Shazam!
07-30-2009, 01:17 AM
Lord of the Rings- Conquest (LOTRQ) is an action game published by EA who makes all of the LOTR games, and developed by Pandemic Studios.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/LOTR_Conquest.jpg
If you don't like the movie trilogy or the books, don't even bother reading on. If you are a fan of the film series and action games, LOTRQ may be your cup of tea or you may love it, but it is not without it's issues.
In LOTRQ you are thrust into all the main battles of the films at their virtual locales, like Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith and Gondor. If you've played action games in the crowd-clearing combat genre like Dynasty Wariors (which is always the first to come to mind because it practically invented it with it's 900 different incarnations) you'll be able to jump in and begin executing Orcs and Urak-hai right quick. The game does a nice job of putting multiple enemies on screen without slowdown. With allied troops fighting as well, there can be as many as 50 or more characters on screen at any time in a major battle. They get kudos for the in-game engine.
You play mainly as nameless warriors of different classes. The Warrior is the all around balanced brawler with a long sword who can take a beating and quickly clear the battlefield. The Mage/Wizard has some cool magic abilities and healing but does little melee damage, difficult at first but effective when you master his skills. The archer is great at long range but chop meat when surrounded. The scout is an assassin/stealth type character, practically useless except at a few keen scenarios in the campaign mode, but better used in multiplayer.
Sometimes you can fight as one of the notable heroes from the trilogy, like Aragorn, Legolas or Gandalf. Think Star Wars Battlefront 2. It would've been an even better game outright if you could've just played as them throughout the campaign. That's been a problem with the LOTR games. Remember The Third Age RPG, where you just wished you could be the main characters after controlling them for 5 minutes? Same wish here.
You can string together some pretty cool combos and you have a variety of skills and magic to quell Sauron's minions. But the game is essentially a button masher, just like all the faimilar ones of the genre (again, like Dynasty Warriors). You'll essentially hammer away at the three face buttons ad nauseum, so don't expect Devil May Cry or God of War combos or fluidity.
There are steeds to ride at various points, like horses and wargs.
The camera work is wonky and sticks in awkward positions at times. When enemies are coming behind you sometimes you can't see them. Also, when getting knocked down, sometimes it's difficult to get back up. There will be several cheap attacks like this that will result in cheap deaths, but thanks to a checkpoint everytime you complete a task, you'll never be too far behind.
Speaking of tasks, they're almost all cheap and mundane. Kill them, protect this, go there, wash, rinse and repeat.
There are a lot of movie sequences which are faithful to the films, but a few added and expanded levels are not canon. It does give a classic LOTR feel. The music is stellar.
The graphics are ok. Almost all of the crowd-clearing games don't wow you with graphics at the expense of recreating large scale epic battles.The backrounds of the locales are detailed enough and recreate the epicness of the films. The enemy types are varied and move differently to provide enemy depth.
The game is narrated mostly by Elrond of Rivendell (Hugo Weaving) but some of the other voice actors, like Viggo Mortenson/Aragorn didn't sign up, but their imposters pass.
There is a lot of replayability with campaign mode, local coop and online multiplayer with a lot of options.
After you complete the campaign on legendary difficulty, a sweet addition is the Mordor mode, where you play as Sauron's armies and wipe out the resistance and take over Middle Earth. If you ever wanted to be an Uruk-hai and waltz into The Shire and kill those fat hairy disgusting Hobbits, this mode is a dream come true.
LOTRQ does a nice job of recreating the frantic battles of the films, but shoddy camera work, repetitive gameplay and nameless playable characters hold it back from greatness. A solid choice for casual and even better for diehard fans of the franchise who can likely look past it's few issues. Otherwise, leave it be.
6.5/10
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/74/LOTR_Conquest.jpg
If you don't like the movie trilogy or the books, don't even bother reading on. If you are a fan of the film series and action games, LOTRQ may be your cup of tea or you may love it, but it is not without it's issues.
In LOTRQ you are thrust into all the main battles of the films at their virtual locales, like Helm's Deep, Minas Tirith and Gondor. If you've played action games in the crowd-clearing combat genre like Dynasty Wariors (which is always the first to come to mind because it practically invented it with it's 900 different incarnations) you'll be able to jump in and begin executing Orcs and Urak-hai right quick. The game does a nice job of putting multiple enemies on screen without slowdown. With allied troops fighting as well, there can be as many as 50 or more characters on screen at any time in a major battle. They get kudos for the in-game engine.
You play mainly as nameless warriors of different classes. The Warrior is the all around balanced brawler with a long sword who can take a beating and quickly clear the battlefield. The Mage/Wizard has some cool magic abilities and healing but does little melee damage, difficult at first but effective when you master his skills. The archer is great at long range but chop meat when surrounded. The scout is an assassin/stealth type character, practically useless except at a few keen scenarios in the campaign mode, but better used in multiplayer.
Sometimes you can fight as one of the notable heroes from the trilogy, like Aragorn, Legolas or Gandalf. Think Star Wars Battlefront 2. It would've been an even better game outright if you could've just played as them throughout the campaign. That's been a problem with the LOTR games. Remember The Third Age RPG, where you just wished you could be the main characters after controlling them for 5 minutes? Same wish here.
You can string together some pretty cool combos and you have a variety of skills and magic to quell Sauron's minions. But the game is essentially a button masher, just like all the faimilar ones of the genre (again, like Dynasty Warriors). You'll essentially hammer away at the three face buttons ad nauseum, so don't expect Devil May Cry or God of War combos or fluidity.
There are steeds to ride at various points, like horses and wargs.
The camera work is wonky and sticks in awkward positions at times. When enemies are coming behind you sometimes you can't see them. Also, when getting knocked down, sometimes it's difficult to get back up. There will be several cheap attacks like this that will result in cheap deaths, but thanks to a checkpoint everytime you complete a task, you'll never be too far behind.
Speaking of tasks, they're almost all cheap and mundane. Kill them, protect this, go there, wash, rinse and repeat.
There are a lot of movie sequences which are faithful to the films, but a few added and expanded levels are not canon. It does give a classic LOTR feel. The music is stellar.
The graphics are ok. Almost all of the crowd-clearing games don't wow you with graphics at the expense of recreating large scale epic battles.The backrounds of the locales are detailed enough and recreate the epicness of the films. The enemy types are varied and move differently to provide enemy depth.
The game is narrated mostly by Elrond of Rivendell (Hugo Weaving) but some of the other voice actors, like Viggo Mortenson/Aragorn didn't sign up, but their imposters pass.
There is a lot of replayability with campaign mode, local coop and online multiplayer with a lot of options.
After you complete the campaign on legendary difficulty, a sweet addition is the Mordor mode, where you play as Sauron's armies and wipe out the resistance and take over Middle Earth. If you ever wanted to be an Uruk-hai and waltz into The Shire and kill those fat hairy disgusting Hobbits, this mode is a dream come true.
LOTRQ does a nice job of recreating the frantic battles of the films, but shoddy camera work, repetitive gameplay and nameless playable characters hold it back from greatness. A solid choice for casual and even better for diehard fans of the franchise who can likely look past it's few issues. Otherwise, leave it be.
6.5/10