LotR: Heroes Of Middle Earth is out to grab on Google Play today, and it’s a game that’s attracted our attention a little. Yes, I know, franchise tie-ins might make you squirm, and there’s no shortage of low-effort content in the sphere, but sometimes titles come up with interesting ideas and directions to take beloved IPs, and if this game can follow up on its concept, it might be worth your time.
A New Ring Of Power
In LotR: Heroes Of Middle Earth, you take the role of the bearer of a previously-unknown ring of power with a pretty spectacular effect. It can manipulate time, and re-write events in the past.
This is a pretty sweet jumping-off point as an excuse to explore a whole world of new possibilities. Lord Of The Rings: Heroes Of Middle Earth is a game about exploring ‘What if?’ scenarios inside Tolkien’s universe.
If you’ve spent much time thinking about the The Lord of The Rings and its story, you probably have a few of these in your mind.
What if Galadriel has taken the One Ring and becomes the Dark Lady? What if Smeagol had never made the dark choices that made him into the wretched creature called Gollum? What if Gandalf had agreed with Saruman The White? So many possibilities.
Lots Of Characters And Squad Options
The gameplay is based around turn-based battles, with many different characters and stories available to explore, with more planned. There are, of course, the kinds of characters you’d expect to see. The Fellowship makes an appearance. There are also more unexpected ones.
A party of men from Gondor? Sure. A party of elves? Absolutely? An evil warband of orcs and goblins? You can do that. An unholy, canon-throttling mix of all of the above? Why not?
There are advantages to characters sticking with their appropriate groups though, factions have combined moves that combine the forces of the factions to unleash cool-looking special moves.
Then there are the giant units. You can only have one of these in your squad, but their presence is very clearly felt.
After all that we’ve heard, we only have one question, how much did they need to nerf Tom Bombadil?
If this sounds like your speed, make sure to check out our Heroes Of Middle Earth launch rankings tier list for some tips to net a flying start.
