cinematic finisher that did the trick quite well.
Though our demo was fairly short, we still walked away more than impressed with things so far. The game still doesn't have a defined release date, but without any major box office release to match, Snowblind and WBIE seem all too happy to let the game become as polished as possible before kicking it out to the public, and when it is, players can enjoy just about any combination of split-screen (well, up to two players), LAN play and online however they want. No matter what the particular set-up, we're now officially looking forward to thumping some orcs with friends as we head into the later part of the year. As soon as we have more, we'll let you know!
Who better, then, to take a stab at building a next-gen co-op hack-and-slash than the reigning kings of the genre last generation, Snowblind Studios? The folks behind the fantastic (and gorgeous) Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath series are embarking on something that's far more than just another licensed game, however; this one is proving to be one of the most collaborative efforts between film, books and video games in a while now.
Yes, we know that sounds a little hyperbolic, but consider this: Lord of the Rings: War in the North has been given the blessing of Middle-earth Enterprises, the folks who manage the Tolkien estate, to actually create and flesh out an entire part of Middle-earth that was never actually explored in the Fellowship/Two Towers/King trilogy. This effectively gives the developer free rein to do anything they want -- so long as it actually ties in with the main story.
Thankfully, that is indeed the case, as the story takes place in the North that was spoken about briefly as the source of a massive series of battles that helped repel Sauron's forces and enabled the Fellowship to actually survive the trip to Mordor. Gandalf said it himself: "With his far-reaching right hand, Sauron may have done great evil in the North. Yet all of that has been averted because of a handful of heroes stood in his path." Now granted, we shamelessly stole that from the one sheet the good folks at WBIE gave us, but it does illustrate how tightly they're threading the characters from the mainstay books into this new side story, and indeed there will be moments where the trio of Elf, Dwarf and Human venture into areas from the books and films before or after the moments they were captured in text or on screen.
Moreover, the game isn't shying away from the bloody battles seen in the flicks, instead focusing on just how brutal and visceral the fights could be. Yep, you're going to see an M-rated Lord of the Rings game, and with Snowblind developing it, fans of their previous work will know there's no shortage of unique item drops, equipment to manage and crafting to be had. In short, there's a lot of hacking, slashing and... giving?
It's all part of the game's strict co-op focus. This was meant to be something played with friends (though in a pinch AI will do), and the story focuses on the Human Ranger (think Aragorn for those who aren't down with the lingo), Elf Archer and Dwarf Warrior, each with their own innate abilities. As we went hands-on with the game last week at the Game Developers Conference, we were treated to some simple examples of this on the impressive three-screen setup WB and Snowblind was rocking. On the Dwarf's screen, cracks in cave walls would show as small slivers of light pouring through, while the Elf's vision allowed consumables like mushrooms to glow and be collected, and the Ranger could see footprints when tracking someone or something.
In all three's case, things like enemies an treasure chests were obviously synced up, but even in the case of the latter, all three characters could loot a chest and have access to "all" of the spoils, but then could trade items that were specific to the other races. These items, ranging from weapons to armor to equipment, were of course reflected on the characters themselves both in the inventory screen and out in battle, and though we didn't get a chance to see it, full sets of weapons and armor could be collected were one vigilant enough.
When we finally did get into combat, Snowblind's dungeon crawling roots were immediately apparent. Though presented from a third-person view with a user-controlled camera rather than the top-down isometric view of their earlier PS2 hack-and-slashers, there was no less of an emphasis on quick strikes and of course an overabundance of particles.
The fights themselves could be easily transitioned into and out of ranged or melee combat by simply holding a trigger and whipping away with notched arrows (complete with the same whistle heard in the movies). Each of the races also had their own special abilities, mapped to the face buttons and toggled into use by holding a shoulder button. From there, it was simply a matter of unleashing melee attacks against enemies to power up the characters' Hero Points against specific foes which would then show a prompt for a slick finishing move that hacked off limbs and heads alike.
When it came time to battle bigger enemies like a club-wielding troll, combat got a little more animated. A simple roll (when timed right, which we didn't always do, but that was mostly because we were too busy hacking away) could avoid most attacks, and when it finally came time to fell the beast, the camera locked into a nice little cinematic finisher that did the trick quite well.
Though our demo was fairly short, we still walked away more than impressed with things so far. The game still doesn't have a defined release date, but without any major box office release to match, Snowblind and WBIE seem all too happy to let the game become as polished as possible before kicking it out to the public, and when it is, players can enjoy just about any combination of split-screen (well, up to two players), LAN play and online however they want. No matter what the particular set-up, we're now officially looking forward to thumping some orcs with friends as we head into the later part of the year. As soon as we have more, we'll let you know!
