E3 2011: The WB Round-up, Featuring Top-Tier Fantasy

This year, WB Games presented a game line-up that focused heavily on 3 genres: Fantasy, Super Heroes, and Muppets. Yes, Muppets. But while we’ve focused heavily on those latter two topics, the two premiere fantasy titles have yet to be looked at; and they have to be, as they’re top-notch quality.

After the jump, we’ll talk about Lord of the Rings: War in the North, and Break’s favorite, Bastion.

 

Lord of the Rings: War in the North

When we got to E3, I knew I pretty much had to play the new Lord of the Rings game. … that’s not a figurative statement. I literally had to play this demo. I was completely overwhelmed by the stupid hugeness of all the promotional materials for it at the event. All common reason was completely overwhelmed and replaced by an urge to button-mash my way through Middle-Earth upon coming within ten yards of the giant plastic castle that circled 180-degrees around the WB display. As if that weren’t enough, out in the lobby sat the most unreasonably large display of the convention:

 

Happily, my temporary brain-washing didn’t lead me to your usual crap-tastic movie adaptation. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised to find what is probably the most solid LotR adaptation in quite some time. Even if you prefer the immersive LotR Online or the tactics of War of the Ring, War in the North blows away all of the other hack-and-slash titles in the series.

Part of the reason for this is just the continuing march of technology, as the graphics, sound, and control of this newest installment are monumentally improved over the original installments of the modern franchise. The other part, though, is the use of material that is outside of movie-cannon to craft the story, instead using Middle Earth as a backdrop for high fantasy, but losing the slavish attachment to the trilogy of films.

 

What you have instead is a three-player adventure game, featuring known characters like Farin the Dwarf and Elladan & Elohir, the sons of Elrond, and using some of the same, familiar creatures and locations of the beloved movies, but adding more on top of that. What follows is an adventure that is less predictable and a bit more varied than another adaptation of the same films would have allowed.

The addition of loot gathering and new skill trees are improvements to the LotR franchise, but otherwise its the same tried and true game experience. While it doesn’t push the envelope in any ways new to the genre, its still to be a must-have for Rings enthusiast, and probably the most worthy purchase they’ll have made since the release of Two Towers, way back in the day.

Plus, if nothing else, your giant, built-up special attack is to call down Beleram the Eagle, who slams down on the ground amidst your party, and starts pecking at and eating your orc foes. Epic.

 

Bastion

This was one of Break’s favorite titles at E3, and was certainly one that caught my eye when I was digging through all of the XBLA titles on the floor. Check out Break’s interview with Jen Zee, one of the artists for the game, here.

Bastion stands out as a new fantasy game from a small developer, Supergiant games, and its no wonder that Warner Brothers swooped down to grab publishing rights from them. The story involves a post-apocalyptic future world, where our hero, The Kid, must battle through the myriad floating remains of the domains of Earth. In his travels, he finds magic, weapons, and, most importantly, runes that unlock more salvaged bits of the destroyed world, restoring them to their new home in the sky.

The game features smooth, fast gameplay with the overhead styling of Dark Alliance, but with brighter, more vivid graphics. The tech and impending doom made famous by post-apocalypse titles are there, but mixed with vibrant colors and a feeling of hope for this new floating paradise in the making. The narrator comments on the players actions as they make them, instantly weaving them into the game’s lore, and often offering some great humor.

The enemies in the game are all wonderfully animated and add a sense of life to the hazards of the world, and a unique visual style.

Bastion hits the Xbox Live Arcade later on in July, and a PC release will be later in the year. Its a game sure to be at the top of the list for adventure fans, and one that this PS3 owner is pretty jealous of (add that to the list with last year’s Castlevania release…).