User:Ninfreak95/sandbox

Guardians of Middle-earth is a fantasy video game developed by Monolith Productions and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. The setting of the game is Middle-earth, derived from The Lord of the Rings series, with various tie-ins to the film series of the same name. Guardians of Middle-earth was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles on December 4, 2012, via the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade respectively. A retail package has also been released, which includes a download voucher for the game as well as a "Season Pass" for future downloadable content.

The game was later released for Microsoft Windows on August 29, 2013 through the Steam platform.

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. Unlike most other MOBA titles, Guardians of Middle-earth emphasizes home console, rather than desktop, gameplay, in order to gain a "cinematic" experience.

Up to ten players split into two teams of five per match. Gameplay starts with each 5 player team on opposite sides of the map. The map is composed of one to three “lanes”. The number of lanes is chosen by the player before a match, and they are linked with players who chose the same amount. Lanes are paths from one side of the map to the other where troops travel along the map. Troops are sent out in waves, with breaks in between groups. Play proceeds as each team’s troops leave their fortress and try to fight their way down each lane to the enemies’ fortress. The game is won when one team gets to and destroys the other team’s fortress. When opposing team’s troops meet on the map, they stop in place and attack until there are no more enemy troops and can proceed down the lane further. Human players, acting as guardians, can attack enemy troops or other players using their characters attacks and special abilities. Regular attacks can be used at will, while special attacks can only be used once and then need time to recharge before being used again. If a guardian is killed, they will rejuvenate after a period of time in which they cannot interact with the game.

Players can choose from a pool of thirty-six guardians (currently) from The Lord of the Rings franchise (See list below). Each character has his/her own move set, unique from any other guardian.

Elements on the battlefield include towers, which are spread out across the map and do extensive damage to enemy troops and guardians (Once a tower is attacked it will not regain health nor rejuvenate); shrines, which when taken by a team will give that team a stat boost; and “powerful creatures” that give temporary boosts to your guardian when defeated. Items include potions, gems, and health drops. Potions are purchased and brought into battle (Up to four per battle), which give temporary stat boosts. Gems are placed on a players “belt”, and give stat boosts that last while the gem remains on the belt. Each even numbered level up opens a slot on the belt for a gem. Potions and gems are purchased with in-game currency, which is won during matches. Randomly dropped health items raise a guardian’s health when touched.

Upgrades can be given to guardians, towers, or troops. Guardians level up from defeating enemies, while towers and troops are upgraded by guardians themselves. Guardians start at level one, and with each level up they can upgrade an ability in their upgrade wheel. Higher stats will boost player’s strength in various ways.

From the main menu, players can choose from four game modes: Battlegrounds, Elite Battlegrounds, Skirmish, and Custom Matches. Each mode alters the rules of the game. Battlegrounds allows AI characters to fill empty player slots. It has a 20 minute time limit that, if reached without a team destroying the opposing fortress, will make the team with the highest score the winners. Elite Battlegrounds does not allow AI to replace human players and has no time limit, while Skirmish has no time limit but will allow AI players. Custom Matches does not have a time limit and allows both AI and human players in amounts other than 5 vs. 5.

Playable Characters
The following list is a rundown of characters players can choose from along with their special abilities.

Development
Guardians of Middle-Earth was officially announced by Monolith Productions on May 31, 2012. An official debut trailer was posted by GameTrailers shortly thereafter on June 1, 2012, which showcased a group of characters from the Lord of the Rings franchise in an intense battle scene. The game appeared at E3 2012, where footage of the gameplay was shown to the public.

During development, the developers wanted to focus on adapting a MOBA title for consoles rather than PC. The greatest challenge of this shift was the controls, which had to be adapted to console controllers rather than the traditional mouse and keyboard. Controls were made to be similar to an Action RPG. Players move the guardians directly using a joystick, rather than pointing and clicking with a mouse. This gives the player a more connected feeling towards their character. Gameplay was designed to be faster than traditional MOBA titles, causing matches to be shorter (Roughly around 15–20 minutes) and focused more on action. The development team wanted to make the game easy for newcomers to the genre to pick up and play, while also keeping the depth and hardcore style of other MOBA titles.

Guardians were designed to all be equal in power, with each having a unique style of play. Characters were chosen based off of the way they would fit into the game. Tactician, a type of guardian, is one of many new elements that were added to the standard elements of a MOBA. Others include upgrading towers, and upgrading troops.

Problems were encountered later in development when the game was tested by a group of top MOBA players who were invited to participate in testing the software. The developers listened to their feedback and tweaked it to fix the issues that were found. Problems included “snowballing” (One team gaining a slight edge over another team that keeps growing, not allowing room for them to keep up), shrine captures taking too long, potions could be exploited and used too easily, and guardian “respawn” times were too short. The development team fixed these issues overnight, and had the same group of players test the game one last time. The result was overall positive feedback from the players.

Reception
Reviews vary depending on platform. Console versions have been praised as being the first MOBA-style game to work well on a console rather than PC. The controls are described as being simplified for consoles, allowing the game to serve as a good beginners introduction into the genre. Critisim has focused on poor online connection and difficulty starting matches. Official sales figures have not been released.