Guardians of Middle-earth

Finally the MOBA's arrive on consoles and for those wondering what aMOBA is it's a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena. this style ofplay has been popular on pc for a number of years now with games likeLeague of Legends dominating the market, so making one for consolewas a great idea. another great idea they implemented isno microtransactions like the pc counterparts have.most pc MOBA'susually charge real cash for characters, items etc. here Guardians Shinesby not charging a cent for anything. you unlock characters by earning coin(Gold) by doing battle with up to 5 human enemies (10 players total)this may sound fantastic but as of this writing, I have notbeen able to play and finish a true ten person game (no A.I. Bots)so here's the rub, while it's a really fun game especally with friendsyou will usually have 1-3 human opponents on a team and the restwill be filled with A.I. Bots that perform pretty well consideringthey're A.I. Controlled.the gameplay consists mainly of killing enemy guardians (players)destroying enemy Towers (defencive- fires on enemies)Upgrading your towersand upgrading your Barracks (barracks when upgraded can produce mounted units, Siege units like Ents and elite fighters good for taking on players)and finally destroying the enemy base. destruction of an enemies base immediatelyends the game. if the timer runs out the game ends as well.there are a number of game modes to choose from including an allA.I. vs Player Match setup called Skirmish Mode. it's a good place to startfor the new player.the 2nd mode Battlegrounds is the meat of the game and has the choice ofthree lane (more strategic) or One lane (full on head to head battle)then there's Elite Battlegrounds for pure player vs player matches no BotsHowever again another flaw shows up with wait times for a single matchtaking up to 15 minutes to start, then later one might start in ten.other times there's not enough players for a match and you haveto wait until the queue is filled.Once you've chosen your battle type and get into a game itis fantastic with glorious spell effects and all sorts of team buffslike shields, healing, shrouded in darkness etc. and there'sCommands in addition to abilities that have a longer cooldown but allows the playerto have a quick heal at level one but maxed out at level 12 you cansummon a Balrog or an Ent. there's about five Command Power choicesper level and four levels each unlocking at lvl four, eight, and twelve.finally, there are Relics that you can equip up to three of and fill with gemsthese apply various effects from regeneration to the more expensiverelics shrouding the player in a shield each time an ability is used.others increase damage and others still speed up cooldowns.the animations are excellent but nothing new with an isometric style of viewof the lanes or lane.Characters to begin with you have on each side (good and evil)three unlocked characters and 5000 gold is required to unlock anotherthough they have a great "Featured" group of characters each week that are free to use for that week only. as of this writing I do not know if they will cycle.a really fun game that could have been more fun with all ten friends.Gameplay: 5 stars a blast to play and a deep amount of strategyGraphics: clean and nicely animated 4 starsSound: nothing beyond the expected 4 starsControls: 5 stars simple and easy to pick up and play.Overall: if it weren't for the wait times for matcheswith human players this would easily be a Five Star titlebut the wait times are annoying. I have read on the officialforums that several patches are coming to address the issues I statedabout the long wait times and games with ten live players failingto remain stable long enough to complete a match. so let'shope they bring out a patch for these soon since it trulyis a Gem on the Psn and XBL marketplaces.the game only falls short of greatness due to those two flaws.don't overlook it try the demo First!NOTE: the PS3 version as well as Xbox, are MarketplaceDownloads off your service (I Used PSN)so in this retail box you get a cardboard disc that has a voucher code on itgood for BOTH the full game and the Season Pass. this pass get's you eight more guardians as they are released. so if you're wondering if there's a discin the retail ps3 version, the answer is No.

Kids love the game, just got the ps-3 for christmas so we purchased some games and they love anything to do with Lord of the Rings great seller

I bought this for $15, and it came with a downloadable voucher, I download it, then played one game online. Even with a wired 30 megabit connection, I got lag. For a League of Legends play who is used to instantaneous response, that was unacceptable. The $15 price tag about fits it for how bad the servers can be. I'd suggest waiting for the PC version to come out to see if the servers are any better. But I don't suggest buying this unless they step up their servers.

The game play was nnot as I expected. The view of the game pplay is the disappointment. Unlike the past LOT games this one fails in my book

Iplayed this online twice and it is so complicated I gave up, will probably resell it. Prefer the old xbox games to this.

SERVERS ARE DOWN ON PS3, BUT XBOX SEEMS TO WORK FINE.Even without servers I enjoyed it. And it makes me want to try more mobas. A great intro into the genre.

Yes, finally, Lord of the Rings "Prequel" is here to be able to be played! I love it, so far! Thanks for selling it :)

The game was alright. A fun way to waste some time at least however in my location it was very difficult to play with other people online. Either to few online or to spread out so there was a bad connection. Otherwise it was alright. I also would have enjoyed it more if they would have made it so you had more upgrading options for towers and soldiers etc.

good