J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Volume 1

"I'd rather watch 'Lord of the Dance'"

A friend once wrote -
(taken from a post entitled ''You know you're a Tolkien fan when...'')

''14. You actually LIKE that horrid Lord of the Rings video game
15. You beat it without any cheat codes''

When a major (and I do mean MAJOR) fan of The Lord of the Rings says this you know the game will suck.

Good Points - (don't want a biased review now do we?:p)

Graphics - No Final Fantasy Graphics here:p The characters look excellent the background looks excellent and this game can honestly beat Playstation games in this department (just the early ones of course:p)

Sound - Cool music which really matches the setting and sound effects are also great.

ok that's the good points now to

Bad Points -

Land Layout - You'll feel like your going around in circles a lot in this game because their's only about 20 original maps used (while there's at least 100 areas in the game) so expect to get lost ALOT!

Party - While you see the party at all times theres one... um... problem. Unlike other RPG's when they fallow you these guys seem to not like Frodo (poor guy) and will run off in a different direction on every map. Plus when a party member dies he stays dead, which is annoying when you need him for a certain scene later on.

Story - *can just hear people say ''how can you give a Lord of the Ring's story a bad point?''* Simple it isn't really the Lord of the Ring book.

Short summery of the book without spoilers (hopefully)

Balbo Baggins gives Frodo the 'master ring' and Frodo (and his faithful gardener Sam and two friends) has to take the ring to Rivendell. From there he sets out on a quest to destroy the ring while the 'Enemy' sets out his 9 Ring Wraiths to get it. From what I can tell the only dungeon he steps in is Moria.

Short summery of the game

Balbo Baggins gives Frodo the ring. Frodo goes rescue Pippen from wolfs. Frodo and Pippen go in search of some old guys specs to get Sam to join. Eventually the other Hobbit joins and they have to take the long way to Rivendell because the Ring Wraiths have the bridge to Bree blocked. They take a ferry ride, Another dungeon must be entered. You get to Bree, others join you you finally get to Rivendell more join and you finally get to Moria (maybe if you have all the gemstones). You fight the final boss and that's it. At chapter V of book 2 which is halfway through the second book of the part this game is supposed to be about.

See while the game tries to mention characters and places in the story all the good stuff is taken out and replaced by annoying dungeons. Why couldn't they put a day/night system in where Ring Wraiths will attack only at night forcing you to run?

The game does have other faults but to respect of J.R.R Tolkien (who is probably rolling in his grave over this game) I won't. I'm just glad EA now have the rights to the Lord of the Ring games now and that they should make much better attempts than Interplay!

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 01/06/02, Updated 01/06/02