Guardians of Middle-Earth Is Not for Lord of the Rings Purists

The upcoming Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-Earth game will take some liberties when it comes to the core lore of the fantasy universe created by J.R.R. Tolkien, but the developers hope that the changes will not drive fans away.

Ruth Tomandl, who is a producer working at the Seattle Warner Bros. studio on the game, has told Eurogamer that, “We are bending how the match-ups would play out in ‘real life’. Obviously, every character needs to have a chance against every other character. This isn’t a game necessarily for purists, and the purists will realise that.”

Another designer, Scott Compton, added, “We really thought about the story background, the lore specifics of the specific character, not the interaction of the characters from a story aspect.”

The core structure of Lord of the Rings: Guardians of Middle-Earth is that of a Massive Online Battle Arena title, which means that balance between the various included characters is crucial to its success.

One of the biggest criticisms that purists might make is that the game allows players to put the heroes, like Galadriel or Gandalf, and the villains of the universe, from Gollum to Sauron, on the same team.

The development team will offer 20 heroes to choose from and the biggest battles will include five in each of the teams, each of them trying to destroy the other’s base while protecting their own turf.

Warner Bros. promised that the console focus would allow the game to deliver a more cinematic experience than other MOBA titles.

Guardians of Middle-Earth is set to be launched on the PlayStation 3 from Sony and the Xbox 360 from Microsoft around the same time that the first part of the much awaited The Hobbit prequel arrive in cinemas, probably just before Christmas.