The Lord of the Rings: Conquest

"A step in the right direct. . ."

The idea of having a Lord of the Rings game styled like Starwars Battle Front was a interesting idea and had alot of potential. But, the end result feels hollow and unfinished. I felt there were many flaws to the game that really stood out that I feel should be addressed.

Story: 7/10
Like Battlefront this game has two story modes. One for Good and one for Evil. The Good side story is mostly a rehash of the story we all know and love but, they changed several points in the story that don't make any real sense. I don't want to spoil anything on that but, it you pick this game up you'll see what I mean. The Evil side story is a "What If" story about what would happen if Frodo did not destroy the Ring of Power. This is a real redeeming factor for the story of this game and is pretty neat to see "What If" the bad guys won?

Animation: 1/10
I normally don't mention animation but, it has to be addressed for this game. The animation is horrid! Many characters run around like they have a nasty something in there pants, while others such as Gimli and Aragon have this strange moon walk thing going on. ((Their animation for a run looks like a walk but they are indeed running.)) Also, archers don't draw arrows from their quivers. They simply appear in their hands. ((They don't even reach back to grab another arrow after firing and arrow. Now that's lazy animating.)) Also, in the background of many battlefields there will be animations of soldiers fighting to make it look like a war is going on in the background. But, you will notice that if say for example there is an Orc slashing at an elf you will see it repeat over and over again. . .but all other Orcs are doing the same thing at the exact same time. Try out the demo and look into the background and see what I mean. I know I'm nitpicking here but, this is a PS3, XBOX360 game and the animation is barely good enough for a PS2 or XBOX game. It's shows the developers were very lazy in fine tuning the animation. Moving on.

Graphics: 6/10
The graphics are pretty poor considering the generation of systems this game was made for. Particularly the human and elf races. The character models are very lifeless and have no expression. They also look unfinished, as if the creators kind of gave up on polishing up characters. With exception to Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, and any other monster like character as they have a nice dirty mean look to them. The background suffers from alot of the same problems as most of the characters do. It's very bland and undetailed. No real attention to detail and again it looks like the game artists gave up on it. Not much more to say here.

Gameplay: 5.5/10
This is the big one. The gameplay feels like a stepback from the Starwars Battlefront series. Sprinting is no longer controllable. You have to run for awhile until your character starts to sprint. From this point you can sprint until you stop running or are knocked down. Not having control over this while you could in Battlefront 2 is annoying. Combat is so-so. It's fun hacking up hobbits as an Orc, shooting goblins with arrows, etc. However, if you get hit you flinch and then even stagger. This normally adds a nice feel of challenge to avoid getting hit too much but, once you stagger it's pretty much over and you're going to get killed. Once you stagger you are defenseless to do anything until you recover but you can be repeatedly staggered by enemy attacks until you die. This can be annoying and destroy your game play fun.

Heroes: 7.5/10
Heroes compared to the Battlefront counterparts actually feel strong. They also don't have that annoying timer healthbar and have normal healthbar. Heroes are upgraded versions of normal soldiers and are fun to play as. They have a real sense of power and presence as they can literally swat normal soldiers like flys. However the moves of the Heroes are mostly copied versions to what ever class they are only stronger. It would have been nice to have their own unique attacks and powers instead of mostly copying other attacks that standard soldiers have.

Overall:
This game alot of promise. Sadly, it failed to deliver fully what if could have been. The combat system is annoying at times, the graphics are far below average, animation is a joke, but is a good rental. If you are a fan of Starwars Battlefront and Lord of the Rings you best give the demo of this game a try and be your own judge. I personally would recommend that you rent this game because I think you will find it is inferior to Starwars Battlefront and see it has many flaws that do not justify the cost of the game.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/09

Game Release: The Lord of the Rings: Conquest (US, 01/13/09)