GUARDIANS OF MIDDLE-EARTH LAUNCHES FOR PC‏

Sydney, Australia – August 30, 2013 – Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announces the launch of Guardians of Middle-earth for Windows PC, a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed by Monolith Productions and brought to PC by Zombie Studios, available today through Steam and other digital retailers. 

Guardians of Middle-earth for Windows PC allows gamers to team up and battle as powerful and iconic heroes from Middle-earth. Gamers will have access to 36 original Guardians, earnable through gameplay and in-game currency, to take into 10 player competitive and five player cooperative multiplayer battle arenas. Players also have access to three modes, including the Survival gameplay mode previously introduced as downloadable content (DLC), and six maps including The Shire, Goblin-town and Mirkwood. Exclusive to the PC version of the game, there are 36 alternate Guardian skins available for purchase through the Steam store. Offering a true MOBA experience, Guardians of Middle-earth for PC supports full Steamworks integration, Steam Trading Cards, Big Picture full controller compatibility and Raptr integration for live streaming matches.

Be sure to check out my review of the game here

In Guardians of Middle-earth for PC, player versus player (PvP) matches range from 15 to 30 minutes and gamers can decide to play against friends, other live opponents or artificial intelligence combatants in PvP, Co-Op vs. AI, Survival or Training modes. Gamers will have access to a detailed online system to track friends’ victories and defeats any time through integrated stats and leaderboard systems, to connect with other players via in-game voice communication and more.

Players who have previously purchased* Guardians of Middle-earth for PlayStation®Network** or on the Xbox Live online entertainment network for the Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft will be eligible to receive a PC download key for the base game. For more information on the redemption process, visit http://www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com/vip/.

Guardians of Middle-earth for Windows PC is rated M and is available worldwide today. The base game includes playable, immediately unlocked Guardians Gandalf, Galadriel, Thráin, Gollum, Hildifons and Legolas and their alternate skins for US$19.99. Guardians of Middle-earth for PC is available at multiple purchase levels, for complete details visit http://www.guardiansofmiddleearth.com/buy.

For more information about Guardians of Middle-earth for PC, please visitwww.guardiansofmiddleearth.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Guardiansofmiddleearth or on Twitter @GuardiansMe

Guardians of Middle Earth PC Review - Maxi Geek Review

Guardians of Middle Earth is a MOBA, Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, think PvP only. Other games that have come before this include the super popular League of Legends, and while you may not want to think another game can compete against the behemoth that is LoL Guardians has the potential to thrive on PC.

Guardians of Middle Earth started its life as a console game, and while it saw success there, MOBA's are better suited for the PC realm. It's here where GoME shines over its console counterpart. The over controls are much more responsive, and the game feels at home with them. Moving you character around happens just like it does on any RTS game, and moving the camera around to survey the battle is as simple as moving your mouse to the edge and watching the map scroll.

Each battle takes place on a map with 5v5, should you be short a player or two, Bots will fill in. Before the battle commences you can select your character and assign attributes depending on your play style. Each character has a base skill level in areas such as Basic Damage, Survivability and more. Choosing Gandalf does not mean you can cast super powerful spells as soon as the first match begins, but it does allow you to attack foes without having to step right next to them.

The biggest problem with the PC version of the game is that as its a port of the Console version, there does not appear to be a huge amount of changes, and while that's to be expected with a port of a game, that is the same as saying coke made a super hot version for Alaska, to warm people up and now they are going to sell it in the desert without making a change, it works but not as well.

Restricting players abilities by throwing cool-downs on attacks, rather than a mana limit means that if you get a good rhythm going, you can just hit the buttons in order to attack. So there is a level of knowledge you need to have, for your attacks to work, but outside of that its basically a button masher.

As far as ports go, this is pretty standard. With no new features to be seen, it makes you wonder why the game took as long as it did. The main drawback with this version of the game is it will be seen to compete against LoL and other MOBA's and thats where people will loose hope. The game is not a competitor to LoL or some of the others, but a game in its own right, and should you take the time to learn the game and avoid the comparisons you will find a great gem that you can sink hours into.