Guardians of Middle Earth PS3 Demo Review 9/10

Guardians of Middle Earth is the new MOBA (that is Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game just released for PS3 and Xbox 360. For those of us who are unfamiliar with this genre of game, it works basically like this: you control one character, in this case referred to as a Guardian, and you run down a lane from your base towards your enemy’s base whilst destroying defense towers that will hinder your ultimate goal of blowing up your enemy’s base. You are followed by a bunch of AI soldiers who will help you fight off opposing Guardians and, for the most part, simply be cannon fodder for the towers while you pick away at the tower’s health bar. Other players online then control different Guardians so the whole thing is a team effort. I had played a little League of Legends (a popular MOBA game) before and never really got into it, but if you throw a little Lord of the Rings into the mix I gladly give the genre another go.

This game starts off with a cinematic featuring Gandalf and his heroes of good against the Witch-King of Angmar and his dastardly group of evildoers. Plus Gollum who promptly tries to eat Gandalf’s face. An action-packed brawl commences with weapons and spells flying, and at one point I had to wonder how this scene made it past the copyright department at Marvel. Then just as the Heroes seem to have won the day Sauron himself steps into the fray. This has got to be good, right?

Middle Earth's Mightiest Heroes

This demo came in the form of a 60 minute trial so as a demo it's really just the full game with a timer. In this trial you are given various famous characters such as Gandalf, Eowyn, Gollum, and Legolas to use as your player characters. However there were some pretty cool side stage names a fan would recognise from the books like Beregond of Gondor, and Thrain the Dwarf that are also playable characters. There are some named orcs from the books for the evil side of the battle as well.

As the trial begins you are prompted to undertake the tutorial before jumping into the action, which I begrudgingly did even though tutorials usually are pretty tedious and unnecessary if you have half a brain to learn the mechanics. Seeing as how I’m pretty much a complete novice to this type of game I figured I could use all the help I could get. However I discovered that this tutorial was pretty straightforward and was over in no time at all.

After the tutorial finished and I exited back to the main menu, the game (like all trials) asked me if I wanted to unlock the full game. It did this also every time I finished a match. All in all, one of the least annoying trials I’ve played as far as nagging you to buy the game. 

Then it was time for the real action. At first the game only allows you to play an offline AI match, with no human teammates or opponents. Maybe if I were a MOBA veteran this would have annoyed me, but for the sake of a demo review, I preferred to rule out the possibility of some internet jackass ruining my experience so I only played offline. They give you the option of a single-lane match, with one road from yours to your enemy’s stronghold, and a three-lane match. First I played the three-lane choice and chose my Guardians and started play. The game starts and you are off towards your foe with your allied Guardians in step barrelling down the road. Soon your little minion soldiers spawn and bring up the rear and the action commences immediately with the quick death of one side’s Guardian. In this first instance it was, of course, me. But that didn’t hinder me and I had soon bagged my own kills and leveled up multiple times. The game has a simple level up system where you choose which special ability to improve then back to killing. Later you can choose to upgrade your troops and defense towers, which are just as easy to execute. After a long and drawn out battle, the forces of Mordor overcame the Free Peoples and I was sent back to the main menu in shame. However, I had increased my rank and could now unlock a few more features of the game. Of course I would have to buy the game to explore these features as my time was running short.

What I, sadly, could not do...

So I quickly launched a single-lane matchup, which promised quick brutality and set off again. The promise was promptly fulfilled and I was brutally defeated again. Perhaps I should have enlisted the aid of some more experienced allies online...

All in all this was a pretty great trial that I’d rank a 9/10. Not intrusive at all in its attempts to take your money and the time limit is long enough that you can get a good feel for the title. After playing this trial I would think about buying the game at some point, but it doesn’t immediately grab a spot on my priorities list. At $15 it seems like a pretty good deal, but you do have to pay another $15 for the season pass to access all of the playable characters. But if you’re into MOBA games and the Lord of the Rings, give this game a try. It may just be pitched battles between high-ranking names from the LOTR canon, but it’s very well made and pretty fun. Even if I was sorely defeated.

-Skye, Resident Lord of the Rings Expert