''Guardians of Middle-earth'' is a

multiplayer online battle arena Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Monolith Productions Monolith Productions, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Kirkland, Washington. The company has been a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment since August 2004. History Monolith Productions was founded on October ...

and published by

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE; also known as Warner Bros. Games or WB Games) is an American video game publisher based in Burbank, California, and part of the newly-formed Global Streaming and Interactive Entertainment unit of ...

. The setting of the game is

Middle-earth Middle-earth is the fictional setting of much of the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy. The term is equivalent to the '' Miðgarðr'' of Norse mythology and ''Middangeard'' in Old English works, including ''Beowulf''. Middle-earth is ...

, derived from ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' series, with various tie-ins to the

film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. This article explains what film series are ...

of the same name, as well as ''The Hobbit'' film series. ''Guardians of Middle-earth'' was released for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

and

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

consoles on December 4, 2012, via the PlayStation Network and

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...

respectively. A retail package is also released, which includes a download voucher for the game as well as a "Season Pass" for future downloadable content. It is no longer available on the PlayStation Network, and the game's servers are no longer operational. The game was later released for Microsoft Windows on August 29, 2013.

Gameplay

''Guardians of Middle-earth'' incorporates the standard elements of a typical multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, with a strong emphasis upon team coordination. Up to ten players may split into two teams of five and from a pool of thirty-six guardians from ''The Lord of the Rings'' franchise, including

Gandalf Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels '' The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Nor ...

Sauron Sauron (pronounced ) is the title character and the primary antagonist, through the forging of the One Ring, of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'', where he rules the land of Mordor and has the ambition of ruling the whole of Midd ...

and

Radagast Radagast the Brown is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's legendarium. A wizard and associate of Gandalf, he appears briefly in ''The Hobbit'', ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. His role in To ...

, and coordinate to win matches by destroying the opposing team's base. Unlike most other MOBA titles, ''Guardians of Middle-earth'' emphasizes home console, rather than desktop, gameplay, in order to gain a "cinematic" experience.

Reception

''Guardians of Middle-earth'' received mixed reviews. It scored a 7.5/10 from ''

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

''. Many users have problems with the games interfacing on PC, as well as numerous glitches in connectivity. As of April 2019, Steam has removed ''Guardians of Middle Earth'' from their store page.

References

External links

* 2012 video games Fantasy video games Monolith Productions games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiplayer online battle arena games Multiplayer online games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation Network games Video games scored by Inon Zur Video games scored by Laura Karpman Video games developed in the United States Video games using Havok Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment games Windows games Xbox 360 games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Middle-earth (film franchise) video games {{online-game-stub