Review: Lego: The Lord Of The Rings (iPad)

Review by Andrew M.

Developing a game around a legacy like The Lord of the Rings is a not easy. Sure, it helps to have some of the most famous characters in the history of literature, television, film and comics on your side but still, it’s also so easy up upset fans by doing something wrong, and we've seen that happen often enough with Tolkien's work. Time and time again the Lego games do a stand-up job of living up to the legacy. Producing games with DC characters, Marvel characters, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter and so on has always guaranteed interest in what the development team is doing. Now there's the second new Lego game on iPad in less than a month (following Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes). I can't see anyone having anything but a blast with this game.

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Can Warner Bros. finally nail a Middle Earth game with Shadow Of Mordor?

Warner Bros. has had a patchy track record with Middle Earth since acquiring the license. Where EA gave us some classic games (I maintain that Battle For Middle Earth 2 is one of the finest RTS games I've ever played), Warner Bros has lumped us with tripe like War In The North.

But because it's Lord of the Rings I can't help but be excited by the announcement of Shadow Of Mordor. Promising a "dark action fantasy," the press release describes the narrative as so: "Players take on the role of Talion, a valiant ranger whose family is slain in front of him the night Sauron and his army return to Mordor, moments before his own life is taken. Resurrected by a Spirit of vengeance and empowered with Wraith abilities, Talion ventures into Mordor and vows to destroy those who have wronged him. Through the course of his personal vendetta, Talion uncovers the truth of the Spirit that compels him, learns the origins of the Rings of Power and ultimately confronts his true nemesis."

OK, so you're playing a flipping Revenant. That is the very definition of awesome. As much as I protest the increasingly dark-and-violent-for-dark-and-violent's-sake games industry, dark and violent actually fits in with the tone of Tolkien's work, so I'm willing to let this one slide.

Provided the narrative is there and does justice to the near-poetry of Tolkien's work, this might just be the game that makes me forgive War In The North.

The game's in development for both current and next gen consoles, sans Nintendo's Wii and Wii U.  

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Review: Batman: Arkham Origins (iPhone)

Review by Chris I.

With the console release of Batman: Arkham Origins just behind us, I stumbled across the iOS version of the title, noticed that it was a free download and decided to give it a go. Without any knowledge of the game prior to the download, I went into the title, well, blind as a bat to what I'd be doing. Once the darkness lifted, I’ve found that I’m enjoying myself quite a bit with this mobile title.

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Review: Batman: Arkham Origins (PS3)

Review by Matt S. 

It's time for one of those dirty little admissions that no game critic should be making; I haven't played either of Rocksteady's Batman games. I know them by reputation to be some of the finest examples of games this generation, however, and that's especially impressive considering they are licensed titles.

So Arkham Origins was meant to be the opportunity to remedy this gap in my gaming experience and become one of the legions of fans for this franchise. 

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