guardians of middle-earth

Guardians of Middle-earth‘s ever-expanding stable of seasoned heroes was bolstered again today, as Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions inked the newest name to the roster. Radagast the Brown, the nature-conscience wizard recently featured in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, lends his particular set of skills to the ongoing war for Middle-earth.

Radagast enters the fray as an enchanter, similar to Gandalf, dealing ability damage and crowd control through with his many area-of-effect spells. To compliment his arsenal, Radagast is able to increase his attack speed, and reduce controlling effects on himself and his allies, making for a potent ally in any skirmish. You can see him working his magic in action by checking out the character profile video, after the jump.

Everyone eager to battle with the brown wizard can purchase him individually or as part of the Season Pass, which includes all existing and future downloadable characters, as well as the forthcoming Survival mode for 1200 MSP. Additionally, players will have the opportunity to compete in “The One Road” challenge this weekend. Running February 1 through 3, the competition requires you rack up the “Most Wins on a One-Lane Map” in order to walk away with 500 XP, 20,000 Gold, and three Mithril level items to outfit your utility belt.

Those not yet waging war across the lanes of Middle-earth can get up to speed with our Guardians of Middle-earth review and helpful guide.

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A slew of new releases and deals have been revealed on Major Nelson’s blog. Included in new releases is the long anticipated Skulls of the Shogun, a game we have waited a long time for. Also finally joining the party is the all-new Scott Pilgrim online multiplayer mode, plus Wallace Wells as a playable character. Lastly, for all you deal headhunters, you might want to check out Hydrophobia available for a measly 160 MSP.

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What we are playing is a weekly column published on Sunday. Select members of the team talk about the games they’ve been playing over the past week and which they’re …
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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

With the shadow of the holidays firmly behind for us another year, we can get back to focusing on the other thing that brings us all together, Xbox Live Arcade. A lot of work behind the scenes this week, as several existing XBLA games got some tinkering under the hood. We outline some strategies for guarding Middle-earth, talk DLC for our ‘Best HD Remake of 2012’ and dish on the many flavors of our favorite peripheral. Here’s to another great year of Xbox Live Arcade.

Here’s our week in review:

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Be a pro at defending The Shire
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Welcome to the XBLA Fans GOME Good Characters Guide. In this article, we’ll offer some invaluable usage tips which are specific to the good Guardians which, if used in conjunction with our General Strategiies Guide, should enable even the greenest of recruits to become combat effective quickly.

Arathorn

Father of Aragorn, Arathorn is found in the Warrior section and proves to be a very powerful character. His basic attack is very strong, and is what most builds will be centered around. He has 3 main skills that he will utilize during combat. Staggering Shot is a long range stun that does moderate ability damage. It has a reasonable recast timer, so when attack other Guardians open up with this move. You then have a choice of two moves to follow up with. Chieftain’s Focus is a forward facing attack, that not only slows the enemies movement but increases your attack speed. The other choice is Ranger’s Strike. This is a power move that does massive damage, slows the enemy and renders you invisible. Using a combination of these three skills, or all three back to back will likely kill most weaker Guardians and stronger ones will think twice about continuing the fight. His final skill is less useful in direct combat, and should be used more when killing monsters in lanes. Dunedain Blade is a close range attack that will deal damage over time while also slowing the afflicted targets.

For Gems and Relics, it is suggested you boost his basic attack damage and speed. His basic attack is quite high already, and adding on to this only makes him stronger. With the right gems in place, his damage can reach 300+ on regular attacks. Couple this with attack speed increases and you will have a very powerful Arathorn, who can net kills even without his abilities. An alternate build involves stacking a lot of ability power with cooldown reduction. This will allow for the player to cast abilities more frequently, for more damage. Potions and Commands that increase damage or speed are both recommended for this character.

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Welcome to the XBLA Fans GOME Evil Characters Guide. In this article, we’ll offer some invaluable usage tips which are specific to the evil Guardians which, if used in conjunction with our General Strategiies Guide, should enable even the greenest of recruits to become combat effective quickly.

Sauron

Sauron is a Warrior class Guardian who features a strong basic attack and extremely high durability. These cornerstone statistics, in conjunction with 3 fairly damaging abilities ensure that Sauron is always useful when pushing or holding a lane, because he can engage multiple foes at once with his ‘Might of Barad-Dur’ ability and base attack. ‘Dark Lord’s Reach’ is a great skill when facing a single, weak enemy Guardian, as it roots them and enables Sauron and his ally’s to hammer on the stricken foe. Any team which features a player who is using Sauron should be aware of the fact that his ‘The Lidless Eye’ ability damages ALL enemy Guardians for a small amount of health, meaning that when used it can immediately kill an enemy who is running very low. Use this to your advantage by calling out to your Sauron ally that there is an easy kill available for using his ultimate and remember to do so yourself, when called. Read More

So you want to succeed in Guardians of Middle Earth?(GOME) right? Well, you’re going to need all the help you can get, because GOME is a complex game which is made even tougher because it is played almost exclusively online against other human beings. Don’t worry though, because XBLA Fans is here to help. Below are some of the most useful hints for new players, along with a few more subtle strategies which even experienced players are sure to benefit from:

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Weekly Roundup compiles all the biggest news stories, reviews and features from the week into one handy post on the weekends.

We’re well under way in our 12 Days of XBLA giveaway. If you haven’t caught it, ’tis the season for giving and your chance to score dozens of terrific XBLA titles as the holidays approach. In other news, Minecraft gets some video coverage, and delays are discussed across a few games that fell away from the spotlight.

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The first new additions to the already robust Guardians of Middle-earth roster are now available. Joining the ranks are Bilbo Baggins, the titular star of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, who fills the role of a striker with his blade, Sting. Tipping the scales for the forces of darkness, Bert the Troll brings considerable firepower as yet another tactician, using his abilities to secure lanes and push toward enemy installations. Both guardians can be individually purchased for 160 MSP, or as part of the Season Pass, which also secures future downloadable content for 1200 MSP.

Also available for download, The Shire map skin brings 3-lane warfare to the rolling green mounds of Hobbiton. The Shire plays similarly to the existing 3-lane map, though players will notice shrine locations are slightly changed, and bushes scattered throughout the map present new opportunities for potential ambushes. Part of a compatibility update, The Shire map skin is free of charge, joining the random map rotation once downloaded.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Productions plan to release more content over the course of the coming months, including several new guardians and game modes when they become available. For a better look at Bilbo, Bert and The Shire, check out the trailer after the jump. Anyone not yet knee-deep in the battle can see what all the fuss is about in our Guardians of Middle-earth review.

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