From the tiny houses of Hobbiton to the warming chuckle of Samwise Gamgee, the Lord of the Rings trilogy holds a special place in the hearts of thousands of Middle Earth geeks the world over. From the literature to the film and other countless franchise brethren, the Lord of The Rings is easily the Western World’s most famous fantasy brand.
The almost hopeless aura that surrounded the profound quest that these diminutive heroes had to undergo and how they would rise up and accomplish so much, was something that I always felt I could relate to. It was the true underdog story of the fantasy world. And even though video game adaptations have until now never come close to living up to the epic scale that the book and the films had, they often had an eerie kind of addictive quality that made many come back for more.
I have played every single Lord or Rings game, purely for the fact that they allow players to venture into the world of Middle Earth. Be it The Battle for Middle Earth or its PSP adaptation, Lord of the Rings: Tactics, I had sampled them all. It was my quarterly fix of Moria Magic. And then out of the blue, like Siege Tower fire, the latest adaptation of the LOTR franchise landed…say hello to Lord of the Rings: Conquest.
The strange thing is how I came about Conquest. To my own despair I had never even heard of it, and then it just fell out of the sky and into my very excited lap. And faster than you could say: “You shall not pass!” I was hooked and back onto my addictive fix of Middle Earth mayhem. I was button mashing until my fingers bled and then some and nothing could distract my hands from slaying any Orc that crossed my path.
This is how Conquest grips you…through its repetitiveness. I mean, every level is basically the same and you end up dying constantly. Still, you continue your quest, all the while executing your never ending string of combo’s in the most aggressive manner that you can or screaming at the TV uncontrollably as you watch another Orc Captain relentlessly beat your limp body even after you’re dead.
Conquest has an entire smorgasbord of things wrong with it, but then again, it has a few things going its way too. For instance, being able to switch your class mid-battle and then continue unleashing your vengeful path on the dark forces of Sauron is what I’ve been waiting for since the first game, and here it finally was in all its splendid glory. Thank you EA and Pandemic for finally listening! Like I said before, it’s really repetitive though and will leave blisters on your fingers that no amount of Vaseline or Aloe Vera cream can cure, so be ready for a mean post gaming moisturizing session.
Another thing that might bother players is how easy it is to finish this game. It takes about 4 hours to finish the Good campaign. That’s from start to finish with a fair amount of dying along the way. There is however the option of completing the entire campaign as the Bad Guy, which may add some value to the purchase.
Even though this is a first for the LOTR franchise (along with being able to play as an Ent, ride an Oliphaunt and play all of the Hero’s) it was a feature that we didn’t particularly enjoy. Call me the clichéd good guy, but there was so much more joy to be found running around with my archer and placing arrow after arrow into the foreheads of the oncoming orc masses than there was in slaying the humans with the Nazgul. It just subtracted so much from the love that I had acquired for these heroic characters through the novels and films and left a rather bitter taste in my mouth. Having to sit there and watch Frodo fail in his quest was just depressing.
Fun Factor: (5 out of 10)
This is the main fault of Conquest. With a very basic control system, consisting of 3 different types of attacks and 3 power enhanced variations on those attacks, it’s definitely no Heavenly Sword. It does however give some form of fun in the beginning, especially with classes like the Scout and Archer, which allow you to use different types of arrows (fire, poison or multi-shot) or cloak yourself and backstab your enemy, eliminating him with one strike.
Still, for most of the levels, you find your best option is to either continuously run around your enemies or go backwards, firing arrow after arrow at the oncoming masses as you try and get past them to your next objective.
Visuals: (6 out of 10)
Characters look nicely detailed, but there are definite shortcomings when looking at terrain quality. The terrain looks extremely flat and unglamorous, and the dull explosions and lack of any violence or gore makes it a teen level, mediocre looking button masher that won’t blow you away with its visual mastery.
Story: (5 out of 10)
Another ultimately disappointing shortcoming. The story is basically that which is written on the box, simplified. 12 levels for good, 12 for bad. And each level takes you about a max of 30 minutes to finish. If you liked the story, this is as far from it as you get, because while they kind of touch on it through playful cinematics (which are basically only clips from the movie), they never really tell it. Ever.
Originality: (5 out of 10)
Being able to partake in all the major battles of Middle Earth might be an attractive feature of this game, however players will likely be left lusting for more. We believed that we would finally have a game that would include EVERYTHING from the story, that this was finally the Lord of the Rings game that allowed players to fulfill Frodo’s entire quest. Instead it allows you to button mash uncontrollably through scripted levels. Get this, do that, kill that.
Longevity: (3 out of 10)
Even though it gives you the option of 16 player online battles, and allows you and a friend to complete the campaign together on one TV set, the single player campaign is so short and contains such a disappointing and predictable ending, that it will most likely irritate you more than it would please you. Rent…don’t buy.
Conclusion
While it is one of the best LOTR video game adaptations so far, it is still not what we had been waiting for.
If you do however posses a scary infatuation with the master of fantasy, J.R.R Tolkien, then get those hairy Hobbit feet of yours running to your nearest retail store right now and put the evil Sauron back in his place where he belongs…in the depths of Mount Doom or on a throne of evil. The choice is yours.
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