The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth is none other than the latest mobile transposition dedicated to the characters and settings created by J.R.R. Tolkien, author who also in iOS and Android obviously enjoys great popularity and, therefore, is "monetized" cyclically, in this case with a traditional strategy but at least far from the world of autobattlers.
The protagonists of the game are the prominent figures of The Lord of the Rings, starting with Bilbo Baggins and Strider: inevitable for a game that uses the terminology "heroes", resorting in this case to a roster made up of a total of forty-six unlockable characters, which also include several villains, but who relegate fighters iconic to special rewards like Galdalf, Legolas and Gimli.
So what is this new journey into the Tolkien universe like? We tell you in Review of The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle Earth.
Structure, content and microtransactions
Strategic role-playing games are a fairly popular genre on mobile devices, thanks to a control system that It adapts perfectly to touch controls.. In this case, the game's narrative is an alternative to the events that LOTR fans know well, in a kind of spin-off that, however, uses the same protagonists in the same roles.
In short, it is a kind of battle of dreams that appears before our eyes and develops through three different single player campaigns (Light Campaign, Shadow Campaign and Guild Campaign), each composed of different chapters, in turn divided into individual missions in which our task is none other than to defeat our opponents making the most of the group's abilities. . Once certain experience levels are reached, two more options are added to these options, namely arena and adventures.
Unfortunately, the grinding element comes to life very quickly; In fact, the feeling is that the developers have used it with the specific intention of extending the time; and then the challenges start to become too difficult when the team members do not have the proper power, forcing us to replay previously completed missions, perhaps on a higher difficulty level, or dig into your wallet.
As mentioned, the available list is large but less obvious than you might think, given the presence of characters such as Eowyn, Aerendil, Halbarad, Aeldred, Elrohir, Eomer and others, which represents both a strength and a weakness for a licensed game that aims to appeal to the widest possible audience and not just true connoisseurs of Tolkien's works .
Gameplay: the most classic of strategic RPGs
In practice, the game The Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth is decidedly traditional, with its group fights regulated by a turn-based system, but as mentioned, the automatisms we talked about for example in the review of Street Fighter: Duel are far away. , although there is the option to do so.
CAN freely choose the objective and attack it with a basic move or possibly perform a special action that may have offensive value or affect the party's defensive capabilities, heal wounds, discourage opponents, etc. Choosing what to do and how to do it really produces results and can make the difference between victory and defeat.
Fortunately, there are no tickets to consume and wait for restoration: the title produced by Electronic Arts allows you to play as long as you want, while placing, as mentioned, some highly visible paywalls, which limit progression and force you to go around the objective a bit before you can reach it and continue with the campaign.
This results in a considerable degree of challenge Already in the first hours, which tests our strategic capabilities, but remaining within mechanisms that are not at all deep or multifaceted: it is pleasant to face battles that are difficult to complete, but when you understand that all the motivations are related to monetization , enthusiasm can only wane.
Technical realization
It's a shame that the game suffers from a questionable balance, because on a technical level the guys at Capital Games have done a great job, recreating the characters from Tolkien's sagas with a cartoonish and convincing style, providing them with a decent set of animations and having them collide within sufficiently varied scenarios, although relegated to acting as a mere backdrop to the combat.
is however the Sonoro From this link to surprise, thanks to an epic and engaging orchestral music, just as you would expect from a similar product, combined with high-impact battle effects: for once it's time to turn up the volume on your smartphone.
Conclusions
Tested version iPhone digital delivery app store, Google Play Price Free Holygamerz.com 6.5 Readers (7) 5.4 your voteThe Lord of the Rings: Heroes of Middle-earth uses the important license of Tolkien's works in a discreet way, offering us a traditional strategic RPG experience, pleasant but very similar to many other productions available on iOS and Android. Solid from a technical and artistic point of view, the game would also have a large and non-trivial roster, as well as enough content to keep us glued to the smartphone for dozens of hours, if it were not for a balance of difficulty that was too oriented towards monetization. : a shame.
PRO
- A traditional strategic RPG
- Large and non-trivial list
- Lots of content, good technical section.
AGAINST
- Paywalls appear too quickly
- It seems like grinding is part of the structure.
- Don't ask for tactical depth
