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

"Hmmm, what kind of RPG is this???"

Okay, LORD OF THE RINGS was not what I was expecting from an RPG game. But you would think that the people who did this game would have done a better job at programming this game. Here's what I think about this game so far...

GRAPHICS = The graphics and animation was okay. Very smooth, little slow down, and had a lot of very well detailed images of characters, trees, fog, monsters, grass, and so on. I am surprised at what the SNES can do as far as graphics and animation are concerned.

SOUND = The sounds and music were very well done. The music was almost realist enough to actually sound like it was programmed for the SUPER FX chip. It almost sounded like it was using actual musical instruments to make the melody. The sound effects were okay, but some of the sounds could have used a little work. A lot of teh sounds were repeated a lot like when you killed 2-3 kinds of monsters, they all used the same sound effects when they died.

CONTROL = Okay, this is where I get VERY picky. The controls were totally messed up. I had the hardest time trying to control my main character as well as the additional characters you get later on in the game. The only other way to control the other characters was to get a friend to help and use the second controller to keep the other party members in control. If you had a lot of people in your party, and you don't maintain control of them, they start to wonder off on their own regardless of where your main character was. Sometimes, they would totally go in a direction that I was not ever going. As you know, the characters will follow you, but the way it was programmed, you swear you think that they had a mind of their own. And what's worse, sometimes when they did go off on their own, they would get attacked by a monster and sometimes would die on you. Sorry people, but this is not the type of RPG I want to play, I want an RPG where I have more control over my characters, like SECRET OF EVERMORE or DARKSUN for PC.

UNIQUENESS = Well, one thing is for sure, it is different from other RPGs. There is no other RPG quite like it, and I hope there never will be again. Sure, it had great music, graphics, and animation, but the control was just not up to par. I've played better RPG games on the PC better than this, such as ANGBAND, POOL OF RADIANCE, and how about the regular NINTENDO like DRAGON WARRIOR. Unique, yes, a good RPG, no.

OVERALL = The main bottom line to this game is this, don't get it at all. There is one more thing that you do need to know about this game. When you do buy this game, make sure you get the manual for it, or you will get lost fast. Reason being, the manual has all the maps to the dungeons, caves, and tombs. If you don't have the manual, you are totally lost through most of the game. In fact, near the beginning of the game, you will need the manual just to find your way around one of the bnig caves that you have to go to in order to get the glasses and a book. If you don't have this manual, you become so lost, it makes you want to give up and just start over again. Yes, the caves in this game are that big. I'm not saying this is the worst RPG, but it does come rather close. This game does not belong in the RPG catigory, it's more like an ADVENTURE game. To summarize, not worth the price you would pay for an RPG, even if it was $5.00.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99