Developer: Monolith Productions/Zombie Studios
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Genre: Multiplayer online battle arena
Platforms: Microsoft Windows / Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3
Released: August 29, 2013
Website: www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com/home

Ratings

Design: 7.7/10
Gameplay: 6.8/10
Presentation: 7.9/10
Overall score: 7.4/10

Minimum system requirements

OS: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz / AMD Athlon X2, 2.8 GHz or better
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS / AMD Radeon 3850 or better
Hard drive: 8GB available space

Taking cues from the increasingly-popular battle-arena genre, the mystical beings of J.R.R. Tolkien’s timeless Middle-Earth band together for an all-out assault in Guardians of Middle-earth. Originally designed as a battle-arena specifically tailored for consoles, the game has now been ported over to the PC with some minor changes to the structure.

The concept for Guardians of Middle-earth is simple – two teams of five members fight on a singular map to destroy the other’s base, much like DotA. The map consists of three lanes that lead to the other team’s base, with the lanes being guarded by defence towers and creeps that spawn in both bases.

The game makes slight changes to the original formula by adding in a number of features. The characters were originally designed to be controlled via analogue sticks, which make a lot of the moves tailored to have area-of-effect properties and work on cooldown timers instead of the traditional mana points. The characters themselves are pulled right out of the Middle-earth universe while adding some original creations as well.

There’s also no item shop on the map; instead, the game uses a Guardian Belt system through which players can equip relics before each match to boost their stats. This mechanic cuts down on players having to move back to base often to pick up a necessary item, while also making each character highly customisable. Other inclusions are upgradable towers that can fire different kinds of projectiles, barracks that allow you to customise the type of soldiers that spawn in the lanes, and tactical points on the map called ‘shrines’ that provide a host of benefits once you capture them.

The art of the game makes use of rich graphic options such as advanced lighting, particle effects and anti-aliasing. While Guardians does bring plenty to the table, it’s not without its fair share of missteps. Controlling your characters using a keyboard and mouse becomes more of a chore than a boon, since the button configurations and rigidity of gameplay is very poorly executed. It’s clear that the game was designed for controllers, which is what players should stick to. There’s also the issue of long load-times within the game, a high price tag with additional characters being locked behind a DLC, and the absence of a strong community for the PC platform really does hurt a game of this calibre.

For newcomers into the battle-arena genre, Guardians of Middle-earth is a great introductory tool to work with, and it can be pretty fun to play once you have live players fighting for domination. However, there are plenty of better alternatives out there, and it’s definitely not suited for any advanced form of play. If you’re a fan of the series, you should embark on this adventure. If not, then staying back in the Shire could be a better idea.